Politicians love to talk. Occasionally, it pays to listen to them. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ bold comment on climate change last month is one of those times. He declared, “We cannot, must not, and will not let up on climate action.”
So definitive… and so wrong!
Referencing my handy politician-to-English dictionary, the Secretary-General’s translation reads, “We cannot, must not, and will not stop using the political cover of a green energy agenda to funnel billions of taxpayer dollars to favored industries, political contributors, and special interest groups.”
Fortunately, the Trump administration has attacked the Secretary-General’s perspective head-on. The administration is rightly and systematically unwinding the Biden administration’s costly commitments to fund the so-called “Green New Deal.” That is, to defund previously favored industries, political contributors, and special interest groups.
For example, CNN reported last month that the Trump administration cancelled $575 million “climate-friendly” energy grants slated for Cleveland-Cliffs, a steel company operating in Middletown, Ohio. Remember that Ohio is Vice President J.D. Vance’s home state and that he was raised in Middletown. Talk about leadership! This is an example of an elected official doing the right thing for the country, even if he may temporarily suffer politically.
According to CNN, “The [Trump] Energy Department has frozen billions of Biden-era, congressionally appropriated grant programs for months while it reviews them and decides which ones to cut. The department’s $6.3 billion program that gave money to Cleveland-Cliffs and other big industrial companies to modernize their equipment could be cut by two-thirds, according to internal documents obtained by CNN.”
What’s implicit here is that Vance and Trump know that private investment in manufacturing and America’s future, not government goodies, will propel economic growth and national prosperity. Put into place pro-growth policies, and U.S. economic growth, rising real wages, and prosperity will follow.
After all, the steel industry, and manufacturing writ large, is a key part of the Trump administration’s economic vision for America’s economic renaissance. As Vance said just the other day, “There’s a lot of criticism that Donald Trump is trying to bring back the jobs of the past. These are the jobs of the future, making American steel, building bridges, and automobiles, homes for American people.”
And those jobs don’t have to come only from domestic investments. Japanese company Nippon Steel offered first $14.1 billion, then over $15 billion, and now an estimated $21 billion to purchase U.S. Steel, upgrade two major manufacturing facilities, and establish a technical training center. Plus, steelworkers will get $5,000 checks, straight up.
Biden, of course, blocked it in favor of his green energy disaster, at taxpayers’ expense.
The second Trump administration is doing most everything conservatives hoped the Reagan and Bush administrations would do but never did. I say this as someone who served as an appointee for seven years in George W. Bush’s administration.
Most importantly, the Trump administration is reversing President Biden’s anti-growth policies. Consider the following:
- President Biden added $1.8 trillion in new regulatory costs over his four years in office. President Trump recently signed Executive Order 14192, mandating the elimination of ten federal regulations for every new regulation. Full stop! Reverse!
- President Biden repeatedly sought to raise taxes on U.S. companies (aka American employers). President Trump has called for a permanent extension of his pro-growth Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (aka the Trump tax cuts) and wants to lower the corporate tax rate even further to 15 percent to spur more economic growth!
- President Trump is using his ability to impose tariffs, like never before, to gain negotiating leverage. The end goal? Enhance U.S. market access by lowering tariff and non-tariff barriers worldwide, and open enormous opportunities for international growth with countries like Japan, India, and South Korea.
- Via Executive Order 14255, President Trump established the United States Investment Accelerator, an office in the U.S. Department of Commerce, to facilitate large investments in America’s future.
Politicians love to talk, but don’t let them fool you. National prosperity results when policymakers embrace free markets and renounce politically popular shenanigans like the Green New Deal or the laughably named Inflation Reduction Act.
The Trump administration is clearly committed to stopping illicit taxpayer funding of favored industries, political contributors, and special interest groups—and ensuring that private dollars, from domestic companies and international ones like Nippon Steel alike, are the foundation of America’s economy.
Following a two-year stint in the White House as an Associate Director of the National Economic Council, James Carter served as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury and Deputy Undersecretary of Labor for President George W. Bush.
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