[continued from previous message]   
      
   crucial hours on January 6th   
   2021. I believe we need to elect as President a person fully committed   
   to "protect and defend   
   the Constitution" under all circumstances.   
   Michael   
      
   PART III THE ECONOMY CLAIM AGAINST BIDEN (and, by implication KH)   
      
   Those inclined to vote for former President Trump often say that the   
   economy for them was   
      
   better in the Trump years before the onset of the COVID crisis than   
   they have been in the post-   
   COVID years of the Biden administration. By this, they generally refer   
   to the inflation in the costs   
      
   of food, housing and energy. The implication is that the economic   
   policies of former President   
   Trump created the better conditions during his administration and that   
   the policies of the Biden   
   administration have created and are responsible for the recent   
   inflation and sense of economic   
   crisis.   
   I believe both of these conclusions are mistaken. First, the relative   
   low inflation from 2017   
   through 2019, I believe, represented the results of the efforts to   
   stabilize and grow the economy   
   by the Obama administration and the Federal Reserve after the Great   
   Recession. I believe that   
   little of this relative prosperity (including wage increases for   
   African-American men alluded to by   
   commentators such as Bret Stephens) can be attributed to the explicit   
   policies or initiatives of   
   the Trump administration (with the possible exception of some modest   
   stimulus from modest tax   
   decreases for middle-class families in the 2017 tax legislation).   
      
   On the other hand - and I think this has to be said very loudly and   
   clearly - the inflation in the   
   post COVID period Is mainly the result first of the severe supply   
   chain disruptions due to the   
   shutdowns, quarantines and restrictions on productivity resulting from   
   the need to contain the   
   COVID virus. More recently, inflation has been exacerbated by severe   
   interruptions in shipping   
   by the war in Ukraine and the wars in the Middle East, and threats to   
   the safety of maritime   
   traffic. While the combined stimulus packages of the CARES Act (passed   
   towards the end of the   
   Trump administration) and the American Recovery Plan (passed early in   
   the Biden   
   administration) may said to have also been factors, these Acts I   
   believe largely saved America   
   from a depression or terrible recession in the wake of COVID. I   
   believe it is also undisputable   
   that the rate of inflation has significantly fallen in the last year,   
   largely due to the careful policies   
   of the Federal Reserve augmented by the policies of the Biden   
   administration.   
   Thus, I believe that voting for former President Trump on the premise   
   that he can better run the   
   economy or restore the price levels in the first couple of years of   
   his administration is based on   
   faulty assumptions and is gravely mistaken. The proposals for an   
   across-the-board tariff on   
   foreign imports of good and technology proposed by the former   
   President is intrinsically   
   inflationary and likely to reverse the steady if still incomplete   
   progress in checking inflation while   
   working to increase wage levels.   
   One of my disappointments in the debate during this election season is   
   that there has not been   
   a more comprehensible discussion about the reasons for the economic   
   pain experienced by   
   many Americans despite the state of our economy being what Heather Cox   
   Richardson calls   
   "the envy of the world." I believe that the long-term   
   infrastructure, research and development,   
   and capital commitment legislation passed during the Biden   
   administration is a major   
   accomplishment that a Harris administration will sustain and build on,   
   but that a second Trump   
   administration is more likely to undermine and undo by misguided   
   approaches such as the   
   Trump campaign's tariff proposals. Thus, I think that voters for whom   
   the state of the economy is   
   a major concern should be voting for the Harris-Walz ticket so that   
   the foundations for a strong   
   U.S. economy laid by the Biden administration can be built on and   
   strengthened.   
   Michael   
      
   Part IV THE DO-NOTHING CLAIM AGAINST KH   
      
   Former President Trump and Senator Vance have often suggested that   
   somehow Vice   
   President Harris could have seen to the enactment of her policy   
   proposals and initiatives during   
   the three years she has been Vice President.   
   I think this suggestion is unfair - and very ironic as well - for the   
   following reasons:   
   First, very obviously, the Vice President is not the President and   
   therefore has not had unilateral   
   control of the Biden administration’s agenda.   
   But more importantly, President Biden and Vice President Harris have   
   tried to advance some of   
   the Vice-President's proposals and others that flow from a belief in   
   the power of government to   
   maintain fairness and opportunity in our economic and social systems.   
   A striking example to me   
   is the expanded childcare credit, which was passed temporarily under   
   the American Recovery   
   Plan in 2021 but had to be pared back in the 2022 budget negotiations   
   due to opposition mainly   
   from Republican lawmakers and, yes, a few Democratic or independent   
   lawmakers, especially   
   in the U.S. Senate. Other plans to provide initiatives designed to   
   support workers in the service   
   economy had to be scrapped because of opposition largely if not   
   exclusively from Republican   
   lawmakers.   
   To ensure that more of the proposals and initiatives proposed by Vice   
   President Harris can be   
   fairly considered, refined, and implemented requires not only on   
   electing Vice President Harris   
   to be the next President of the United States but also on electing a   
   majority of Senators and   
   Representatives who understand the potential of government to support   
   economic security and   
   encourage fair competition and a level playing field for   
   entrepreneurship and investment, be   
   they Democrats, Independents or Republicans who are willing to work   
   with the Vice-President in   
   pursuit of her goals for our country and its people.   
      
   Michael   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)