Mr. President, you had me at “Joint Address to Congress.”
Like a giddy little school girl, I cannot contain my excitement for tonight’s festivities. Of course, you know that I am speaking on my uncontrollable, adrenalized state of mind that is directly derived from President Donald Trump’s first major dive into his economic policy.
For one, some of the biggest highlights to expect when you’re watching the address can be shrouded in the realm that intersects with regulation on businesses, the free market, and the environment.
In an op-ed I penned for The Daily Caller from last week, entitled “Pruitt, The Federalist,” I wrote:
“…We will see a push for free market-based environmentalism that asserts that the private sector has the self-levied social obligation to protect environmental interests while also allowing the markets [to be left] alone.”
This sentiment couldn’t be even more verifiable than it is, today, as we move into the Address.
According to experts at the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), several of the Obama-era environmental policies will be sliced via the use of the executive action power. In fact, President Trump is expected, soon, to cut back regulatory guidance and excessive federal overreach via the targeting of faulty plans like Obama’s Clean Power Plan and the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) agenda.
Hopefully, the Donald can provide us with a multi-pointed plan on how to get our national economy back on the side of affordable energy. Championing such a cause can be done if the president, according to CEI and my own observations, has the intentions to overturn the Clean Power Plan, forcing the Environmental Protection Agency to meet statutory and discretionary objectives, and cut back on the “science fair-esque” climate doomsday projects.
But, in my opinion, one of the most important components to an environmental-economic package that is both pro-free market and pro-American sovereignty, is to drop the United States from the Paris climate regime and the United Nations climate change initiatives. One Congressional proposal, in particular, would limit funding the United States grants to the UN’s various green campaigns (hopefully, Trump name drops the legislation).
With the direct effect of effective deregulation policy, other components of Trump’s economic policy need to address some of the many issues with Dodd-Frank regulation and compelling the labor force to do their jobs… being laborious.
Ever since the election, the stock market has been witnessing unprecedented and successful performance. As a part of the overarching sentiment that keeping Wall Street healthy corroborates with a healthy economy, people are confident to invest, consume, and partake in the glories of the free market.
In order to secure this, Trump needs to address policy proposals that counter Dodd-Frank style control of the financial and banking industries while working to delay, and eventually remove, destructive rules like the U.S. Labor Department’s fiduciary rule.
However, yielding back to my own observations and the recommendations of CEI’s John Berlau, Trump needs to drop Richard Cordray, the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or the CFPB, and put a free-market oriented leader of the agency in place.
Overall, though, one thing that President Trump needs to reiterate is that the economic health of this country is based on the innovation and trailblazing of the private sector. Adding comments that point out successes in areas of deregulation, free market environmentalism, and the financial industry’s self-accountability will, at least for me, remind the citizenry that the country is coming back with a lot of room to grow.
He needs to clarify the NAFTA renegotiations and his overall plans for advocating free, unhindered international trade; but, the domestic economic policy seems promising, to say the least.
Now, let’s get the popcorn ready and listen to our 45th chief executive speak to his legislature and his fellow American citizens.