Trump and Clinton on the economy and jobs

art credit: politichicks.com 

Betsy McCaughey is a senior fellow at the London Center for Policy Research. Tea party and liberty groups will recognize her name from her ongoing analyses, from the beginning, of Obamacare. Many in those groups are not happy that Trump is the presumptive candidate. Some of the dissatisfaction stems from the perception that Trump is not a true conservative at heart, that’s he’s an egomaniac and braggart, and so on. In yesterday’s column in The New York Post, McCaughey looks at the economic prospects under either a Clinton or a Trump presidency.

President Obama’s top banker Janet Yellen gave a somber assessment of the current job market this week, throwing cold water on the president’s election-year message that voters should elect a Democrat to the White House again.

Obama’s been bragging that America has “the strongest” economy in the world. And pigs can fly.

Growth under Obama has averaged a stagnant 1.7 percent a year. Meanwhile, Ireland is growing at nearly 8 percent, India at 7 percent, Sweden at 4 percent.

The Obama economy is embarrassing compared to those countries — and compared to what Americans enjoyed for decades. It’s “the worst economic-growth record of any president” since the Great Depression, says Stanford economist Michael Boskin.

Last week’s economic reports were bad news for job seekers. Growth dipped below 1 percent in the first quarter, and full-time employment actually shrank in May.

We can’t let Obama-stagnation become the new normal. It’s driving Americans to self-destruction. Deaths from alcoholism, drug addiction, cirrhosis of the liver and suicides — what Princeton University researcher Anne Case calls “deaths of despair” — have soared.

These tragedies raise the stakes in this presidential election. Who’s equipped to jump-start America’s economy, Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump?

Spoiler alert: It’s not Hillary. She makes her money giving speeches and promoting books about herself.

Of course, Trump is no slouch when it comes to self-promotion. But he’s made a fortune actually building businesses. Trump runs an impressive 185 income-producing ventures, all listed on his 104-page Financial Disclosure Statement. (Hillary’s is only 11 pages.)

The mogul has built office buildings, apartment buildings, golf resorts and other ventures worldwide. He builds things and creates jobs. He also rakes in hefty fees managing properties worldwide, because their owners are confident he’s effective.

People like Trump, who run businesses themselves, understand why our economy is stuck in low gear. High taxes and suffocating, costly regulations are turning off investors. As economist Larry Kudlow explains, investment — in computers, factory buildings, equipment, trucks — is declining, indicating slow job growth ahead. A business that can’t buy more trucks can’t hire more drivers.

To boost investment, Trump calls for lowering taxes on businesses to 15 percent — less than half the nominal rate now — and reducing regulation. Obama calls Trump’s tax policies “crazy.” But if you want to see crazy, take a look at Hillary’s proposals.

She calls her plan “fair growth.” The phrase should strike terror into the heart of any business owner. It means more gender and racial preferences in hiring, more government rules on how employees are paid, and tax hikes to push companies into what she calls “far-sighted investments.” Yikes, Uncle Sam will be taking a seat in boardrooms and looking over managers’ shoulders.

That will discourage investment. Weak investment is already to blame for the hiring slowdown, points out economist David Malpass. Overall, the economy lost 59,000 full-time jobs, gaining only in part-time spots.

America is becoming a nation of part-timers. The average work week has shrunk to 34 hours — not enough to support a family.

Hillary wouldn’t know. She pulls in $250,000 for an hour at the podium, and sometimes racks up two speaking fees a day. Nice work if you can get it. Who needs full-time?

Hillary earns her money blabbing, while Trump earns his building.

Clinton is assailing Trump for not releasing his tax returns. Face it, most politicians willingly release their returns because there isn’t much to see. (Like speaking fees.) Whereas a builder’s return reveals how he makes money — suppliers, labor, depreciation and everything else.

Now Washington pols are pushing a bill authorizing the IRS to release the returns of any presidential candidate who doesn’t disclose voluntarily. Who would want the IRS to have that power?

The real issue isn’t Trump’s taxable income, but what the rest of us are able to earn. Americans need more take-home pay. The prospects look better with a builder in the White House than with a blabber.

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Ellmers (R-NC) OUT, Davidson (R-OH) IN

art credit for Branco cartoon: pinterest.com

Incumbent Renee Ellmers loses primary,

Warren Davidson will replace Boehner until the next election

With all the headlines on Trump and Clinton, there are two other results from yesterday’s elections that you might have missed. The Washington Post reports:

Warren Davidson, a businessman and former Army Ranger, won a 15-way Republican primary in March in the special election for Ohio’s 8th Congressional District. The tea party candidate rather easily bested more moderate candidates, including two state lawmakers, in a campaign that quickly became ground zero for the party’s ongoing identity struggle in the House that Boehner used to run.

