After watching the first debate, I went through all the missing issues that I wish the debates would have addressed and I know that there is another debate tomorrow but it is highly unlikely that any of these issues will be addressed there either. In fact, neither party are addressing the issues on this list that follows in any meaningful way:
1. Destruction of our government and agencies:
We have heard a lot about President Trump and the fact that he is clearly a racist and a pathological liar, and rightfully so, but what we are not hearing about is how President Trump is systematically destroying each of the agencies of the United States, resulting in the destruction of our government. It starts with our Attorney General Bill Barr but continues with the Department of the Interior and ex-lobbyist David Bernhardt, Scott Pruitt for the EPA, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke who would allow drilling and mining in National Parkes, Jim Bridenstein a climate denier in NASA that is keeping climate change information from being released, Nuclear Safety Agency Sean Sullivan who wants to eliminate a panel he chairs charged with protecting the public and employees, non-scientist Sam Clovis for USDA’ s top science post, and Betsy Devos who also wants to destroy our public school system in favor of private schools.
2. U.S. Postal Service crippling:
The U.S. Postal Service was given a poison pill by the Republican Party crippling it by requiring an impossible retirement system and crippling its competition with private actors. This should be repealed and shows further deliberate attempts to cripple and harm our government by the Republican Party and corporate influence.
3. Smaller government vacuum:
The concept of smaller government sounds less expensive and less intrusive but the issue that is being ignored is that a smaller government is a weaker government and when its power shrinks, it leaves a vacuum and invites corporate governance. The problem with such corporate control is that it is not held to any ethical or moral requirements and cannot be voted out of office.
4. Cost of government run health care and tax increases:
The message has been that taxes will increase with government run health care. What is ignored is that there will be an overall savings for most Americans. This was addressed at the latest primary but is largely ignored by the press. The cost of investment profit taking, CEO salaries, and denial of claims will no longer be paid by Americans. The tax to be paid cannot possibly be more than the premiums that citizens are currently paying.
5. Government health care would take the cost of health care off our businesses:
Companies are currently leaving for Canada simply because of health care costs. A government run health care system would assist U.S. companies to compete in the U.S. and internationally. It is a valid issue not used. Outsourcing America The True Cost Of Shipping Jobs Overseas And What Can Be Done About It, Ron Hira & Anil Hira, p.196, Amacom, 2008
6. Illegal companies doing the illegal hiring:
The illegal aliens are either the enemy or the people that should be protected, but what is being completely ignored is the fact that illegal companies are illegally hiring the illegal aliens being used as scape-goats. They are doing so at the expense of those companies that are not hiring illegally. The lowest fine for doing so is currently $539.00 and consequently the illegal companies are being given a free pass for breaking the laws. If the fines were increased tenfold, the enforcement would become profitable and the invitations would stop going across the border. E-verify also exists to encourage companies to comply with the laws but is not requited. Is a wall or pathway to citizenship for illegal entries really necessary? If no fine increases occur, the illegal companies will simply hire more illegals to replace those that become citizens and demand more income.
7. Ineffectiveness of the wall:
There are already tunnels dug under the existing walls and they are being climbed over. Even if the wall ran from shore to shore and costly security existed it would not stop entry by water and it is likely that the illegal companies doing the illegal hiring would provide the water taxis.
8. $15 minimum wage means $30,000:
The Democratic proposal for job security is to raise the minimum wage to $15.00 an hour but what that means is $30,000 a year and hardly what is needed to raise a family. It merely brings up the bottom.
9. A lower corporate tax rate does not work any more than trickle down:
The lower corporate tax rate has not brought jobs back. Increased corporate profits don’t equate to increased hiring. Instead, China has also suggested that it will decrease their corporate taxes in certain areas. This means that international corporate profits and power will increase with no real substantive benefit going to any trading partner country and will feed the wealth inequality problem that already exists.
10. Bernie Sanders’ record on curbing off-shoring:
Bernie Sanders is the only Primary Contestant, in this primary and the last primary, that has proposed bills that would curb off-shoring incentives. He proposed the Outsourcing Prevention Act, introduced the Defending American Jobs Act , and introduced a bill to stop offshore tax havens. These are bills that would have removed incentives to off-shore jobs. They were defeated by a Republican majority. Bernie Sanders, himself, does not address this.
11. Tariffs and tax changes for off-shoring incentives:
Because Donald Trump’s tariffs have been unsuccessful, the general consensus is that tariffs are always bad and yet there was never anything in the proposed tariffs that would change trading partner behavior and could only lead to trade war sentiment. However could be legislation that would positively affect trade behavior if implemented correctly. Stepped tax rates for any company that has offshore related companies and is providing products for sale in this country would go further to affect production in this country. Repatriation of offshore profits within one year or require that the status of the related company be changed to an unrelated company would provide incentives to repatriate taxes and not hold them hostage when the country is acting in an unrelated manner in reality. To affect off-shoring incentives outside this country the use of a flexible tariff that uses the corporate tax rate and the mean income of the trading partner to determine that trading partner’s tariff would specifically target the problem while remaining equal and fair to all trading partners. Such a flexible tariff would encourage sovereign nations to raise their corporate tax rate and mean income, something that would be in their favor as well as the U.S. and would lead to parity and reduced incentives to offshore jobs from the U.S. See Offshoring The Corporate Guide Map To 1984.
12. The calculation of jobs created:
In 2013, 77% of the jobs created were part-time, just part-time and not minimum wage. How many of the jobs created are actually family supporting and of those how many are created in the $100,000/year income level and up? None of this data is even being asked for but it explains why the silent majority is not feeling any recovery
13. Republican Light and the loss of the Democrat base voters:
This issue was actually addressed at the July 30, 2019, primary in a discussion afterward but it is usually the opposite concern that gets the most press. The press worthy concern is that if the Democratic Party is too liberal they will lose moderate and independent voters and will not attract disappointed Republican voters. However the other argument exists and probably played a greater part in the last election and that is that the liberal base of the Democratic Party did not show up at the polls. If Republican Light is still being offered in this election there is no guarantee they will show this time. The disappointed Republican voters will not likely vote for a Democrat but they might not show up to the polls this time. It is more likely that a concentration of the liberal voters, invited back, would fulfill the necessary votes to defeat Donald Trump.