AGENDA 47: The Plan to Dismantle the Deep State thumbnail

AGENDA 47: The Plan to Dismantle the Deep State

By Dr. Richard M. Swier, LTC U.S. Army (Ret.)

Agenda 47 is the 20 point plan to dismantle and destroy the deep state while at the same time rebuilding America into a free nation once again.

Agenda 47 restores and strengthens our Constitutional Republic, returns power to the people and makes Americans healthy, happy and prosperous once again.

The 20 point plan

  1. Seal the border and stop the migrant invasion
  2. Carry out the largest deportation operation in American history
  3. End inflation, and make America affordable again
  4. Make America the dominant energy producer in the world, by far!
  5. STOP OUTSOURCING, AND TURN THE UNITED STATES INTO A MANUFACTURING SUPERPOWER
  6. Large tax cuts for workers, and no tax on tips!
  7. Defend our constitution, our bill of rights, and our fundamental freedoms, including freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and the right to keep and bear arms
  8. Prevent world war three, restore peace in Europe and in the middle east, and build a great iron dome missile defense shield over our entire country — all made in America
  9. End the weaponization of government against the American people
  10. Stop the migrant crime epidemic, demolish the foreign drug cartels, crush gang violence, and lock up violent offenders
  11. Rebuild our cities, including Washington D,C., making them safe, clean, and beautiful again.
  12. Strengthen and modernize our military, making it, without question, the strongest and most powerful in the world
  13. Keep the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency
  14. Fight for and protect social security and Medicare with no cuts, including no changes to the retirement age
  15. Cancel the electric vehicle mandate and cut costly and burdensome regulations
  16. Cut federal funding for any school pushing critical race theory, radical gender ideology, and other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content on our children
  17. Keep men out of women’s sports
  18. Deport pro-Hamas radicals and make our college campuses safe and patriotic again
  19. Secure our elections, including same day voting, voter identification, paper ballots, and proof of citizenship
  20. Unite our country by bringing it to new and record levels of success

President Donald J. Trump Declares War on Cartels

Ending Veteran Homelessness in America

No Welfare for Illegal Aliens

The American Academy

President Trump’s Pledge to Homeschool Families

President Trump’s Message to America’s Auto Workers

President Trump’s Ten Principles For Great Schools Leading To Great Jobs

America Must Have the #1 Lowest Cost Energy and Electricity on Earth

Returning Production of Essential Medicines Back to America and Ending Pharmaceutical Shortages

President Trump Calls for Death Penalty for Human Traffickers

Rescuing America’s Auto Industry from Disastrous Job-Killing Policies

Rebuilding America’s Depleted Military

Protecting Students from the Radical Left and Marxist Maniacs Infecting Educational Institutions

Cementing Fair and Reciprocal Trade with the Trump Reciprocal Trade Act

Using Impoundment to Cut Waste, Stop Inflation, and Crush the Deep State

Addressing Rise of Chronic Childhood Illnesses

Ending the Scourge of Drug Addiction in America

Celebration Of 250 Years Of American Independence at the Iowa State Fairgrounds

Day One Executive Order Ending Citizenship for Children of Illegals and Outlawing Birth Tourism

Protecting Students from the Radical Left and Marxist Maniacs Infecting Educational Institutions

Ending the Nightmare of the Homeless, Drug Addicts, and Dangerously Deranged

Liberating America from Governmental Regulatory Onslaught

Watch more here.

The Bottom Line

We know that when President Trump makes a promise he keeps his promise. We also know that there are Democrats and some Republicans who don’t want Agenda 47 fully implemented.

We will be watching what President Donald J. Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance and the Trump cabinet will do to implement Agenda 47.

We will also be watching what Congress does.

We believe that it will take up to 20 years to fully implement Agenda 47. Therefore we are looking forward to POTUS 47 to get it started followed by two terms for J.D. Vance to make Agenda 47 into Agenda 48, Agenda 49 and beyond.

©2024 Dr. Richard M. Swier, LTC U.S. Army (Ret.) All rights reserved.

Trump Appoints Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy To Lead New Department Of Government Efficiency thumbnail

Trump Appoints Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy To Lead New Department Of Government Efficiency

By The Daily Caller

President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday that Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will together establish a new Department of Government Efficiency in his second administration.

Musk and Ramaswamy have been appointed to “slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures and restructure Federal Agencies,” Trump’s statement reads. The former president added that the government department led by Musk and Ramaswamy will partner with the White House Office of Management and Budget in an effort “to drive large scale structural reform.”

“I look forward to Elon and Vivek making changes to the Federal Bureaucracy with an eye on efficiency and, at the same time, making life better for all Americans. Importantly, we will drive out the massive waste and fraud which exists throughout our annual $6.5 Trillion Dollars of Government Spending,” Trump’s statement reads.

“This will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in Government waste, which is a lot of people!” Musk said in a statement included in Trump’s press release.

🚨STATEMENT FROM PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP

Let’s go, @elonmusk @VivekGRamaswamy! pic.twitter.com/YKT1V1UBVR

— Karoline Leavitt (@kleavittnh) November 13, 2024

Threat to democracy?

Nope, threat to BUREAUCRACY!!!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 13, 2024

Musk previewed what the newly established Department of Government Efficiency could achieve during a campaign rally ahead of the election.

“I mean, at the end of the day, you’re being taxed. You’re being taxed. All government spending is taxation. So whether it’s direct taxation or all government spending, it either becomes inflation or it’s direct taxation,” Musk said.

“Your money is being wasted, and the Department of Government Efficiency is going to fix that. We’re going to get the government off your back and out of your pocketbook,” he added.

We will not go gently, @elonmusk. 🇺🇸 https://t.co/sbVka2vTiW

— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) November 13, 2024

Ramaswamy was once in the running for Trump’s vice president pick but once ruled out, became a surrogate for the former president on the campaign trail. Musk and Trump’s relationship has grown throughout the 2024 election as the Tesla CEO launched his an “America PAC,” to help promote get-out-the-vote efforts in favor of the former president.

“It will become, potentially, ‘The Manhattan Project’ of our time. Republican politicians have dreamed about the objectives of ‘DOGE’ for a very long time,” the president-elect added in his statement.

AUTHOR

Reagan Reese

White House correspondent. Follow Reagan on Twitter.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Trump and GOP Eye Tax Cuts, Border Wall, and Energy Expansion in First 100 Days thumbnail

Trump and GOP Eye Tax Cuts, Border Wall, and Energy Expansion in First 100 Days

By Family Research Council

With at least one outlet calling the U.S. House for Republicans on Monday — which all but ensures a governing trifecta — President-elect Donald Trump and the GOP are set to enact a slate of policy priorities in the first 100 days of the new administration, including extending tax cuts, funding the completion of the southern border wall, and cutting regulations to expand the production of domestic oil and gas.

According to one Republican congressional aide, “The primary focus is simply on extending the Trump tax cuts and ensuring that we are on track to deliver on these campaign promises.” This could involve a further lowering of the corporate tax rate from 21% to 15%, removing taxes on Social Security income and tips earnings, and adding a deduction on state and local income taxes that was left out of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.

In order to pay for the tax cuts, Trump has proposed a 20% universal tariff on foreign-produced goods, with an added tariff of up to 60% for goods produced in China. Economists have mixed views on how beneficial tariffs will be for the economy. Some say they will create higher costs for consumers and businesses in the long-term and run the risk of other countries retaliating with their own tariffs, which could be detrimental for U.S. exporters. But experts such as Alex Muresianu, a senior policy analyst at the Tax Foundation, say that universal tariffs between 10% and 20% could raise as much as $3 trillion over a 10-year span.

Still, a recent report from the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget projected that Trump’s extended tax cut plan could create $7.5 trillion in additional debt over the next decade. This figure was disputed by Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) over the weekend, who said that the report “doesn’t take into effect the impact of lower tax rates and economic growth as a result.”

As for the incomplete wall along the southern border, the GOP is pledging to finish the job that President Trump started and President Joe Biden refused to complete. Last week, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) stated that planned legislation could include funding to continue the wall’s construction, with construction in Arizona being the priority, sources told Reuters Tuesday.

Another high priority for the administration will be cutting red tape in the U.S. energy sector to increase production.

“The U.S. oil and gas industry [can] shake off oppressive regulation and start getting back to the business of producing oil based off supply and demand expectations, not making decisions trying to get guess what the next regulation is going to be,” Phil Flynn, an energy strategist at The PRICE Futures Group, told The Epoch Times.

Flynn further estimated that under the incoming Trump administration, the U.S. is likely to produce an extra one to two million barrels of oil per day. In addition, Rob Thummel, the senior portfolio manager at Tortoise Capital Advisors, projects that natural gas production will increase by 30 billion cubic feet per day by 2030.

