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News

Trump signs executive order to unblock construction of two major pipelines

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Trump signs good executive action = GOOD TRUMP
Trump signs good executive action = GOOD TRUMP

I can’t believe that I am blogging on “Good Trump” three days in a row. Rest assured, when there is “Bad Trump”, I will cover that as well.

The Daily Signal reports:

President Donald Trump signed a pair of executive orders to move forward with two major pipelines blocked by the Obama administration, but with the caveat the U.S. would “renegotiate” the terms of building the projects.

“It’s subject to a renegotiation of terms by us,” Trump said before signing an executive order on the Keystone XL oil pipeline. “We’re going to renegotiate some of the terms, and, if they’d like, we’ll see if we can get that pipeline built.”

The Dakota Access oil pipeline’s construction was also “subject to terms and conditions to be negotiated by us,” Trump said before signing his second executive order on pipelines Tuesday.

One of those conditions is pipelines must be built with U.S.-produced steel, Trump said. Union leaders met with Trump Tuesday morning.

Trump also signed executive orders to expedite environmental reviews of infrastructure projects to get them built more quickly.

The Obama administration blocked Keystone XL and Dakota Access, drawing cheers from environmental activists opposed to using fossil fuels. Former President Barack Obama argued Keystone XL’s approval would tarnish America’s image as a champion against global warming.

The former administration blocked the Dakota Access oil pipeline in November 2016, after environmentalists and American Indians protested for months to block the pipeline. Activists argued the pipeline would impact Standing Rock Sioux sacred tribal sites—though they produced little evidence of this.

Environmentalists were furious with Trump’s pipeline executive orders, but supporters argue it will be better for jobs and the environment to build more pipelines.

Trump shouldn’t care about the global warming fascists, as I can guarantee you that none of them voted for him, and none of them ever will.

However, I am worried about what I am hearing about Trump on free trade. Every conservative believes in free trade, because conservatives understand basic economics, and basic economics teaches that free trade is always better for both parties of the trade.

If Trump puts tariffs (taxes on trades) on foreign goods coming into the United States, (e.g. – smartphones, computers, electronics and cars), then American consumers will pay MORE for those items.

Look what the American Enterprise Institute says:

America’s low-income households benefit the most from free trade and having access to cheap imports because they spend a greater share of their budgets on traded goods like clothing, footwear, household items, school supplies, appliances, toys, and furniture (think Walmart shoppers)…

[…]America’s low-income households have the most to lose from greater restrictions on free trade with import quotas, protective trade tariffs, border taxes, and other trade barriers. If Trump starts a trade war with tariffs and border taxes, it will be a “war on the poorest Americans…

That’s why I am skeptical about Trump’s protectionist tendencies. Some of the people who got him elected are uneducated when it comes to basic economics, and they are pressuring him to do stupid things that will hurt all the consumers in a misguided effort to save the jobs of a few workers. Workers who would be better off getting re-trained and re-hired in a more challenging job. I’d much rather use government money for re-training someone who loses their job than slam all the poorest consumers with a tax on their consumer goods from foreign countries. No unemployment, but tuition for a trade school or university, and cut employer payroll taxes on them for 5 years after they graduate. It would be like increasing their value, then putting them on sale. That’s way better than tariffs.

News

Trump signs executive order banning taxpayer funding of foreign abortions

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Trump signs good bill into law = GOOD TRUMP
Trump enacts good executive order = GOOD TRUMP

Well, this is two “Good Trump” episodes in a row.

The Stream reports:

President Donald Trump on “Day One” of his presidency signed an executive order restoring the so-called “Mexico City Policy,” which requires all foreign non-governmental organizations that receive federal funding to refrain from performing or promoting abortion services.

Ronald Reagan first established the broader policy 33 years ago, which built on a 50-year-old law banning USAID from providing funds to any nongovernmental organization providing a number of services — including abortion.

