Jobs, Taxes and Infrastructure.

I recently received a comment from a reader asking which candidate I favored and which policy Kool Aid I would drink. While I do not support any of the candidates, I would like to see either Trump or Sanders win and would prefer Sanders. Obviously Trump and Sanders are vastly different so it is not their personalities or their policies that makes me prefer them. In fact, I don't think either could change the laws as neither would have their parties support. The fact is that it is easier to pay off and control a party then it is to control every politician. A Trump Sanders presidential showdown would tell the politicians that voting only the party line will not get them elected.

The biggest issues facing the United States are our long tern health are not gay marriage, abortion or even immigration. Lets look at the individual issues facing the country and talk about how the two parties view them as neither will solve them.

JOBS

Since the Reagan era we have seen an increasing push to ship jobs oversees for slave wages (some actual slave workers in China) and avoiding environmental and safety laws and any regulation. It should be noted that these same companies are failing to pay taxes and keep the money oversees. While shipping jobs oversees the nation has seen an attack on wages in this country. The leading factors in this are increasing automation, "subcontracting" and financial manipulation by the finance industry. Most of the presidential candidates were part of the problem that caused these things in the first place, Trump and Sanders were not. Trump is a "realist" and would tell you this is the game we are playing and we need to play it smarter. Sanders would say we need to change the rules.

Let us look at the Republican parties answer to these questions. The vast majority of the party wants to eliminate income tax, eliminate regulations and allow more educated immigrants to come over and take jobs away from citizens. The Democratic party has given up on trying to change these things and are just looking to slow down the changes. Neither is putting forward plans for changing the game in any significant way and that is what is needed. The next wave in job destruction in America is going to be self-driving trucks.

Huffington Post - Self-Driving Trucks Are Going to Hit Us Like a Human-Driven Truck.

Huffington Post - Self-Driving Trucks Will Actually Be Great For Truckers, For Now.

Please read the articles in the links. The biggest job in 29 states is trucking and that is going to go away with self-driving trucks. While this new technology will require someone to build the trucks, it will not be Americans. The estimate is that these self-driving trucks will become common in about 5 years, not forty. All of the people running for president know this and they have no solution. Well Marco Rubio thinks we should be cheaper than machines, he also wants to eliminate the minimum wage. I guess if we require self-driving trucks to have a human on board, the human will only get $5.00 an hour. That is not a solution. His other idea that we all become welders is equally ludicrous.

The idea that eliminating taxes on the rich will increase job creation in the United States is equally ludicrous.. If it is cheaper and easier to build in China then the companies will continue to and they are increasingly automating their businesses. If employees in China cannot compete with automation at $1.00 an hour, how can Americans? If the United States eliminated any wage guarantees and all regulation, it still wouldn't bring the jobs back because the companies already have the industrial capability in China. We need to change the laws that make it profitable to ship jobs oversees.

TAXES

There are two, equally dumb, approaches to taxes that the Republicans want to initiate. While some believe we should cut the taxes on the rich others are calling for a flat tax; but, both believe we should cut the total amount of taxes going to the government and thereby reduce government services. I should point out that at least Rand Paul and Bernie Sanders want to decrease military spending. The Democratic party calls for increasing the tax rate for the rich; but, doesn't seek to eliminate all the deductions which just means that some very profitable companies will continue to pay no taxes. Whether they don't pay 35% or 40% is irrelevant when the taxes are not being paid.

What if we only gave tax cuts to companies that either increase overall wages or created more jobs in the United States? If they don't do either of those things, then we increase their taxes. We also need to eliminate all of these free trade agreements that are only hurting American workers.

INFRASTRUCTURE

We all know that our roads, bridges and industrial capability needs to be rebuilt. We need to spend on these things so that we can make us able to compete with foreign countries. Rebuilding our infrastructure will also create jobs in America. The Republicans are not even willing to transportation funding and have consistently held up fixes to the Transportation fund. Sanders would push for more funding of infrastructure.

ANSWER

My answer to the question I was asked is that I will vote for whoever will support and promote the policies I have outlined above.