The Biden-Harris administration has enacted a series of policies that have hamstrung the energy sector. In April, the administration increased the lease bond drillers must pay to operate on federal land from $10,000 to $150,000. This followed Biden’s restriction of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, which a federal judge overturned in July. Thummel stated that the incoming Trump administration “would immediately reinstate approvals of LNG projects.”

In addition, leases for energy companies to operate on federal land will likely increase dramatically. During the Biden-Harris administration’s first three years, they issued 1,400 leases. In comparison, the first three years of Trump’s first term saw over 4,000 leases issued.

As to the green energy policies of the incoming administration, experts say Trump will likely slow lucrative subsidies that were a primary focus of the Biden-Harris administration but is unlikely to attempt a complete halt. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has suggested that not all subsidies will go away. “You’ve got to use a scalpel and not a sledgehammer, because there’s a few provisions in there that have helped overall,” he stated in September.

Energy experts believe that an “all of the above” approach will be most likely to both bring energy prices down and fortify U.S. dominance in the global energy sector. “A Trump administration has to be promoting all the above energy forms, because the only thing that really digs out of the economic issues that we’re facing with the debt burden that we have is something of an energy miracle,” Neil Winward, CEO of Dakota Ridge Capital, told The Epoch Times.

In a comment to The Washington Times, a Republican source summed up the mindset that the GOP will have on day one of Trump’s term, “We are hitting the ground running.”

AUTHOR

Dan Hart

Dan Hart is senior editor at The Washington Stand.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2024 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

WINNING: The Trump Effect thumbnail

WINNING: The Trump Effect

By The Geller Report

It’s been three days…..Let’s recap:

— Hamas wants an immediate end to the war

— Trump Gives Hamas until Inauguration Day to return the hostages

— The Houthis surrender just hours after Trump wins Presidency saying, “Our operation in the international waters were for defensive purposes only, and we announce an immediate ceasefire.”

— The EU said it will buy its oil from America not Russia.

— Qatar has told all Hamas officials in the country: You are no longer welcome here. Leave the country immediately.

— Iran’s currency has crashed

— Donald Trump and Elon Musk informed Zelenskyy that the war is over and urged him to prepare for negotiations. They also stated that no additional funds or weapons will be sent to Ukraine.

– Trump lawfare is disappearing (here and here)

— The stock market is soaring

— Interest rates are down

— The migrant caravan that was bound for our southern border has BROKEN UP now that Trump has won.

— China is optimistic and talking peaceful co-existence

— Federal Judge strikes down Biden regime’s citizenship for illegals

The world is healing.

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

RELATED ARTICLE: McCormick Flips Pennsylvania Senate Seat Republican

EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Wall Street Journal Warns Americans That Harris Victory Will Be Disaster For America thumbnail

Wall Street Journal Warns Americans That Harris Victory Will Be Disaster For America

By The Geller Report

In reality, it’s not a contest. Trump is a singular force for good. Kamala is a vassal for America’s most destructive ideologues. He’s smart. She’s not. He loves our country, she is a far left hater. Like I said, not even a contest. The idea that it is speaks more to the failures of us as a nation than a mere contest between two radically different ideas. Good vs. evil.

A Harris Victory Means a Fourth Obama Term

At home, she’s no centrist. Abroad, she seems unprepared for the dangers ahead.

By: Wall Street Journal, October 31, 2024

Ms. Harris has presented herself as new based largely on her biography. But as far as policies and coalition go, she represents more of the same, and not merely of the last four years. Her candidacy is best understood as an attempt to continue the progressive political wave that began in 2006 with the GOP defeat in Congress and rolled ashore as a tsunami amid the financial panic of 2008. She is running for what essentially would be Barack Obama’s fourth progressive term.

[…]

But we have been searching in vain for signs that she would break from, or even temper, the progressive excess that defines the current Democratic Party. Her endorsement by anti-Trump Republicans isn’t that sign because it’s based solely on loathing for Mr. Trump. A token GOP appointment to her cabinet would mean little unless it’s a major post.

On domestic policy, she is offering more Bidenomics without the label. She wants to expand the entitlement state beyond even what Mr. Biden has—for elder and child care, housing, a larger Affordable Care Act, and more. Her proposed tax increases are nearly as extensive as Mr. Biden’s, running past $4 trillion over 10 years. She shows every sign of wanting to expand and accelerate the climate corporate welfare and mandates that distort investment at enormous taxpayer cost but no benefit to global temperatures.

This might be tolerable if Ms. Harris showed evidence on foreign affairs that she understands the world’s current dangerous moment. Yet she defends the last four years as a security success, despite two wars, adversaries on the march, and the U.S. Navy playing whack-a-missile in the Red Sea.

She talks about having a strong military but has failed to propose anything to rebuild it as threats proliferate. If she nurtures an inner Harry Truman that would explain to the public the need for better defenses, we haven’t seen the evidence. If she does win, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping will quickly test her mettle. She seems unprepared for those tests.

All of this reflects the progressive advisers and the coalition she’d bring to the Oval Office. We wrote last week about her climate adviser’s desire to eliminate all fossil fuels, and her foreign policy aides are on board for appeasing Iran and putting restraints on Israel.

There are no Scoop Jacksons or Joe Liebermans in today’s Democratic Party. Ms. Harris would have to reach out to GOP hawks the way FDR made Republicans Henry Stimson and Frank Knox his Secretary of War and the Navy, respectively, in 1940. She has shown no such historical memory or the political courage to do it.

A Harris Presidency with a GOP Senate would check some of her worst policy instincts, at least until 2026 when the Senate map favors Democrats. But most Democrats would read her victory as a political vindication of the last four years. The Sanders-Warren wing of the party would pressure her for more.

The worst result would be a Harris victory with a Democratic sweep of Congress. Then it’s Kamala bar the door. She is on record as wanting to break the 60-vote Senate filibuster rule and to restructure the Supreme Court. This would make for an unbridled progressive agenda that would rig voting rules, augment union power, control more of the private economy, and add D.C. and Puerto Rico as states.

Continue reading.

AUTHOR

 Pamela Geller

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EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

October AEI Housing Finance Watch Indicates an Unhealthy Market thumbnail

October AEI Housing Finance Watch Indicates an Unhealthy Market

By Edward Pinto

/in , , , , , , /by

Housing Finance Watch: Active Listings Continue to Trend Higher But Remain Below their 2018-2019 Levels, Indicating an Unhealthy Market

By Edward J. Pinto | Tobias Peter | Sissi Li

October 23, 2024

Key takeaways:

  • The median purchase rate increased from 6.25% to 6.38% in week 41, 2024.
  • According to Mortgage News Daily, the avg. 30-year rate was 6.85% on Oct. 22nd.
  • Purchase volume was down 43% from the same week in 2019, and up 4% YoY, with volume slowing somewhat with increasing rates.
  • Preliminary YoY HPA was 4.2% in September 2024. It is projected to be 4.4% and 4.6% for Oct. 2024 and the first three weeks of Nov. 2024, respectively.
  • Despite subdued purchase activity and relatively high rates, YoY HPA remains strong, largely due to buyers being well-qualified.
  • Our base HPA projection calls for y-o-y HPA of +5% and +5.5% by year-end 2024 and 2025 respectively.

PDF to full report

©2024. Edward Pinto. All rights reserved.

0 0 Edward Pinto 2024-10-23 11:59:55October AEI Housing Finance Watch Indicates an Unhealthy Market

PODCAST: 56% Of Americans Say Taxes Are Too High and The Submerged Trump Vote thumbnail

PODCAST: 56% Of Americans Say Taxes Are Too High and The Submerged Trump Vote

By Conservative Commandos Radio Show and AUN-TV

GUESTS AND TOPICS:

GROVER NORQUIST

Grover Norquist is president of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), a taxpayer advocacy group he founded in 1985 at President Reagan’s request. ATR works to limit the size and cost of government and opposes higher taxes at the federal, state, and local levels and supports tax reform that moves towards taxing consumed income one time at one rate.

TOPIC: 56% of all Americans say taxes are too high!

GEORGE PARRY

George Parry is a Contributor to The American Spectator, The Federalist, and the Philadelphia Inquirer. George is a former federal and state prosecutor. George served as: Special Attorney for the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section, U.S. Department of Justice; Unit Chief, Investigations Division, Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office; Special Organized Crime Prosecutor, Blair and Cambria counties (central Pennsylvania); and was a Legal Analyst for KYW-TV in Philadelphia.

TOPIC: The Submerged Trump Vote!

©2024. Conservative Commandos Radio Show and AUN-TV. All rights reserved.

Your Vote Can Stop 21.4% Inflation—Here’s How! thumbnail

Your Vote Can Stop 21.4% Inflation—Here’s How!

By ACT For America!

Why Inflation Is Out of Control—And How You Can Fix It on Election Day! 

Today, inflation has reached an alarming 21.4%, levels unseen since World War I. Let that sink in—America is grappling with the worst inflation since 1917.