Called the “global gag rule” by critics, the policy has been lifted or reinstated by presidents since Reagan, depending on whether the president was a Republican or a Democrat. Bill Clinton lifted the policy in 1993, George W. Bush reinstated in 2001 and Barack Obama pulled it during his first term as president.

Under the policy, International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) will lose federal funding. Alison Marshall, the director of advocacy for IPPF, estimates that the abortion organization will lose approximately $100 million over a period of two to three years.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), the only woman remaining on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said she has a legislative plan in place now that President Trump moved forward with restoring the policy. Shaheen is also worried that President Trump will gut gender equality programs, among other “liberal social policies.” Calling the move to reinstate the Mexico City policy “short-sighted,” Shaheen said that “Abolishing those programs is antithetical here in our democracy.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said that it was “time to take a hard look at women’s aid programs,” reportedForeign Policy. “The State Department is trying to basically get countries who receive foreign assistance to sign up for a liberal agenda,” said Graham. He added that under the Obama administration, “It’s been out of control.”

In addition to his action on the Mexico City Policy, President Trump signed executive orders withdrawing the U.S. from the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and freezing federal workforce hiring. President Trump exempted the military from the hiring freeze.

It’s important to note that Obama was the one who enacted taxpayer-funding of abortions abroad with United States taxpayer money.

Here’s what Obama did on January 24th, 2009, eight years ago today:

One of Obama’s first acts as president was to repeal the Mexico City Policy, which prohibited tax dollars from going to international organizations that do abortions. A few months later he signed an executive order that allowed tax dollars to fund unsuccessful embryonic stem cell research.

Less than a month after taking office, President Obama began the process to roll back conscience protections that his predecessor had put in place so that healthcare professionals would not be forced to perform abortions if they were opposed to doing them.

He also nominated Kathleen Sebelius, then governor of Kansas, for the position of the secretary of Health and Human Services. Ms. Sebelius was one of the most pro-abortion governors in the nation, vetoing a bill that would have restricted late-term abortions, and was close friends with late-term abortionist George Tiller.

[…]And all that was just in the first couple months of Obama’s presidency.

Are you pro-life? Obama was making you pay for abortions abroad, not to mention federal funding of Planned Parenthood. That’s what people who vote Democrat get when they vote Democrat. There is no such thing as a pro-life Democrat. Everyone who votes Democrat is pro-abortion, no exceptions. Every Democrat votes for late-term abortion, partial-birth abortion, infanticide, sex-selection abortions and race-selection abortions. Every Democrat is in favor of abortions even after the baby can feel pain.

Good Trump, Bad Trump

Regarding reporting on Trump: I am going to be fair about posting good things that Trump does and bad things that Trump does. If Trump does anything to impose tariffs, I will blog on that. If Trump does anything to weaken NATO or embolden Russia, I will blog on that. If Trump does anything to waste money on “infrastructure”, I will blog on that. So far, it’s good Trump all the way.

Note: No conservatives really liked Obama’s Trans Pacific Partnership deal, so Trump’s getting rid of that does not count as “bad Trump”. But I will be watching for any kind of tariff or other protectionist nonsense, since consumers are the ones who are hardest hit by those naive, populist economic policies. Free trade is bedrock conservatism, and any opposition to free trade is wrong. It’s wrong if Obama does it (by delaying the free trade deal with Columbia) and it’s wrong if Trump does it.

News

Trump signs executive order giving Americans relief from Obamacare fees and taxes

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Health insurance costs rose dramatically under Obama
Health insurance costs rose dramatically under Obama (click for larger image)

The Washington Free Beacon reports.

Excerpt:

On his first day in office, President Trump signed an executive order that would relieve the economic burden that Obamacare has caused, fulfilling a promise he made on the campaign trail.

[…]Trump promised Americans that on day one of taking office, he would ask Congress to immediately deliver a full repeal of the Affordable Care Act.

