15-02 MEGA MAGA | Make Economics Great Again

Show 15-02 Summary: You can’t Make America Great Again without MEGA. Make Economics Great Again. This week we take a look at how the new Trump administration can make the economy great again. We do that with Jonathan Williams, the president and chief economist for the American Legislative Exchange Council. We look first at how stupid environmental policies in California have led to the disastrous Los Angeles wildfires. And we look at Trump’s tax plans. Can he really replace income taxes with tariffs? And we look forward to a more efficient government that absolutely must cut spending if we are ever going to get rid of the deficit to start cutting into the debt.

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Air Dates: January 11th & 12th, 2025 | Guest: Jonathan Williams

This Week – MEGA: Make Economics Great Again

One of the best things Trump’s MAGA can do is MEGA. Make Economics Great Again.

We welcome back Jonathan Williams, who was recently promoted to president over at ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council. ALEC is all about developing good, common sense, sound policy that they help states implement.

We start our discussion with these stupid environmental policies in California that have led to the disastrous Los Angeles wildfires. The incompetent people in charge are trying to blame climate change for their stupid policies. In part, they are correct. Their religious belief in climate change led them to the stupid policy of not doing forest management.

Let’s be clear: IF you truly believe in climate change, and that the world is getting hotter and drier as a result of global warming, then you should be doing more forest management than ever. And not what the environmental left has been doing, which is nothing.

But of course stupid policies are not limited to California. Many of those stupid environmental policies along with hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer dollars spent on climate change, come from Washington DC.

Can Trump MEGA?

We talk with Jonathan Williams about what new policies are needed, and what old policies definitely need to go. How many of those environmental policies will be forced to go when the federal funding keeping them alive disappears? But what new, good policies are needed? And are there examples of good policies at the state level that ought to trickle up to the federal level?

And what about those taxes?

People forget that for most of America’s history, there was no income tax. And the federal government got most of its funding from tariffs. can trump really make that happen and replace the income tax with tariffs? Is that even feasible? well, it can’t happen unless there are some significant cuts to the budget, and we talk about that too.

Get informed about how MAGA can make MEGA really happen.

Well, lookee here:

🚨 REPORT: Congressman Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) has filed the Fair Tax Act, repealing the national income tax, corporate tax, property tax, gift tax and payroll tax.

It also gets rid of the IRS.

In replacement, there is a flat, national “consumption tax” of 23%.

“Under today’s… pic.twitter.com/lGKdiV2uUx

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) January 10, 2025

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Show Notes: Research, Links Mentioned & Additional Info

• Jonathan Williams is the president and chief economist for the American Legislative Exchange Council. Find out more about the great work they do by heading to ALEC.org 
• Here Are All The Ways DEI-Crazed Officials Made The LA Fire More Deadly (Federalist, Jan 9, 2024)
• California FAIR Plan insurance explained (via Bankrate, Oct 2024)
  • “If a wildfire destroys a swath of homes on the FAIR Plan and there is not enough money in reserves to pay out those claims, the FAIR Plan would turn to the state’s private insurers to help with the cash call.”
• Corporate Bankruptcies Surge to 14-Year High (Epoch Times, Jan 7, 2025)
• Can Trump Stop the Climate Agenda’s March Through the Institutions? (RealClearEnergy, Jan 5, 2025)
• VIDEO: “If there’s one thing that our use of green energy guarantees, it’s that fossil fuel-burning, foreign adversaries will have an advantage over us.” via CO2 Coalition
• The problem lurking in the shadows: unfunded liabilities. “Underfunded Retirement Plans at the State Level: Nick Stark on Voice of Reason” (ALEC, Feb 21, 2024)

Related/Further Information

• Oregon, blue states rule top inflation states (Oregon Catalyst, Jan 7, 2025)
  • “The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis ranks Oregon as the eighth most expensive U.S. state to live in.”
• The Good, the Bad, and the Uncertainty of the Trump Economy (Project Syndicate, Dec 31, 2024)
• Not good when D’s aren’t even investing in Oregon.: “Arizona wins third and final federal semiconductor research hub; Oregon’s hopes dashed” (OPB, Jan 6, 2025); “Arizona wins last of 3 planned federal chip research sites” (OregonLive, Jan 6, 2025)
• State regulators approve more electricity rate hikes for Oregonians in 2025 (The World, Jan 7, 2025)
  • Shouldn’t the policy be to provide the most power for the lowest price? If individuals or individual businesses want to buy solar or wind, they can. But don’t punish the average person.
• Lawmakers propose pause on rate hikes (Capital Chronicle, Jan 7, 2025)