Americans are hurting across all sectors:

  • 78% of Americans (262 million) are living paycheck to paycheck, unable to keep up with skyrocketing costs of goods and services.
  • 63% can’t afford to buy a home or manage increasing rent, due to surging home prices and interest rates—affordability is at a 37-year low.
  • Gas prices have nearly doubled, from $2.39 per gallon in January 2021 to over $4.57 today. In states like California, gas prices hover around $5.

The cause? Biden’s policies to dismantle U.S. energy independence. On his first day, Biden canceled the Keystone XL pipeline and banned new drilling leases on federal lands. The results were immediate—over 11,000 American jobs were lost, and oil production plummeted. Under Trump, the U.S. became the world’s top oil and gas producer, driving energy prices down. Biden reversed all of that, sending gas prices and inflation soaring.

Consider this: Trump left office with the U.S., producing over 13 million barrels of oil per day, making us a global energy powerhouse on a trajectory to produce four times that, doubling the combined production of Russia and Saudi Arabia! Today, under Biden, we are forced to rely on foreign oil, including oil from Venezuela. Even more shockingly, Biden drained our Strategic Petroleum Reserve, selling nearly half of it—including sales to China, Iran’s largest oil buyer and a major adversary. This compromise of our national security has been matched with begging foreign nations like Saudi Arabia and Venezuela for more oil, which only further drives up costs at home. With “friends” like this, who needs enemies?

Childcare costs have skyrocketed as well, with parents paying up to double the cost of rent for one child in many areas. And, to add insult to injury, the child tax credit, which provided vital relief, was slashed by 80% under Biden.

Inflation can be cured quickly—if we restore sound energy policies that prioritize American production. Trump’s vision of energy independence was already working, making the U.S. the most productive and efficient energy provider in the world. Biden and Harris’s “no more drilling” stance has crippled our energy sector, made the cost of living unbearable, and created economic hardship for millions of hardworking Americans.

Failure to vote in this election will directly contribute to America’s decline, pushing us toward an unrecognizable and possibly irreversible future.

The solution is simple: vote to restore energy independence, bring back affordable gas prices, and stop runaway inflation. You can end this economic crisis by voting for leadership that puts America first, prioritizes economic stability, and delivers prosperity for all.

Your vote can turn the ship around—starting on day one. Let’s reclaim our future.

Please share this with everyone you know today!

©2024. ACT For America! All rights reserved.

Please visit the Act for America substack.

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Dems Support FEMA Funds Being Diverted to Migrants

By Family Research Council

While Americans are still struggling to recover from a devastating hurricane season, Democrats are signaling that they approve of federal agencies giving relief money — not to their fellow Americans — but to migrants.

According to a Rasmussen Reports survey published Monday, the majority of likely voters (59%) want the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to focus its resources on American citizens, but 29% approve of FEMA spending money on migrants. A majority (59%) of Democrat voters approve of FEMA diverting resources from Americans to migrants, while only 8% of Republican voters and less than 20% of Independent voters do the same.

While a majority (61%) of voters have a favorable view of FEMA and its Hurricane Helene disaster response, Democrats are the most likely (at 82%) to rate government agencies favorably, as opposed to only 45% of Republicans and 42% of Independent voters. Rasmussen Reports noted, “Among all voters who have a very favorable opinion of FEMA, 68% think spending FEMA money to help immigrants is a good idea.”

The survey follows reports of widespread mismanagement, misallocation of funds, and inaction on FEMA’s part in response to Hurricane Helene, which destroyed a 500-mile swath of homes, towns, and cities in Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, and parts of Tennessee and Virginia.

Following Hurricane Helene’s landfall, FEMA and other government officials reportedly blocked private American citizens from providing help to impacted areas, especially in the western region of North Carolina. Private citizens conducting search and rescue missions, carrying supplies, or attempting to provide transportation were halted by FEMA and, in some cases, threatened with arrest. Reports have also suggested that FEMA employees are working regular nine-to-five hours, staying in hotels that are then denied to victims of the hurricane, and confiscating supplies and donations, diverting them to immigrant communities instead of to American citizens.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has been criticized for announcing that FEMA is almost out of funding and does not have the money to last through the remainder of the hurricane season. However, the agency has spent $1.4 billion since 2022 on illegal immigrants. On Monday night’s episode of “Washington Watch,” former Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf, who helped oversee FEMA during the Trump administration, said, “As the Secretary of Homeland Security, part of your job … is to show those impacted that for the most part, the federal government hears you and we’re there to help you as best we can using the authorities that we have.”

He continued, “One of the first things [Mayorkas] says on the way down to North Carolina is ‘We’re out of money, FEMA doesn’t have enough money,’ which I would say is the exact wrong message to send to the people that are hurting in North Carolina.” Wolf added, “They want to know that the government is on their side and is doing everything possible to make sure that they get the assistance they need in such devastating, devastating times.”

Wolf also explained that Mayorkas’s claims of FEMA being out of money may not be “accurate,” noting that the agency has “access to over $20 billion to draw from. And so, the amount of money that they have obligated versus what they have actually spent — they’ve obligated a good amount. What they’ve actually spent is very low.”

He continued, “Now is not the time to talk about ‘We need to replenish what we call the Disaster Relief Fund.’ Now is the time to help individuals on the ground.” He explained that after resources have actually been depleted in hurricane relief efforts, FEMA can ask Congress to supplement the Disaster Relief Fund (DRF). “And Congress is there to do that. They’ve done that historically. There’s little debate. The only debate is how much? They’re always making sure that we take care of those impacted most,” he said. Wolf added, “Frankly, I think there’s more than enough funding to get them through that period of time, and then they can certainly come back after that.”

AUTHOR

S.A. McCarthy

S.A. McCarthy serves as a news writer at The Washington Stand.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2024 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

It’s time for Kamala to go away, go away, go away! thumbnail

It’s time for Kamala to go away, go away, go away!

By Dr. Richard M. Swier, LTC U.S. Army (Ret.)

I served in the United States Army for 23 years. I was a Cold War Warrior. I studied Communism, it ideology, its tactics and its policies to subjugate people. I understood the dangers of the former Soviet Union and its allies. I understood the death and destruction that Communism bring to nations.

I neve expected Communism to gain power in our Constitutional Republic, but sadly, it has. This is why I firmly believe that it’s time to tell Kamala to go away!

Time to send Kamala back to the Communist state of California where she will be welcomed with open arms by Gavin, illegal aliens, and her fellow Democrat Socialists.

Kamala go away, go away, go away!

Here are just a few reasons why we must make Kamala go away:

  1. Kamala’s crashing economy.
  2. Kamala’s rise in the cost of everything imaginable.
  3. Border Czar Kamala’s border crisis.
  4. Kamala’s failed attempt to turn our Constitutional Republic into a failed democracy.
  5. Kamala’s funding for foreign terrorist groups and states like Hamas, Hezb’allah, Iran and Qatar.
  6. Kamala’s death wish for the unborn.
  7. Kamala’s embrace of the LGBTQIE+ agenda.
  8. Kamala’s funding the Green New Deal, a very bad deal for Americans.
  9. Kamala’s anti-freedom of speech agenda.
  10. Kamala’s gun grabbing policies.
  11. Kamala’s cackle.
  12. Kamala’s turning away from we the people to those with money and power.
  13. Kamala’s failure as a Vice President, which is how she will be as a president. A failure.

READ: FEMA doled out millions pushing ‘equity,’ prioritizing ‘underserved communities’ leading up to hurricane season

In a Wall Street Journal column titled The Kamala Harris Plan for More Housing Shortages Edward Pinto from the AEI Housing Center wrote,

Her plan would stimulate demand, not supply, and redistribute wealth to the sellers of existing homes.

A signature feature of Kamala Harris’s housing plan is providing first-time home buyers with $25,000 in down-payment support, at a total cost of $100 billion over four years. Absent a severe recession, this policy is all but certain to lead to higher home prices. That’s because the four million program recipients would become price setters for all buyers in their neighborhoods.

According to the American Enterprise Institute’s Housing Center, 77% of all home purchases would be subject to this home buyer “tax,” causing the price of these homes to increase by 3.6%. Over four years the increase in home prices would total $175 billion, more than the $100 billion cost of the program. The price increase would show up in higher revenue for sellers, thus acting as a wealth transfer to them.

Read full column

Bidenomics will become Kamalanomics, which will fundamentally transform America’s economy into that of a Communist dictatorship if she is not stopped and sent back to California. Go away Kamala!

Act for America in a column titled Breaking America to “Build Back Better” notes,

Biden and Harris didn’t lie about “Build Back Better”—they just conveniently left out that their strategy involves breaking America first. The U.S. is spiraling into crisis, and every American feels it, no matter their political affiliation. This administration, continuing the radical policies that began in the Obama-Biden era, is systematically destabilizing not only our nation but also the global order.

