How Donald Trump Could Win The Election By Reforming Healthcare And The Tax Code
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by John C. Goodman,
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during the Palm Beach County GOP Lincoln Day Dinner at the Mar-A-Lago Club, Sunday, March 20, 2016, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders have made two important contributions in this electoral cycle. Both have pointed out that (1) millions of middle class households are being left behind as our country climbs out of the Great Recession and that (2) mainstream politicians in both political parties have no idea what to do about it.
There is just one problem. Neither Trump nor Sanders knows what to do about it either.
Trump’s proposals to deport millions of illegal aliens and renegotiate trade deals may help some people. But these policies would hurt others and mainstream economists are not convinced that either initiative would help the economy as a whole.
However, there are two areas – corporate taxation and healthcare – where current policies are so bad that some straightforward changes would result in an increase of about $5,000 a year in take-home pay for the average household and maybe much more. Further, these changes do not require any increase in the federal deficit and the increase in pay will materialize in just a few years – before the next presidential election.
Here is another plus. The changes I am about to describe are not ideological. They command broad support among economists – from the right to the left of the political spectrum. The obstacles to change are not conservatives or liberals. They are special interests.
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