Halle Clark

A Brief Analysis of the Current Economy Money is what drives us as humans 99.9% of the time, so it is obvious that the economy will always be a key political issue, especially when it comes to elections. During Trump's four years in office, right wing supporters will tell you about the good things he did for the economy, including creating 400,000 manufacturing jobs, creating over 4 million jobs in general since the 2016 election, and getting the median household income to be the highest ever recorded. Democrats will tell you about how Obama ended the 2008 recession with his economic stimulus package, the 10 million jobs he created while in office, and how deficits fell during his second term. Both politicians mentioned did good things for the economy, while both also made some mistakes. My point is that the economy is a booming topic that you deserve to be educated on, no matter your affiliation, so let's get to discussing some associated policies. Minimum Wage The Political Issue Minimum wage is the lowest dollar amount a company can legally pay its employees to work. Currently, the minimum wage in America is $7.25 USD. This is considered an issue because some people think this amount is far too low, especially for workers that have families to support. A democrat supported act called The Wage Act of 2019 calls for gradually raising the minimum wage and reaching $15 USD by 2024. People who support this idea include reasoning such as 67.3% of the poor working in America receiving a pay increase, the raised minimum wage reversing years of growing pay inequality between the lower and middle class, and lower paid workers tending to spend their extra earnings, therefore helping stimulate the economy and spur greater business activity according to ​ The Economic Policy Institute​. People who oppose raising minimum wage argue that it would result in job loss based on 100 minimum wage studies conducted by David Neumark and William Wascher in which two-thirds found negative employment effects. They also reason that it will raise prices for consumers. According to ​Cato Institute​, the 2012 Wilson review noted that a 2004 review of more than 20 minimum wage studies looking at price effects found that a 10% minimum wage increase in the U.S. caused food prices to go up by 4%. The Democratic View on Minimum Wage Most influential democratic politicians, including Senator Amy Klobuchar and former Vice President Joe Biden favor the Raise the Wage Act, calling for a $15 minimum wage by 2024. The Republican View on Minimum Wage Most republicans believe pay should be based on skill, education, and the law of supply and demand, according to ​Republican Views on the Issues​. That being said, the majority of republicans believe raising minimum wage so significantly will only cause problems, resulting in more economic harm than good. Affordable Housing The Political Issue The housing market is ever changing and happens to be extremely complicated, but to put it simply, housing prices have risen massively and resulted in Americans paying more than 30% of their income on mortgages or rent. That is why it is a key political issue today. A 2019 study revealed that vacancy was falling, causing rent prices to skyrocket. More than 4 million low income units disappeared, including 1 million in the year 2017 alone, according to Habitat for Humanity​. People who want homeownership to be more accessible to lower income families and individuals are calling for more assistance with down payments and broader access to safe credit. The Democratic View On Affordable Housing Many influential democratic politicians have varying reform plans, so let's go through some of them. Here are the following plans according to ​Politico​: -Senator Elizabeth Warren plans to use federal funds to build more houses -Kamala Harris and Andrew Yang call for subsidies for renters and homeowners -Democrats including Cory Booker and Amy Klobuchar want to combine the previous two methods -Other democratic politicians including Joe Biden and Tulsi Gabbard are still undecided The Republican View On Affordable Housing According to the ​National Low-Income Housing Coalition​, the republican party platform on affordable housing includes incentives for homeownership and minimizing the federal role in zoning. They want to "advance responsible homeownership while guarding against the abuses that led to the housing collapse" as quoted by members from the 2016 republican party platform. National Debt The Political Issue The national debt in America is a grim subject. As of August 31, 2020, the total national debt was a whopping 26.7 trillion. So yeah, we owe a little bit of money as a country. Two terms that sometimes get confused for each other are the national debt and the budget deficit, so let me explain. A budget deficit in regards to the American government is when our expenses exceed our income from regular sources including collected taxes. Some solutions to budget deficits include creating more revenue generating activities in order to bring in more money and cutting back on certain expenses. National debt is the net accumulation of the government's budget deficits for the year, according to ​Investopedia​. The Democrats View On National Debt As of now, the majority of Democratic politicians have little to no answers for our national debt problems. The Republican View On National Debt In the 2016 election, candidate Donald Trump promised to eliminate national debt while in office. At first, the debt dropped from 19.9 trillion to 19.8 trillion, but a lot of people believe it had nothing to do with the president and everything to do with the federal debt ceiling. In 2017, Trump increased the debt ceiling, and as a result, the national debt exceeded $20 trillion dollars for the first time ever in America. He then suspended the debt ceiling, and the debt raised to $22 trillion in 2019. On Oct. 21, the national debt was at an all-time high of 27 trillion. All in all, the majority of right-wing supporters will blame the 36% national debt increase while Trump was in office on COVID-19, but the truth is that most of it occurred before the pandemic even started. So, while Donald Trump's promises were awesome, the fulfillment fell alarmingly short. This is all according to information found on ​The Balance​. Taxes The Political Issue According to ​Dictionary​, the definition of a tax is "a sum of money demanded by a government for its support or for specific facilities or services, levied upon incomes, property, sales, etc." As Americans, we pay a lot of different taxes, and they can get confusing. So, let's break down some various forms of taxes. Capital Gains Taxes These taxes refer to investments like stocks or real estate. They tend to be taxed at a lower rate, ranging between 15 and 20 percent. Opposers of these low rates argue that they disproportionately benefit the wealthy and drive income inequality. Supporters of further reducing the capital gains rates argue that the said tax cut will raise the amount of investments and possibly pay for itself, according to fortune.com. Most influential Democratic politicians, like Joe Biden or Michael Bennet, want to raise the capital gains rates, while some democrats are undecided or have not spoken on the matter. Republican politicians, including Donald Trump himself, are in favor of further reducing the capital gains rates. Corporate Income Taxes A corporate income tax is a tax on business profits. Most small businesses are not required to pay CIT because they don't classify as corporations and make an income reportable under the individual income tax, as stated by ​The Tax Foundation​. Prior to the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the federal Corporate Income Tax rate was 35 percent, but now it's only 21 percent, and the federal and state combined has fallen to 25.8 percent from 38.9 percent. A lot of supporters for raising Corporate Income Taxes believe that corporations making enough money to be taxed CIT can afford to spare some change. Still, higher Corporate Income Taxes result in higher spending for the consumer and lower wages for the employees, so the burden is not solely falling on the corporation owners. Major Democratic politicians including Joe Biden and Michael Bloomberg want to raise corporate taxes, but still keep them below what they were before the 2017 act. Other Democrats, including Bernie Sanders and Cory Booker, want to reverse the 2017 cut all together. Republican politicians such as Trump, and those in his administration, were responsible for the 2017 Corporate Income Tax cut, and believe that corporate income taxes should remain lower. Wealth Taxes Some people believe the wealthy should either have special taxes, or at least have the existing taxes raised on upper-income Americans. Most of these supporters are Democrat, and some include Joe Biden, who supports raising the existing taxes on individuals making an annual income of more than $400,000, and Michael Bennet, who supports creating special taxes​.