Look at what their policies have done—skyrocketing inflation, a housing crisis, and a border crisis fueled by mass migration. Open-border policies, enabled by globalist institutions like the U.N. partnering with the White House, lure migrants into the U.S. with the real promise of benefits that the American taxpayer is forced to fund. We’re footing the bill for this engineered flood of migration while American citizens are left to suffer in the wake of natural disasters.

When hurricanes strike and Americans lose everything, what do they find? They discover that federal relief funds, already thin, are funneled to assist illegal immigrants while Americans struggle with homelessness, hunger, and destruction. An astonishing eighty million families on the East Coast live in flood-prone areas where they can’t even get insurance, leaving them vulnerable dependents on government rescue when trouble comes.

Read the full article.

It’s her policies, stupid!

Kamala in her own and other’s words.

Here are video clips of Kamala and her true beliefs. Don’t believe the attempt to white wash her by the media, social media and the DNC. Kamala is and always has been a Marxist.

Kamala Harris publicly BRAGGED about importing another 100,000 Haitian migrants

Cocaine Kamala

Kamala Harris Caught Chanting ‘Down With Deportation’ In Unearthed Video

Kamala Harris ‘Entirely Supportive’ of Pausing Arms to Israel

Kamala Harris, “There’s a balance between being tough and a bitch!”

Lying Kamala – Any Questions?

Kamala does not want this ad going viral that shows her saying she’ll ban fracking

The Bottom Line

Perhaps this music video titled Trump Is Always On My Mind by The Article III Project best explains what is happening and how Kamala, and her deep state co-conspirators,  intend to steal the 2024 election.

Remember what President Donald J. Trump said, “They’re not after me, they’re after you, and I just happen to be standing in the way.”

WATCH: Elon Musk: If Trump Loses, This Is the Last Election

Get it? Got it? Good!

Vote accordingly on November 5th, 2024.

©2024. Dr. Richard M. Swier, LTC U.S. Army (Ret.) All rights reserved.

‘They’ve Been Exploited By The Democratic Party’: Trump Has Caused Seismic Shift Among Blue Collar Voters thumbnail

‘They’ve Been Exploited By The Democratic Party’: Trump Has Caused Seismic Shift Among Blue Collar Voters

By The Daily Caller

Former President Donald Trump has amassed more support among blue collar voters as Vice President Kamala Harris’ support with the once reliably Democratic group slips.

Trump has made strides among working class voters more than any other Republican candidate in decades, boasting a 31 point lead among trade school graduates and 17 point increase among nonwhite non-college educated voters compared to 2020, according to CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten. Among union voters, a historically blue voting demographic, Harris has managed to hold a nine point lead while her Democratic predecessors boasted a double digit advantage.

“There has always been a great deal of synergy between Trump and this demographic constituency,” Len Foxwell, a Democratic strategist based in Maryland, told the DCNF. “He has certainly made a conscious effort to target that voter base, and now, this traditionally Democratic constituency is at least keeping an open door to Donald Trump.”

Prior to the CNN poll, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters declined to endorse a presidential candidate on Sept. 18. Internal polling from the Teamsters, the largest union in America, revealed that nearly 60% of the workers they represent strongly favor Trump over Harris.

“All of the nation’s working men and women know that President Trump is the candidate looking out for them, which is why nearly 6 out of every 10 Teamsters support his candidacy,” Trump Campaign Senior Advisor Brian Hughes told the DCNF. “He has an economic plan that will allow workers to keep more of the money they earn, increase American manufacturing, and drive down energy costs. Under dealmaker President Trump, American farmers, manufacturers, and auto workers got the best trade deals in history, and he will once again put America First when we send him back to the White House.”

Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien was invited by to speak at the Republican National Convention (RNC) back in July. In contrast, O’Brien was not extended the same offer by the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in August.

“The Teamsters thank all candidates for meeting with members face-to-face during our unprecedented roundtables,” O’Brien said in a press release. “Unfortunately, neither major candidate was able to make serious commitments to our union to ensure the interests of working people are always put before Big Business. We sought commitments from both Trump and Harris not to interfere in critical union campaigns or core Teamsters industries — and to honor our members’ right to strike — but were unable to secure those pledges.”

The Teamsters have endorsed every Democratic nominee for president since Bill Clinton, including President Joe Biden in 2020.

“By not endorsing Kamala Harris, they’ve given the green light to go vote for Donald Trump,” John McLaughlin, a Trump campaign pollster and CEO of McLaughlin & Associates, told the DCNF.

“We’re seeing a realignment between the institutional wing of the union and the rank and file membership,” Foxwell told the DCNF.

Pollsters like McLaughlin told the DCNF that this shift among working class voters is likely a result of economic hardships under the Biden-Harris administration.

“They’ve been exploited by the Democrat Party,” McLaughlin told the DCNF. “For the people that are surviving paycheck to paycheck, they have no choice but to vote for Donald Trump.”

Inflation has repeatedly polled as a top issue for voters, with rates surging to decade highs under the Biden-Harris administration.

While inflationary costs burden working class Americans, the Biden-Harris administration approved several spending provisions such as the American Rescue Plan and the Inflation Reduction Act, which have collectively contributed more than $2 trillion to the federal deficit. The American Rescue Plan, which was passed in March 2021, approved $1.9 trillion in spending, and the Inflation Reduction Act, which was passed in August 2022, authorized an additional $750 billion.

In addition to economic factors, political strategists like Foxwell told the DCNF that Trump’s trade policy would “naturally appeal” to working class voters in a way that the Democratic Party hasn’t.

“We’re seeing a realignment of the two parties when it comes to trade policy,” Foxwell told the DCNF. “Trump, who leads the party that was once considered to be the party of free trade and unfettered market capitalism, has adopted positions on issues like trade tariffs that would naturally appeal to a union constituency.” (RELATED: Trump Hammered Voters’ Key Concerns In RNC Speech, Harris Hardly Mentioned Them)

“Meanwhile, ever since the days of the Clinton administration and certainly continuing through the Biden presidency, the Democrats have been leaning more toward free trade,” Foxwell told the DCNF. “So, to the extent that we have a union workforce that is concerned with unfair and unbalanced competition from export markets, Trump’s policies would have a natural appeal.”

Although the Rust Belt states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania typically lean blue, their working class strongholds will prove increasingly consequential heading into November.

These “blue wall” states carry a lot of electoral weight, making them crucial for either candidate if they want to see an electoral victory in November.

In 2016, Trump swept all three Rust Belt states and secured his election against former Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. In 2020, however, Trump lost in all three states and subsequently lost his reelection against President Joe Biden.

As Foxwell said, Trump has made a “conscious effort” to appeal to key industry workers like the United Auto Workers (UAW) members who were on strike in Detroit, Michigan, in 2023. During his campaign, he attacked Biden’s Green New Deal policies and their potentially negative impact on the auto industry in order to gain their favor.

Trump has also gained ground among trade school graduates, which is a continuously growing demographic. Gen Z has become increasingly involved in trade schools, with enrollments in vocational programs increasing by 16% from 2022 to 2023 according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.

“I think there’s a lot of fluidity in this campaign, despite the fact that the numbers look relatively static at the top,” Foxwell told the DCNF.

“It’s really essential,” McLaughlin told the DCNF. “For Donald Trump’s Republican Party to become a majority, we’re relying on working voters across the country in Michigan and Wisconsin to add to our coalition. And he will win them over not because they make up a majority of the Republican Party, but because Donald Trump has stood up for them.”

The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the DCNF.

AUTHOR

Rebeka Zeljko

Contributor.

RELATED ARTILES:

Harris’ Lead Among Key Demographic Dwindles Compared To Past Dem Nominees

Battleground State With Few Electors May Punch Above Its Weight, Deliver ‘Big Blow’ To Harris Come November

Experts Say Major Swing State Is Once Again ‘Pivotal’ To Trump’s Chances Of Retaking White House

RELATED VIDEO: Spencer: Why Are Our Politicians So Rich?

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

‘Sleeping Giant’: U.S. Could Be Inches Away From Another Economic Crisis As Massive Port Strike Looms thumbnail

‘Sleeping Giant’: U.S. Could Be Inches Away From Another Economic Crisis As Massive Port Strike Looms

By The Daily Caller

Ten of thousands of dockworkers could go on strike on Oct. 1 in a move that experts say could wreak havoc on American supply chains and reignite the rapid inflation seen in the early years of the Biden-Harris administration.

The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) — which represents more than 85,000 workers at three dozen U.S. ports along the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico and whose members collectively handle about half of the U.S.’ maritime imports — has threatened to go on strike for the first time since 1977 if their wage and automation protection demands are not met by the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) — the coalition representing shipping employers. The move could cost the U.S. economy roughly $5 billion a day in trade, and would massively disrupt supply chains in a way not seen since the COVID-19 pandemic, causing rapid inflation and hiking the cost of living for everyday Americans, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The impending dockworkers strike could result in “a sharp rise in shipping costs, similar to the supply chain disruptions seen during the COVID-19 pandemic, which contributed to price increases throughout 2021 and 2022,” Peter C. Earle, senior economist at the American Institute for Economic research, told the DCNF. “While estimates vary, the Cleveland branch of the Federal Reserve alleges that 40 to 60 percent of the increase in prices in the post-pandemic period, particularly in the energy, food, and shipping sectors, were driven by gummed-up supply chains.”

