FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
nationthailand

A battle between two opposing views

A battle between two opposing views

IF YOU put aside all the unprecedented insults, unsubstantiated claims, e-mail leaks and scandals in the build-up to the US presidential election, you will clearly see the opposing views of both of the main candidates on many key issues that can have a great impact on the lives of all US citizens’ – and on the entire world.

These are some of the pressing issues that they have addressed. 
On the matter of tax and spending, Donald Trump’s proposal is to cut taxes and generate more benefits for the wealthy than for the poor. 
He proposes to reduce the current levels of personal and corporate income tax, while estate tax may be eliminated. He claims that the plan will stimulate economic growth and generate higher future tax revenue. 
As for the welfare system, Trump has promised not to cut Social Security and not to reduce Medicare benefits.
His tax proposal would likely add trillions of US dollars to the national debt, unless sufficient expenditure cuts were also implemented. 
Hillary Clinton’s tax proposal, on the other hand, is to make the rich pay more taxes. 
She proposes a minimum 30-per-cent tax on those who have annual incomes of over US$1 million (about Bt35 million), and also higher taxes on big inheritances. 
Her proposal would likely generate more tax revenue for the government.
On the welfare issue, Clinton’s plan is to make the wealthy pay more Social Security tax to fix the financial problems of the system. At the same time, she also wants to expand social benefits for widows and family caregivers. 
Therefore, her plan would not reduce the national debt, since more spending would be needed for college and university tuition subsidies, more investment in infrastructure, and more benefits for healthcare. 
On the domestic issues, income inequality in the US has been rising since the financial crisis in 2008. The average income of the top 1 per cent of households has risen 7.7 per cent, which is twice the rate of average income growth of the other 99 per cent of the country’s households. 
Both Clinton and Trump agree on an increase in the minimum wage. Meanwhile, Clinton calls for a tax increase on the wealthy as the way to reduce income inequality, while Trump promises to bring back jobs with new trade deals. 
He plans to impose a higher tariff on Chinese imports, and has vowed to build a wall along the Mexican border to deter illegal immigrants – and has pledged to deport illegal immigrants facing criminal charges in the US. 
The two candidates have opposing views on Wall Street governance. Clinton pledges to strengthen financial rules for governing banks, while Trump would remove radical rules that govern financial firms. 
On international issues, Trump’s America-first policy would hope to shift more of the military burden from the US to its allies. 
Clinton, on the other hand, wants to maintain strong US influence around the world as the way to strengthen global peace and order. 
Both candidates are opposing President Barack Obama’s Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, arguing that it would hurt American workers.
In sum, the two candidates’ plans are not likely to reduce the American national debt any time soon, no matter who becomes the next president. 
Rising debt means a higher interest rate eventually.

Professor Arayah Preechametta is a lecturer at the faculty of economics, Thammasat University.
 

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