I will also share a somewhat unpopular opinion. Please proceed to read my answer with that in mind.
I am clearly for Trump (especially if the opponent is Hillary). I mean, its not necessarily that I like the person, but I like the policies he intends to apply. The fundamental difference between them, in my view, are the economic policies of each other.
Trump proposes to use what is called trickle down economy policies, lowering taxes aggressively, which will dramatically help the economy. Trump proposed the biggest tax cuts since Reagan’s presidency. Reaganomics, as they went on to be known as, ended the 1980 recession in the US. Trump’s idea is to reduce corporate tax to 15%, to start off.
Hillary, on the other hand, wanted to increase the taxes on the wealthy (and use the extra money to invest in infrastructure, thus stimulating the economy). She emphasized this a lot in the debates, if you followed them. She proposed a 5% increase on whoever earns over $5 million, to start off.
Now, the governments have this weird tendency to believe that the rich are stupid. The idea is simple: tax the wealthy, collect more in taxes and thus increase disposable tax income. Wrong. This has been proven to be wrong, not only once but many times. For instance, last year Gerard Depardieu left France (for Russia!) because socialist president of France, Francois Hollande, introduced a 75% on the wealthy.
Depardieu is a recent example, but history (both recent and non-recent) shows you several examples. You know that a lot of rich US citizens choose to be taxed in Puerto Rico? That’s because they have 0 tax on capital gains. Have you heard of US citizens renouncing to their citizenship so they could pay less taxes? And I am not insinuating this is unethical, by any means. In fact, if I could, I would do it myself! And you would do it to: its legal, you keep more of your money – of course every sensible human being considers this. Now imagine the rich – we are talking about millions of dollars in taxes.
The bottom line is that we need to provide the rich with the right conditions to prosper. If the difference is small, most people will pay taxes on their origin country, I am sure. Lowering taxes for the rich is the solution. Wealth distribution is counter intuitive and politicians sometimes take advantage of that. Read this answer of mine on that: Benjamin Davis’ answer to What are some interesting things about money that only a few people know about?
Why is it wrong to tax the wealthy and expect the tax revenue to go up?
Well, the rich ain’t stupid. In fact, if there is a class of people who ain’t stupid are the rich. When such taxes increase, the rich leave the country as Depardieu did, or move the capital outside their country. And capital means more investment, which in turns means more jobs, more income and a better economy.
The main reason why they can do this is because they have large amounts of money, which pretty much destroy any barrier there may be. The second reason is the fact that the rich earn most of their income through stocks, bonds, and other investments (i.e. not through a common salary as if they worked for somebody else). When you have such mobile assets, you simply allocate them where taxes are lower.
But why am I concerned, if I am not a US citizen?
Well, fundamentally, the US having a strong economy means power over the rest of the world. And we are safe as long as the US has control over the rest of the world. Once the US cuts on military budget, we may run into some big problems.
In 2008, the US spent almost as much as China, Russia, and entire Europe, Latin America and East Asia combined. However, the picture is quite different today, as China, for example, has been approaching astonishingly fast.
In my view, the US should remain as the military power in the world, and that’s why I want the American economy to be healthy. This will prevent a global war, in my opinion.
There are many other reasons why I would vote for Trump, but I presented you with my fundamental one. How about you? Do you disagree? Why?
Ben