Inflation skyrocketed in 2021 and 2022 amid COVID-19 supply chain backups caused by emergency factory closures, sick workers and challenges getting goods across borders. The inflation rate, which sat at just 1.4% under former President Donald Trump, peaked at 9.1% in June 2022 and only fell back below 3% in July.

The Biden-Harris administration’s Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg took paternity leave in 2021 amid an ongoing supply chain and ports crisis, with watchdog group Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT) obtaining records revealing Buttigieg refused key meetings during that time.

“Perhaps it is not a coincidence that so many crises involving the Department, from the supply chain breakdown to the FAA system outage that grounded flights all over the country, have occurred on his [Buttigieg’s] watch,” PPT Director Michael Chamberlain previously told the DCNF.

Over half of America’s port capacity is located along the East and Gulf Coasts and nearly half of U.S. imports would be impacted by a work stoppage, according to a study from nonprofit MITRE published in July. The shuttering of Port Houston alone could lose the U.S. economy as much as $51 million per day in exports.

“A sleeping giant is ready to roar on Tuesday, October 1, 2024, if a new Master Contract Agreement is not in place,” ILA President Harold J. Daggett said in a press release on Sep. 17. “My members have been preparing for over a year for that possibility of a strike.”

The negotiations are largely centered around worker pay, with media reports indicating the ILA is demanding a 77% pay increase over six years and has rejected an offer from the USMX to increase wages by 40%. ILA representatives say the significant wage increase is necessary to combat recent inflation, with prices up over 20% since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021.

The strike could involve as many as 25,000 workers, according to USMX, CBS News reported.

However, the contract dispute “is not simply a matter of higher wages for ILA workers,” George Kochanowski, CEO of logistics company Staxxon, told the DCNF. “Port automation (specifically what automation the ILA will or will not allow) is a major complicating issue impacting the negotiations.”

The ILA stepped away from the negotiating table in June due to an Alabama port’s use of auto gates, a technology that allows for the autonomous processing of trucks picking up goods from a facility.

Even if an agreement is reached before the Oct. 1 deadline shipping costs are likely to rise, with Kochanowski telling the DCNF that, “financial concessions made to the ILA will result in higher shipping shipping rates, further fueling an upward price spiral.” Ultimately, “importer[s] will be faced with either accepting lower margins or pass[ing] those additional costs through to the end consumer in the form of inflationary price increases,” according to Kochanowski.

If the stoppage does occur, it would come shortly before the holiday season, potentially placing additional economic pressures on Americans during the busiest shopping period of the year.

“Even a short disruption could have ripple effects that exacerbate the regularly strained holiday season,” Earle told the DCNF. “With inflation still significantly above the Federal Reserve’s target and unemployment rising, consumers could face an expensive holiday period with delayed shipments and higher costs for gifts. Such a combination of supply chain disruptions and economic pressures could further burden households during one of the busiest shopping seasons of the year.”

The U.S. Department of Labor reached out to USMX on Monday in a move that suggests the White House might be willing to intervene to resolve the labor dispute.

“The Biden administration has a record of stepping in and forcing a deal if they feel the broader economy is threatened, especially if it is a supply-chain matter,” Sean Higgins, a labor and employment expert at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told the DCNF. “Nobody should be surprised therefore if the administration intervenes again.”

Biden signed a bill in December 2022 that blocked a looming rail strike, instead imposing a contract on 115,000 rail workers.

“If they do [intervene], it will likely be a last-minute thing,” Higgins added. “The administration doesn’t want to annoy the union movement ahead of the election, but they still might do it if they feel their back is against the wall.”

The USMX filed a charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Thursday accusing the ILA of unfair labor practices, according to a USMX press release shared with the DCNF.

The ILA and the Biden-Harris administration did not respond to requests for comment. The USMX did not respond to the DCNF’s questions, but shared its latest press release regarding its filing of an Unfair Labor Practice charge with the NLRB.

AUTHOR

Owen Klinsky

Contributor.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Harris Campaign Leader Admits VP Plans to ‘Keep a Lot’ of Biden’s Economic Policies

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Trump Takes the Lead in Post-Debate Battleground Polling thumbnail

Trump Takes the Lead in Post-Debate Battleground Polling

By Family Research Council

Ahead of Tuesday night’s debate, most commentators and voters alike anticipated that former President Donald Trump’s and Vice President Kamala Harris’s performances would do little to sway voters one way or the other, but a series of recent polls suggests otherwise. On Thursday, Trump released internal polling data targeting seven battleground states, showing an increase in support for the man vowing to “Make America Great Again.”

Conducted by veteran Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio, the survey found a two-point increase in support for Trump following the debate, and no increase for Harris. In a six-way contest featuring Trump, Harris, and a handful of Independent and third-party candidates, the poll found that Trump and Harris were tied at 46% support each prior to the debate, but Trump pulled ahead to 48% support following the debate. Likewise, while Trump and Harris were tied at 48% each in a one-on-one contest ahead of the debate, Trump’s support increased to 50% following the debate, while Harris’s support dropped to 47%. “These are largely Independent Voters, who are tired of watching our Country go down, and want to, [Make America Great Again]!” Trump observed in his social media post publicizing the polling information.

In a memo accompanying the polling results, Fabrizio wrote, “We found that despite the best efforts of Kamala Harris and media to portray the debate as some kind of overwhelming win for her, voters did not see it this way as support for her remained flat. The only change we saw was a 2-point bump for President Trump in both ballot configurations.” The pollster added, “Clearly, target state voters were not impressed by Kamala Harris’s empty platitudes and while the media would have people believe she is cruising to victory, this couldn’t be farther from the truth.”

Another post-debate poll, this one from Insider Advantage, shows Trump leading Harris in hotly-contested Michigan, where the 45th president leads the incumbent vice president by one point (49% to 48%). Insider Advantage pollster Matt Towery explained, “While there remains some enthusiasm gap in many of these states, with an advantage to Democrats, Michigan has no gap whatsoever. The candidates are basically tied in every age demographic, with Trump slightly ahead among independents.” An Insider Advantage survey prior to the debate found Harris leading in Michigan by two points (49% to 47%), so that the post-debate polling represents a three-point swing away from Harris.

A series of focus group interviews in the immediate aftermath of the debate also indicated burgeoning support for Trump, especially among Independent and undecided voters. Reuters surveyed ten undecided voters after the debate and found that six of the ten had decided to back Trump, while only three supported Harris; one remained undecided. Referring to the newly-minted Trump supporters, Reuters explained, “Four of those six also said Harris did not convince them she would pursue different economic policies than Democratic President Joe Biden, a Democrat they largely blame for the high cost of living.”

The New York Times also reported that undecided voters were unimpressed with Harris’s debate performance, with many siding with Trump throughout the debate. Fox News found that Independent voters tracked almost entirely with Republicans during the debate, aligning with Trump’s positions on inflation, immigration, and other issues. A CNN survey found that Trump had a 20-point post-debate lead over Harris on economic issues and a 23-point lead on immigration issues.

Numerous other polls have found that a majority of Americans are deeply dissatisfied with the state of the nation under the Biden-Harris administration. A Napolitan News Service survey found that nearly 60% of Americans believe that they were better off four years ago, under Trump’s presidency, than they are today. Two-thirds of respondents also said that their income “has been falling behind” and not keeping up with inflation. A Pew Research poll discovered that 74% of Americans are “very concerned about the price of food and consumer goods,” while concerns over the cost of housing have increased nearly 10 points just over the past year. A New York Times/Siena College poll reported that nearly two-thirds (63%) of likely voters directly fault Harris for the ongoing illegal immigration crisis.

AUTHOR

S.A. McCarthy

S.A. McCarthy serves as a news writer at The Washington Stand.

RELATED ARTICLE: Independent and Undecided Voters Largely Aligning with Trump Post-Debate

PODCAST: Kamala Harris’s Policies

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2024 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

Fraud Grips $112.8 Billion U.S. Food Stamp Program, $61.5 Million in Stolen Benefits Replaced thumbnail

Fraud Grips $112.8 Billion U.S. Food Stamp Program, $61.5 Million in Stolen Benefits Replaced

By Judicial Watch

Fraud in the government’s food stamp program is so pervasive that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the agency that administers it, launched a special system to facilitate the replacement of the welfare benefit when recipients claim it stolen. In the two years since the Biden administration created the program, the government has doled out a hefty $61.5 million to replace pilfered food stamps—rebranded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by the Obama administration to eliminate stigma—in 127,290 cases. Keep in mind, this is in addition to the staggering $112.8 billion that Uncle Sam spends to provide 42.1 million with free groceries, according to the latest government figures.