On Tuesday, Davidson easily won the special election in the deep-red district, which will allow him to serve out 2016 in Boehner’s seat.

Read the rest here.

And Renee Ellmers (R-NC) was defeated in the primary yesterday, despite Trump’s endorsement. The News Observer reports (h/t RealClearPolitics):

U.S. Rep. George Holding of Raleigh defeated a fellow incumbent — and a Donald Trump ally — in one of the most-watched congressional primaries in the nation.

Rep. Renee Ellmers’ defeat in the GOP contest marks a major fall for a politician who was once a television political show staple and who worked to recruit Republican women to run for office. Holding presented himself as more conservative than Ellmers.

“You go to Washington and you think you vote the right way,” Holding said at his victory party Tuesday night. “I try to vote in a conservative manner, and you wonder sometimes, do people even notice? This primary gave me the opportunity to learn that people do notice.”

With all precincts reporting, Holding defeated Ellmers by about 30 percentage points. Ellmers squeaked out a second-place finish by less than a percentage point over tea-party-connected candidate Greg Brannon.

This blog expressed disappointment over Trump’s endorsement of Ellmers. She was the first congresswoman  to endorse Trump, but her voting record was terrible. From News/Talk 1010 WCSI:

“Ellmers voted for Obama’s omnibus budget deal, voted to support Obama’s executive amnesty for illegal immigrants and supported John Kasich in a straw poll during the presidential primary,” the aide said Sunday. “Now she’s trying to fool voters to get reelected.”

More here. More on the 2015 Omnibus spending bill here.

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Trump endorses Renee Ellmers?

 Trump endorses Renee Ellmers

Not a good development. From Conservative Review:

[Ellmers is] a fighter alright – a fighter for the Boehner K Street political elites.  There is perhaps no sitting member who embodies the source of anger among Republican voters – the anger that has engendered the rise of Trump in the first place – more than Renee Ellmers.  After she was elected as a “Tea Party conservative” in 2010, she immediately became one of the most loyal foots soldiers for Boehner, Cantor and McCarthy and has done more to fight the conservative grassroots on immigration that any sitting House member.

. . .

Check out her CR profile here, and you will discover a more extensive liberal rap sheet than almost any sitting Republican congressman. 

Ellmers (R-NC) was endorsed by Sarah Palin, and upon election in 2010-11, promptly turned to the left. On immigration issues, NumbersUSA gives her a better report card rating than Conservative Review, but Mr. Trump could have sought out any number of congress critters with better track records. 

Ellmers faces a tough primary tomorrow; here's the report from NPR.

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Commemorating D-Day

On June 6, 1944, Allied troops landed on the Normandy beaches. Diana’s father skippered LCT 2454 and delivered troops and equipment onto Utah Beach early that morning. The photo below was taken with his Brownie Box camera at H-Hour. Tea Party patriots salute and remember the Greatest Generation.

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Dennis Miller's advice to Tea Party conservatives

photo credit: quotationof.com

Most of us have been aghast at the rent-a-mob violence in e.g., San Diego and San Jose. The violence, whether organized by BLM, La Raza, or other Move.on mobs, is probably a preview of the RNC week in Cleveland in July. Dennis Miller’s FB message is making the rounds (h/t Gateway Pundit); if you will be taking part in any of the RNC proceedings in July, best save this for future reference:

Dennis Miller: If you’re going to a Trump event, attend in groups of five or six and make sure there’s a designated Go-Pro Camera Operator. When the peaceful NeverTrump faction starts threatening, spitting, throwing objects, tackling and punching you, someone must record it or journalists like David Brooks and politicians like the San Jose Mayor are going to insinuate your presence incited the violence. Hopefully, like cops wearing cameras, the visual evidence will clear you of the charge of causing the ass-beating you just received from the pacifists. Remember this the next time you go to a conservative event. Democratic leaders and #NeverTrumpers declared war on innocent conservative Americans. Be prepared and on alert.

And here’s Fauxcahontas herself endorsing the radical violence (via Conservative Treehouse). (Warning: after about three minutes of it, I had to turn it off.)

UPDATE: The video may be agitprop. Go to Treehouse to look at all the video contestants for Elizabeth Warren's Tweets.

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Rep. Paul Ryan endorses Donald Trump

art credit: pennlive.com

After weeks of stalling, Speaker Paul Ryan finally endorses Donald Trump for President. Sundance explains:

Donald Trump has repeatedly said he did not want -nor need- Ryan to endorse him.

. . .

Ryan has to move now to try to remain relevant to the future platform. Ryan is trying to save his Wall Street Legislative priority list.

Read the rest (it’s short) here.

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A new hotel for the RNC

The Hilton Cleveland Downtown Hotel opened yesterday, well before the RNC in July. Its website shows some exterior and interior images, but Tea Party photographer Pat Dooley forwarded these photos:

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