“Since March of 2010, the American people have had to suffer under the incredible economic burden of the Affordable Care Act—Obamacare,” Trump said. “As it appears Obamacare is certain to collapse of its own weight, the damage done by the Democrats and President Obama, and abetted by the Supreme Court, will be difficult to repair unless the next president and a Republican congress lead the effort to bring much-needed free market reforms to the healthcare industry.”

“It is not enough to simply repeal this terrible legislation,” Trump said. “We will work with Congress to make sure we have a series of reforms ready for implementation that follow free market principles and that will restore economic freedom and certainty to everyone in this country.”

Since Trump’s economic policy draws on the experts at the conservative Heritage Foundation, we can expect that the alternative to Obamacare will be one based on a system that is proven to be successful. Switzerland has a health care system that has universal coverage, yet is fully privatized. It costs little, and delivers a lot of health care. Their system works, unlike socialist health care systems in the UK and Canada – which Obama was trying to emulate.

House Republicans say:

“Our goal is a truly patient-centered system, which means more options to choose from, lower costs, and greater control over your coverage,” said Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R., Wis.). “And as we work to get there, we will make sure there is a stable transition period so that people don’t have the rug pulled out from under them.”

The nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services Rep. Tom Price (R., Ga.) echoed that sentiment, saying at his confirmation hearing that it is imperative that individuals have health coverage and have greater choices and opportunities to get the coverage they need.

“I think there’s been a lot of talk about individuals losing health care coverage—that is not our goal, nor is it our desire, nor is it our plan,” Price said.

The Daily Signal has more details on the relief provided to poor Americans in his executive order. It directs Trump’s subordinates to:

[…]exercise all authority and discretion available to them to waive, defer, grant exemptions from, or delay the implementation of any provision or requirement of the Act that would impose a fiscal burden on any State or a cost, fee, tax, penalty, or regulatory burden on individuals, families, healthcare providers, health insurers, patients, recipients of healthcare services, purchasers of health insurance, or makers of medical devices, products, or medications.

The Daily Signal also comments:

As to the substance, the new president’s clear directive is for his appointees to focus on minimizing the damaging effects of the law. That constitutes a sharp change in direction from the one taken by the Obama administration.

The implementation approach taken by the Obama administration was essentially to try to increase subsidized enrollment heedless of any resulting costs or disruptions to either the public or private sectors. This executive order signals that the Trump administration’s first order of business for Obamacare will instead be to minimize those costs and disruptions.

Some numbers from CNBC:

For many Obamacare customers this year, they’ll be paying more for less.

A new report on Obamacare plans details how plan premiums, deductibles and other out-of-pocket insurance costs have grown sharply even as the size of networks of health providers covered by those plans are shrinking in 2017.

The report from the Avalere consultancy also details how the number of insurers selling Obamacare plans have also shrunk, decreasing competition in the individual health plan market.

Last year, just 4 percent of all regions of the United States had only one participating insurer on Obamacare exchange, according to Avalere’s analysis. This year, 36 percent of all regions in the U.S. will have only one participating health insurer on an Obamacare exchanges.

Avalere’s report also found that in 2017, just 31 percent of all exchange-sold plans are “preferred provider organizations” or “point of service” plans, down from 52 percent of all plans in 2014, the first year of Obamacare coverage

PPOs generally have a wider networks of doctors and hospitals covered by the plan, and cover more out-of-network services than do other types of plans, including health maintenance organizations.

I have a friend who is a Democrat. For every month of the last 6 years, I have been presenting him with the numbers on Obamacare showing the negative impact on small businesses and poor Americans. He makes 6 figures as a software engineer, and knows literally nothing about economics. I have even told him stories about some of my friends who are poorer who struggled with the financial burdens caused by the law. His response was stunning: “what does this matter to you, you have health care through your employer”. That’s how Democrats think. As long as they are OK, who cares about the poor. The important thing for them is that government run everything and make all the decisions, because ordinary people cannot be trusted with freedom.

You can read more about the disaster of Obamacare here in a report by the Heritage Foundation.