The USDA’s SNAP Replacement of Stolen Benefits Dashboard reveals that 79% of claims were approved by the agency and that 339,269 fraudulent transactions were identified through approved stolen benefits claims. Recipients in every state in the nation have submitted claims and New York has by far the most food stamp fraud cases—50,678. Maryland is second with 33,509, followed by Illinois (16,369), Texas (11,633), Washington State (4,208), New Jersey (3,630), Arizona (3,541), North Carolina (3,434), Indiana (3,309) and New Mexico (3,027). Three states have reported over 2,000 cases and more than half a dozen have over 1,000. The federal government allows states to replace benefits stolen as far back as October 2022, according to the USDA dashboard.

“The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is aware of increased reports of Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) theft due to card skimming, cloning, and similar fraudulent methods,” the agency announced in January 2023, revealing that at the end of 2022 President Biden signed a measure that includes a provision for the replacement of stolen food stamp benefits with federal funds. The USDA cites the section of the law that requires it to issue guidance to state agencies and “promulgate regulations to protect and replace SNAP benefits stolen via card skimming, card cloning, and other similar fraudulent methods.” Other similar fraudulent methods may include, but are not limited to, scamming through deceitful phone calls or text messaging that mimics official state agency messaging and phishing. “A theft that resulted from any of these methods would be eligible for replacement,” according to the USDA.

Rather than so easily replacing the stolen benefit, perhaps the government should create a system to crack down on the rampant fraud. Besides saving American taxpayers tens of millions of dollars, it seems like a more efficient way to operate. After all, the nation’s bloated food stamp program has long been plagued by problems that have fleeced the system out of large sums. A few years ago, the USDA disclosed that it sees over a billion dollars annually in food stamp fraud. Many of the retailers authorized by the government to accept food stamps also engage in illegal practices, the agency has found. A few years ago, nearly 200 people were arrested in Florida for operating a sophisticated ring in which 22,000 fraudulent food stamp transactions totaling $3.7 million were recorded by a task force of local and federal authorities. In 2016 the feds busted the largest food stamp fraud operation in history, a $13 million scheme run by flea market retailers in the largely black and Hispanic areas of south Florida’s Miami-Dade County known as Opa-Locka and Hialeah.

The government has failed to mitigate the illicit activities that have long plagued the program and now it is doling out tens of millions of dollars to replace stolen benefits rather than implement a system to prevent it. Just a few weeks ago, a Kentucky news station reported that thieves have stolen more than $5 million worth of food stamps in the past year from families in Kentucky and Indiana. “Scammers are draining accounts linked to EBT cards,” used by the government to distribute benefits, the story says. In South Carolina a woman recently got busted for fraudulently receiving more than $28,000 in food stamp benefits. Another woman was also recently arrested in the state for fraud after taking over $12,000 in food stamps that she did not qualify for. In Delaware and Tennessee, the government recently replaced hundreds of thousands of dollars in stolen food stamps, according to local news reports. The list goes on and on.

EDITORS NOTE: This Judicial Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

A Very Short List, and a Very Long Question thumbnail

A Very Short List, and a Very Long Question

By Jihad Watch

I was wondering, not exactly idly, where American foreign aid now is sent, and found online a list of the ten countries that receive the most aid from Washington. Here is that list.

In 2023, the United States spent nearly $61 billion on foreign aid. Fully half of that budget has gone to just ten countries:

  1. Ukraine ($16.4 billion)
  2. Israel ($3.3 billion)
  3. Ethiopia ($1.95 billion)
  4. Jordan ($1.65 billion)
  5. Egypt ($1.43 billion)
  6. Afghanistan ($1.19 billion)
  7. Somalia ($1.13 billion)
  8. Yemen ($1.05 billion)
  9. Congo ($987 million)
  10. Syria ($896 million)

Now I have no objection to aid for Ukraine, as it fights to push Putin’s troops out of the country. This unusually large sum — $16.4 billion, and much more so far in 2024 — far outstrips the amounts for the other recipients of aid. This aid only started to be given in 2020, after Russia invaded Ukraine, and it will not continue at anything like that level once that Ukraine-Russia war is over.

As for #2 on the list, I certainly do not object to the sums given to Israel, which for the fourth time in its young life is having to fight for its very existence (the previous wars were in 1948, 1967, and 1973) as it faces a seven-front war, with Hamas in Gaza, with Hezbollah in Lebanon, with the Houthis in Lebanon, with Assad’s army in Syria, with assorted terrorist groups — Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine — in Judea and Samaria, with the Shi’a militia, Kata’ib Hezbollah, in Iraq, and looming behind them all, pulling the strings of these various proxies, the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Nor do I begrudge Ethiopia its aid, for that Christian country has endured several years of severe drought and internal conflict, including the war involving the Ethiopian central government and the northernmost region of Tigray. Ethiopia has once again become engaged in violent internal conflict, this time involving militia groups from the regions of Amhara and Oromia. And Ethiopia has long had a close relationship with the United States for many decades, beginning under the reign of Haile Selassie. The amount we provide is to help the government restore peace; as with the aid given to Ukraine, it isn’t intended to be a long-term commitment.

But. beyond that, I wonder. Of the seven remaining countries on the list of the top ten recipients, all but one are Muslim countries. Why are we transferring wealth to Muslim countries when the Arab states of the Gulf have trillions of dollars in their sovereign funds? Why do we not insist that the rich Arabs should be helping their brethren, instead of assuming that we should support Muslim states that, precisely because they are Muslim, cannot possibly be our friends (as the Qur’an directs them not to be; see suras 3:28 and 5:51)? Saudi Arabia has more than $1 trillion in its sovereign wealth fund. The UAE has even more: $1.7 trillion. In the first half of 2024 the sovereign wealth funds of five Gulf Arab states — Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE, Qatar, and Bahrain — invested $39 billion. Surely they can spare $8 billion to provide to other Arab states, which is roughly the total the United States now gives to the seven Muslim states on the list above.

For reasons that deserve to be pondered, Anwar Sadat got the American aid ball rolling for Egypt with his “prince-of-peace” impersonation. And that money has continued ever since, despite the litany of human rights abuses in that country. Egypt need not be continuously bribed to keep the peace with Israel. What keeps the peace between Israel and Egypt is the IDF. If Egypt needs money, the Gulf states, whose monarchs share El-Sisi’s fear and hatred of the Muslim Brotherhood, should be happy to help.

Jordan, similarly, need not be given large sums by the Americans. The Hashemite king need only hold out his hand in Eleemosynary Position #1, and the Emirates and Saudis will be glad to help out a fellow monarch, especially one who doesn’t want to be overthrown by the two-thirds of his population that is Palestinian. That would be a dangerous example for the monarchs in the Gulf. King Abdullah, like the Saudi Crown Prince and the Emirati rulers, is prepared to repress the Muslim Brotherhood. He, too, needs no American bribe to keep the peace with Israel. The IDF maintains that peace.

AUTHOR

Hugh Fitzgerald

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EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

38% Rise in Home Prices Leaves Families Stranded in Place thumbnail

38% Rise in Home Prices Leaves Families Stranded in Place

By Family Research Council

The average price of a single-family home has risen nearly 38% since President Joe Biden took office, according to the S&P Case-Shiller home price index. The sudden spike, along with rising interest rates, has acted as a giant emergency brake on homebuying, leaving many families stranded in places they did not expect to be long-term. It also drove a giant wedge between those who own a home and those who do not. But not all is hopeless.

First, the data. The Case-Shiller index for home prices rose 38% between January 2021 and June 2024. For comparison, the index rose 44% over a comparable, three-and-a-half-year period (January 2003 to June 2006) during the mid-2000s housing bubble. Interest rates have risen over the same period, with the average rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage rising by 127%, from 2.79% on January 14, 2021 to 6.35% on September 5, 2024 (after peaking at nearly 8% in November 2023).

These facts combine to make purchasing a new house costlier — and in many cases cost prohibitive — particularly for first-time homebuyers. According to data compiled by Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, “For the low-downpayment loans commonly pursued by first-time buyers, the total monthly payment on the median-priced home is now $3,096 after taxes and insurance” (compared to a median monthly payment of slightly over $2,000 in January 2021). To afford the current monthly payment for a median-priced home “under common payment-to-income ratios” (with the payment equal to 31% of income), a family would need an annual household income of $119,800. The Harvard report adds that only one in seven American families who do not own a home can meet that threshold.

It may seem counterintuitive at first, but this dramatic increase in the cost of buying a new home does not translate into rising costs for all housing. For instance, families who already own a home are locked into a mortgage with a pre-determined principal and interest rate, which is not affected by these rising costs. However, these rising costs do affect their ability to move by making it more expensive to sell their house and buy a different one.

