Prof. ST Hsieh
Director, US-China Energy Industry Forum
626-376-7460
January 23, 2024
The US faces a crucial general election on November 5, 2024, but voters need to express their opinions right now so that the election result will not be a disaster. The trend now is that a rematch of Biden vs Trump is almost inevitable. By tonight, Trump will be unstoppable as the GOP candidate for the general election.
Unfortunately, a rematch of Biden vs Trump certainly means a Trump II in 2025. Biden will be the enabler! It is not because Trump is a better person than Biden. Rather, Biden’s record in the White House is just disappointing. His record is so bad that many voters favor Trump now, they may be desperate. But it is a fact.
Of course, Biden’s age is of concern. It is time for Biden to come out and campaign like a real candidate with his democratic peers for the presidential nomination. Or just get out of the way, almost any democrat will beat Trump in November.
Biden grows government to buy votes. Meanwhile, Argentina’s Milei schools him on capitalism.
While President Joe Biden’s relentless push to ‘forgive’ loans of millions of people who knowingly took them on may seem nice, it’s anything but.
USA TODAY
Let me tell you a tale of two presidents.
One is a fierce defender of free-market capitalism, limited government and personal freedom.
The other is a big-government proponent who keeps adding regulations on businesses and spending the country can’t afford.
One of these men is the president of the United States. The other is the president of Argentina.
And I’m sorry to say that President Joe Biden is not the defender of capitalism, smaller government and freedom.
Last week, Argentina’s newly elected President Javier Milei gave a rousing speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that blew up the internet (at least among conservatives and the business world). The libertarian economist’s 20-minute lecture centered on the dangers facing the Western world if countries keep turning from the free-market system to heavy-handed government intervention.
Meanwhile, Biden announced that he would “cancel” more student loan debt in a blatant ploy to curry favor among voters – especially the young voters who have little interest in supporting the 81-year-old. The president has fast-tracked loan forgiveness with no explanation.
Rather than grow the scope of government and pile on to the national debt, Biden should consider Milei’s warning.
Digging a hole: Our national debt has topped $34 trillion. Does anyone actually have the guts to fix it?
‘The Western world is in danger’
“Today I’m here to tell you that the Western world is in danger. And it is in danger because those who are supposed to have to defend the values of the West are co-opted by a vision of the world that inexorably leads to socialism and thereby to poverty,” Milei told the crowd.
“Unfortunately, in recent decades, motivated by some well-meaning individuals willing to help others, and others motivated by the desire to belong to a privileged class, the main leaders of the Western world have abandoned the model of freedom for different versions of what we call collectivism.”
Argentina learned these lessons the hard way. In the past century, it experimented with socialism and went from a prosperous country to a struggling one where the government intervened in the economy. High taxes and high inflation followed.
Sound familiar?
Biden’s determination to create an expansive new entitlement program in the form of student debt cancellation is just one example of how Democrats want to move this country toward the kind of collectivism and big-government meddling Milei is talking about.
That loan debt doesn’t magically disappear. It becomes the responsibility of all taxpayers, and it adds to the national debt, which has reached a stunning $34 trillion.
Other people’s money: Biden will not be deterred from using your money to pay off other people’s student loans
Government is not the answer
Ever since taking office, Biden and his administration have worked to expand government regulations and federal programs. Often the motivation for such intrusions is one of “fairness” or “social justice.”
Biden adds to his ‘Bidenomics’ flop: This new rule throws wrench in popular gig economy
Yet, this is precisely what Milei talks about and says led to his country’s undoing decades ago. Bigger government always leads to less individual freedom – and the hampering of capitalism.
While Biden’s relentless push to “forgive” loans of millions of people who knowingly took them on may seem nice, it’s anything but.
As Milei pointed out, a country’s prosperity and growth are tied to economic freedom and limited government: “Do not surrender to the advance of the state. The state is not the solution. The state is the problem itself.”
Argentinians who were sick of what was happening to their country went in a very different direction in electing Milei.
Americans have a choice this year, too, and the stakes are high.
Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY.
Trump beats Biden with RFK Jr. on ballot: Poll
Julia Mueller The Hill
Mon, January 22, 2024 at 12:41 PM PST
Former President Trump beats President Biden with independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on a hypothetical 2024 ballot, according to a new poll.
The latest Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll showed Trump leading Biden by 7 points in a one-on-one match-up 48 percent to 41 percent, respectively.
Trump’s lead rose slightly to 8 points with Kennedy added into the mix. In that hypothetical three-way race, Trump scored 41 percent to Biden’s 33 percent, while Kennedy raked in 18 percent.
With independent candidate Cornel West and the Green Party’s Jill Stein also added to the ticket alongside Kennedy, Trump’s lead over Biden climbed to 11 points, with 42 percent to the incumbent’s 31 percent.
The polling highlights ongoing concerns about whether independent contenders could suck up support for Biden’s reelection bid as many Americans report feeling wary of a Biden-Trump rematch in 2024.
Nearly two-thirds of voters in the poll said the country “needs another choice” this year if Biden and Trump end up as their parties’ respective nominees. And more than half — or 55 percent — said they’d consider an “independent moderate candidate” in that case.
Majorities in the poll also expressed worries about Biden’s age and doubts about his fitness to serve if elected to another four years in the Oval Office, with 51 percent saying they think Biden is “getting worse” as commander in chief.
The poll was conducted Jan. 17-18 among 2,346 registered voters. It is a collaboration of the Center for American Political Studies at Harvard University and the Harris Poll.
RFK Jr. was shocked that Biden’s $886B defense funding ‘exceeds all other discretionary spending combined’ — promises that he ‘WILL cut the deficit’ which now stands at $1.7T
Jing Pan
Sun, January 21, 2024 at 5:00 AM PST·