| > Real wages are flat Because the labor market is largely not allowed to function as it should. UBI would help people already stuck in this conundrum have the breathing room to shop for employment. but the reality is between occupational licensure, unions and other protectionist schemes, there's only a select few occupations that benefit from market dynamics. > housing is through the roof Because the housing market is not allowed to function as it should, through a slew of NIMBYist policies that cover virtually the entire country. In most parts of the country it is illegal to build anything but a single-family detached house. Housing in general is an area where markets excel, we should let them. > We're going to finally increase taxes on corporations Our issues are not because the government is not bringing in enough tax revenue. It would be better to have the corporate tax rate at 0% and reform/increase taxation on the other side, when people take profits from the company. This encourages investment & takes away the incentive to shelter money from taxes through a variety of schemes. > government is going to spend freely on semiconductors and R&D like they did in the 50's and 60's This isn't really "America First" in the same way that forcing companies to buy American made goods is. THIS is where the US should be spending big, if anywhere. > There needs to be a clear delineation between "globalization" (we're all multicultural and can all be friends - this is true and good) and "globalization" (we compete for the bottom of the barrel pricing with people who throw the untreated water from the factory into the local river - this is bad). Comparative advantage is a real thing we should be embracing, not turning away from. Protectionism only leads to worse outcomes. The government has a role in easing suffering, to that end we should be consolidating our current constellation of welfare programs into something resembling UBI. Instead, protectionism tries to force the market to keep a set of conditions so some subset of the population is unaffected by a changing economy, to the detriment of everyone else. |