Rising home costs will also affect rental costs. Because it is more expensive to buy a home, some people who would have purchased a home will choose to rent instead. As a result, the demand for home rentals will be higher than it otherwise would be. And, when rental home demand increases, basic supply-and-demand stipulates that the price of rental homes will increase too. Thus, the rising costs of homes affects non-homeowners in two ways. Not only are many people priced out of buying their first home, but they will also see their rental costs rise as well.

These rising costs affect homeowners and non-homeowners in slightly different ways. People who already own a home benefit in the sense that their property value is increasing, although they lose flexibility if they have to move. Families may choose not to pursue a job opportunity in another city, for example, or have more children, due to the extra costs related to moving. Meanwhile, people who do not own a home suffer from rising costs whether they buy a home or not. Additionally, they also miss out on the opportunity for independence and wealth accumulation provided by home ownership. In a way, the rising costs of purchasing a home drives a further wedge between homeowners and renters.

In an indirect way, the current record-high home prices may be on the November ballot, but for now, families must take them as a life circumstance beyond their control. The sovereign Lord of the universe does not judge us based on what we cannot control, but based on how we respond to the trials he does control. So, in this far-from-ideal situation, how should Christians respond?

Non-homeowners can respond by pursuing godly community. As renters, they have more freedom to move, and they should use that freedom to locate themselves among God’s people. Those who are not married can join houses of likeminded men or women, where they can cultivate habits of daily discipleship, fellowship, and prayer, which God blessed in Acts 2:42-47. Those who are married, or who have children can choose to locate themselves close to a church community so that they can be an integral part of the church’s life — serving and fellowship at every opportunity.

Homeowners can respond by investing in their local church, especially through hospitality. Perhaps the economic conditions that prevent them from moving are God’s way of nudging them to go deeper in their current church community, building the deep discipling relationships (Matthew 28:19) that only come with time.

Christian homeowners should also use the homes God has given them to bless his people through showing hospitality, as the New Testament commands (Romans 12:13, Hebrews 13:2, 1 Peter 4:9). Perhaps they can house a visiting missionary or refugee. Perhaps they can invite another family over for a weeknight dinner or a Sunday afternoon meal. Perhaps they can host a Bible study.

Instead of viewing these activities as hassles or burdens, they should recognize that they are making investments in the kingdom of God and particularly in the souls with whom they share their own local church. Jesus concluded his parable of the dishonest manager, “Make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings” (Luke 11:9).

Jesus continued, “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much” (Luke 11:10). So, whether you have much or little, whether you live in a paid-off mansion or have been frustrated in your first home purchase by the poor economy, use whatever you have to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).

AUTHOR

Joshua Arnold

Joshua Arnold is a senior writer at The Washington Stand.

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2024 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

‘Kamala Harris Is Running a Giveaway Campaign’: Economist thumbnail

‘Kamala Harris Is Running a Giveaway Campaign’: Economist

By Family Research Council

As presidential hopefuls Donald Trump and Kamala Harris approach their first debate on Tuesday, their campaigns have unveiled economic policies that seem in some ways diametrically opposed — and only one could stimulate “robust economic growth,” a leading economist has warned.

Harris has proposed imposing price controls on food, undoing the Trump tax cuts of 2017 by raising the top tax rate to 39.6%, hiking corporate taxes and capital gains taxes to 28%, giving first-time homebuyers $25,000, and doubling down on Obamacare by raising taxpayer-funded subsidies for those who buy their plans from the exchange.

She also proposed one tax cut to benefit small businesses. “I want to see 25 million new small business applications by the end of my first term,” said Harris last week. “So, part of my plan is we will expand the tax deduction for startups to $50,000.”

In a speech at the Economic Club of New York last Thursday, former President Trump proposed unleashing the power of the free market by maintaining the 2017 tax cuts and further slashing the corporate tax from 21% to 15%, cutting red tape, protecting U.S. manufacturing by raising tariffs on imported goods, clawing back all unspent funds from the Biden-Harris administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, and making more jobs available to U.S. citizens by deporting illegal immigrants who lower wages and compete for jobs.

Both candidates agree on ending federal taxation on tips, a policy first proposed this presidential race by Trump and parroted by Harris.

“Kamala Harris is running a giveaway campaign,” Paul Mueller, a senior research fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) told “Washington Watch” guest host Joseph Backholm last Thursday. “Of course, the Biden administration has been trying to cancel various forms of student debt for years now. And her approach, I think, to stimulating the economy is more of what we’ve seen over the past four years, which is extensive government involvement, huge amounts of spending. It’s not really an organic growth within the economy.”

Artificial stimulus raises prices, a major problem over the course of the Biden-Harris administration. “When you subsidize people’s ability to buy things — whether that’s higher education or health care — and we give people money in the form of loans or grants or scholarships to do that, what it does is boosts demand. And so what we see over time in both of those areas is rising costs. The cost of higher education has grown much faster than everything else in the economy. The rate of increase for health care has increased very rapidly,” Mueller stated. “And so this $25,000 credit for first-time home buyers, while it sounds nice, it’s actually going to continue to put upward pressure on the price of housing overall.”

The entire amount of the subsidy is “actually going to be eaten up by rising prices,” Mueller noted.

Even a putatively pro-business tax policy like a small business tax credit could backfire. “There are a lot of small business owners who maybe will close down their existing business and start a new one just to get the tax credit,” Mueller warned.

On the other hand, “President Trump’s agenda” has the potential to spur “robust economic growth” in an organic way, said Mueller. “He has talked about wanting to roll back regulations.”

Mueller noted he opposed Trump’s tariff policy, “and, then, he hasn’t really addressed runaway government spending. And the more money that is spent by the federal government, the less money there is for people in the private sector to spend on their businesses, their houses, their projects.”

Backholm suggested the greatest vacuum in economic dialogue involves America’s $35 trillion national debt. “So far, we are not seeing a lot of politicians raise their hand and say, ‘I’m the guy that’s going to give you less so we can save the future.’ I think that might be what we need. We’re not getting that from anybody at this point.”

AUTHOR

Ben Johnson

Ben Johnson is senior reporter and editor at The Washington Stand.

RELATED VIDEO: MUST WATCH: Tulsi Gabbard on Dick Cheney endorsing Kamala

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2024 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

Harris/Trump Debate: Let’s Give Them Something to Talk About — Fiscal Sustainability, Says Concord Coalition thumbnail

Harris/Trump Debate: Let’s Give Them Something to Talk About — Fiscal Sustainability, Says Concord Coalition

By Dr. Rich Swier

, D.C. /PRNewswire/ — The presidential debate early next week is the perfect opportunity for us to hear from Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump about how they would tackle the challenges of $2 trillion annual budget deficits, ballooning national debt, and the pending insolvency of Social Security and Medicare trust funds.

These problems are not new. In fact, 30 years ago The Concord Coalition’s co-chairmen, Jack Danforth and Bob Kerrey — both then U.S. Senators – chaired a commission that warned of unsustainable fiscal trends. And, because politicians have failed to act in the intervening decades, the commission’s findings are still valid today.

The Concord Coalition today is releasing an updated edition of those findings, which received broad bipartisan support among the commission members, Kerrey-Danforth Commission Findings Still Need Solutions Thirty Years Later. Taken together, they comprise a blueprint for presidential candidates and all those in national office to guide their policymaking.

As Senators Danforth and Kerrey put it:

“In our introduction to the August 1994 Interim Report of the Commission we wrote ‘America is at a fiscal crossroads…if we fail to act, we threaten the financial future of our children and our Nation…If the country does not respond, Americans 10,15…20 years from now will ask why we had so little foresight.’ Thirty years have passed, and the American people have a right to ask that question. Why has there been so little action? “There is no good answer. So, we are issuing a challenge to a new generation of national leaders: Take up this cause. Solve this problem.”

ABOUT THE CONCORD COALITION

The Concord Coalition is a nationwide, non-partisan, grassroots organization advocating generationally responsible fiscal policy. The Concord Coalition was founded in 1992 by the late former Senator Paul Tsongas (D-Mass.), former Senator Warren Rudman (R-N.H.), and former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Peter Peterson.

The Concord Coalition is dedicated to educating the public about the causes and consequences of large-and-growing federal budget deficits and national debt, the long-term challenges facing the economy and how to build a sound fiscal future for all generations. The Concord Coalition’s national field staff and volunteer Fiscal Lookouts cover the country, hosting lectures, facilitating interactive exercises, conducting classes, giving media interviews and briefing elected officials and their staffs.

©2024. Dr. Rich Swier. All rights reserved.

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Kamala Harris the Marxist Chameleon Walking in Venezuela’s Footsteps thumbnail

Kamala Harris the Marxist Chameleon Walking in Venezuela’s Footsteps

By Geoff Ross

Kamala Harris is a Marxist puppet of George Soros and the corrupt deep state. She is a fake American intent on destroying our free market capitalist republic.

Her long term objective is to continue former Communist President Barack Hussein Obama’s “Hope and Change” unconstitutional transformation of our country into a Marxist state and she was well trained by her Marxist father.

Her ideology is also an exact mirror image of the Communist government running Venezuela under the dictatorship of comrade Nicolàs Maduro, a narco drug trafficker with a $15 million bounty on his head and minus his private, jet thanks to president Trumps former administration and his sanctions.

Let’s compare Comrade Kamala Harris and Comrade Nicolàs Maduro’s economic policies and ideology.

1. Federal Price Controls.

Kamala Harris stated she will implement Federal price controls to curb the inflation if elected President, inflation which she created with her deciding vote in the Senate in August 2022 adding close to 4 trillion dollars in additional national debt.

In his first year as president, Nicolàs Maduro was responsible for the closure of 77,839 businesses destroying 173,000 jobs across Venezuela when he implemented Federal price controls according to the Venezuelan National Statistics Institute (INE).

2. Government Rent Controls.

Kamala Harris in July 2024 stated while speaking in Atlanta Georgia to a crowd of 10,000 supporters, Harris promised to “take on corporate landlords and cap unfair rent increases.”

In 2014, President Maduro also created “a freeze on commercial rents at rates more than 50 percent lower than they had been which resulted with Venezuela’s private rental sector including apartments, malls and the retail industry with landlords losing 75% of their incomes. Landlords discontinued maintenance on their properties and stopped renting apartments creating a housing shortage.

3. Inflation and Hyperinflation.

Kamala Harris was the deciding vote in August 2022 with the fraudulently named Inflation Reduction Act which actually was the approval of the Green New Deal. It inflicted an increase close to 7% more inflation on our republic and more devaluation of the dollar creating a massive reduction of American consumers spending power and the printing of more dollars to pay the interest on our national debt.

During President Maduro’s presidency, Venezuela’s economy began hyperinflation in response to the high inflation rate created by both unprecedented money-printing and government deficit spending.

4. Government Control of Minimum Wages.

Kamala Harris supported the government implementation and control of minimum wages in California. When it was implemented this resulted in an immediate loss of over 10,000 jobs in the restaurant industry and hundreds of service industry businesses closing when government interference in Sacramento forced a $20 minimum immediate 22% wage increase on certain franchised businesses.

In April 2014, President Maduro raised by force the minimum wage by 30%, hoping to improve citizens’ purchasing power. This resulted in over half of the small businesses closing or laying off staff costing the Venezuelan government millions in income tax revenue and an immediate loss in citizens purchasing power and jobs.

5. Effects of Communist interference in free market capitalism and entrepreneurial risk taking.

The unemployment rate data promulgated by Biden’s US Department of Labor cannot be trusted and has submitted fake claims recently. Fraudulent Communist propaganda is a common practice in the Biden administration. The current state of our economy is very bad.

When President Maduro took office in early 2013, the unemployment rate in Venezuela was 7.6%. By 2017, after more of his Marxist economic policies where implemented this resulted in an unemployment rate of over 25% in Venezuela.

6. Promises of Low Income Homes and Free Money.

Kamala Harris copying a Communist blue print disguised as the “Build the American Dream: Lowering the Costs of Renting and Owning a Home,” said she will construct 3 million new housing units in the next four years, with rent controls and she also proposed $25,000 in down payment support for first-time homeowners. No word on how this will be funded by us taxpayers.

In May 2024 Nicolàs Maduro continued the Great Housing Mission created by Communist President Hugo Chavez in 2011 to allocate homes to low-income families at low cost or free.

His program supposedly built 4.6 million homes with no evidence to back up his claim. My family that lives in Venezuela would never accept any government benefit from Maduro and they see no such project was ever built. The limited number of homes that were built under this program was proven to be filled with corruption and structural deficiencies.

Kamala Harris is an exponential threat to our constitutional republic, she is following a Venezuelan government Communist path to our economic destruction.

I am amazed that Americans would support her Marxist policies so it must be a reflection of the low IQ Americans that vote for and support these tyrannical people.

No doubt they are a product of an indoctrinated left wing administered public school system and propaganda machine ran from the highest levels in state, local and federal governments.

To protect our free market economy, to protect our free speech and lawful ownership of weapons for self defense from a Marxist Harris dictatorship vote for Donald Trump this November 2024. Our children and grand children are depending on us to keep them free.

©2024. Geoff Ross. All rights reserved.

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Kamala Harris’s Housing Plan Would Be Worse Than Doing Nothing thumbnail

Kamala Harris’s Housing Plan Would Be Worse Than Doing Nothing

By Edward Pinto

On August 16, presidential candidate Kamala Harris unveiled a series of housing proposals that recycle the same failed strategies that have plagued federal housing policy for decades. Among the key components are subsidies for the construction of 3 million new housing units over four years, as well as a total of $100 billion over four years in down payment assistance to first-time homebuyers (FTBs).

Experience tells us her plan would be worse than doing nothing.

These proposals rest on the faulty premise that housing affordability can be improved through subsidies for construction and home purchases. But history offers a cautionary tale: From the 1930s to 2008, Congress passed and presidents signed into law at least 43 housing, urban renewal, and community development programs. Despite their lofty promises, these initiatives consistently failed in making housing more affordable.

Candidate Harris’s plan will be no different.

First, the plan to provide up to $25,000 in down payment assistance to 4 million first-time buyers over four years is likely to inadvertently raise home prices, thereby diminishing the intended benefits of this support. Currently, first-time buyers typically make a median down payment of around $10,500, or 3 percent of the home price. We estimate that even without the Harris proposal, 3 million of its recipients would have been able to purchase a home without any additional assistance and would experience a significant boost their purchasing power, in an already supply limited market. Additionally, the subsidy will also create and draw forward new demand from approximately 1 million additional buyers, further inflating prices. The cost-effectiveness of this plan is also questionable: With only one in four buyers truly needing the assistance, the cost per added homebuyer rises to a steep $100,000.

Second, Harris’s proposal to subsidize the construction of 3 million new housing units over four years is unlikely to significantly increase the overall housing supply. Much of this plan depends on expanding the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC), a program that, like many other subsidy programs, faces several challenges, which we dub the Five Cs: cost, complexity, corruption, a cartel of specialized LIHTC developers and non-profits, and the crowding out of private developers; studies show that nearly all LIHTC developments displace other housing that could have been built by the market without subsidies.

On the cost side, we estimate that the average new LIHTC unit costs around $450,000. Additionally, nearly half of the LIHTC units funded are allocated for the renovation and preservation of existing affordable units, rather than adding new ones.

Harris’ proposed tax incentive for building starter homes is the other main driver to add supply. It would suffer from many of the same Five Cs as LIHTC, and like the down payment assistance program, many of these new homes would have been built without the subsidy.

History shows that this approach can lead to significant market distortions. For example, the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968 provided easy credit terms and substantial subsidies, resulting in a surge of housing permits by 1971-1972, only for this boom to dissipate by 1975. This program left lasting scars on cities like Detroit, Chicago, and Cleveland—areas that remain hollowed out to this day. Similarly, the 1992 congressional mandate for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to meet affordable housing goals led to an easing of credit before the Great Financial Crisis. This policy caused housing permits to double from 1.1 million in 1992 to 2.2 million in 2005, but the market collapsed by 73 percent in 2009, leaving behind millions of foreclosures and a persistent housing supply deficit that still affects us today.

Third, Harris’s $40 billion fund for local governments to explore “innovative” housing solutions will likely funnel money into projects burdened by self-defeating government-mandated affordability requirements, which HUD loves but markets abhor. By further empowering federal bureaucrats, it will do more harm than good.

The fundamental problem with past programs and Harris’s proposed efforts is not insufficient subsidies but structural issues—namely, restrictive zoning and land use rules—that are holding back housing construction. These regulations make buildable land both scarce and expensive.

What is needed is a paradigm shift. As Charles Marohn, the founder of Strong Towns, succinctly put it, “We have to move beyond the narrow, almost futile task of making affordable [subsidized] housing and start working on the broader and more meaningful effort of making housing affordable.”

To achieve this, we need to significantly increase housing supply. The federal government has several levers at its disposal to encourage this result. First, a 10-year plan to auction surplus federal lands for new market-rate home construction could add 200,000 homes per year. This initiative could generate $10 billion in annual receipts. Second, eliminating the mortgage interest deduction for second homes could free up 700,000 existing homes over the next decade for first-time buyers. Third, reducing regulatory costs that hold back builders by increasing construction expenses is crucial—and indeed, this is an issue that Harris’s plan rightfully addresses.

These measures, in combination with state and local efforts to deregulate land use and zoning, can more effectively address the housing affordability crisis, all at no taxpayer cost and without unintended consequences.

AUTHORS

Edward J. Pinto and Tobias Peter

©2024. All rights reserved.

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