You can often learn a lot about something by knowing its opposite. Many stories and pictures of East and West Berlin during the Cold War exist. The former was little changed from the end of World War 2 for quite some time. There were bombed-out buildings, there were still swastikas on some of the remaining structures, and life there was backward, like in the rest of the USSR. The western part of the city was architecturally dynamic, as were its economic life and social scene. These two parts of the same town, divided by armies and later a wall, were symbols of the divergent growth patterns of East and West. Many people risked their lives to cross the border separating the two Berlins. The stark differences in choice and future were drivers for the eventual fall of the Berlin Wall.
On a trip back to Las Vegas from California, we drove for an hour in sparsely-populated desert-like California. There was nothing much to see until, in the distance, we could see life. Just over the California border is Primm, Nevada. Since it’s in Nevada, it has legal gambling. It also has low taxes and thus the place has hotels, discount stores, casinos and more. I told my family that if you want to see the difference between a low-tax/low-regulation state and one that is the opposite, remember what we saw in California before the state line and what was waiting for us in Primm once we got over it. I have heard that even Apple of Cupertino, California, uses a Nevada address for its income to have a lower tax rate. The synagogue we attended when visiting my retired parents in Las Vegas started with a bunch of old codgers and later became packed with young families fleeing California’s high taxes, poor schools, too many illegal immigrants, and Democrat stranglehold on government.
I hate when writers make predictions in sports, the stock market, or politics. Nobody can hold them responsible when they fail dramatically and, as such, can forecast and predict whatever they want. Remember how many said that Desantis would dethrone Trump? While I generally do not like to try to predict the future, I think we have a unique situation in which both presidential candidates have served in the White House for four years. Yes, people can change; even politicians can change their stripes if it serves their interests. But both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have been clear over the years what their policies are. So, let’s dive: what will America look like in 2029?
*The Economy. Donald Trump lowered taxes, and his tax breaks benefited virtually every economic level in America. He is discussing doing the same again and even mentioned abolishing federal taxes completely. He has made his association with Elon Musk official and close. The latter is waiting for the opportunity to slim down the federal government and reduce regulation, two actions that will stimulate economic growth and lower prices. Donald Trump pushing greater energy production will reduce prices driven up during four years of the Biden-Harris administration. The US retains the largest economy in the world, and economic growth is robust year after year.
Kamala Harris has not fully defined her economic program, but she has given some clues. She has thrown out the old “make the rich pay their fair share” while the rich already pay the vast majority of federal taxes. She claims that high prices are due to corporate gouging, but economists do not agree. Raw materials and transportation costs are up, and most big retailers have made it clear that they are just passing along their increased costs. As Harris does not support fracking or increased hydrocarbon production, energy prices will remain high and ostensibly go higher, as there is nothing left in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to tap. Whereas Donald Trump has suggested lower taxes for companies that produce in the US, Harris seems comfortable with offshoring to Mexico and China. It is hard to see any economic growth under Harris. The US economy will be moribund, lacking the drivers for serious growth.
*The Border. Donald Trump has promised to close the border. He has also made it clear that he plans to deport people living illegally inside the United States. 2029 may come around and the US borders—both north and south—could be as carefully patrolled and closed as any border between countries anywhere in the world. We could also see towns and cities overrun by illegal aliens returning to normal. It was said that the US spent $150 billion in 2023 on illegal aliens. The US has better things to do with that gargantuan sum of money.
Kamala Harris presided over the open border in which apparently over 10 million people entered the US illegally. She is tone-deaf to the problems reported by many towns and cities in regards to their inability to deal with the large, rapid influx of so many people. New York’s mayor complained and is now the subject of federal investigations and charges. There is no reason to imagine that Harris would slow the flow at the border, and she is in favor of giving people who violated federal law to enter the country citizenship. Forget about swing states. There will only be blue and bluer.
*US Standing in the World. Donald Trump will give our allies US support and let America’s enemies know that making bad decisions will have consequences. The assassination of General Suleimani was a shocker for the Iranians, just like 100 American-made Israeli fighters attacking for hours over the skies of Iran this past weekend. The Abraham Accords will find new members, and dictators like Putin and Xi will learn that it is better to deal with Trump than to fight him and his improved American military.
Kamala Harris, while not suffering from the dementia that Joe Biden showed leaders on the world stage, is not someone who ignites fear in the hearts of America’s enemies. She would support the continued degradation of the US armed forces into a pronoun insurgency unit instead of a trained killing force. Foreign leaders would continue taking risks, knowing that the US would either not respond or would be incapable of responding forcefully. Lecturing enemies is not the same as wiping out their forces. Israeli leaders might want to learn Mandarin if they are going to need advanced weapons during a Harris presidency.
This list is not complete by any stretch. The US stands before a future of success, progress, leadership in the world, and hope versus a future of economic and social destruction, failure on the world stage, and increased division within the populace. Kamala Harris has shown us in four years that she is incompetent, unprepared, and clueless. She cannot answer basic questions and has not described a clear difference between what she wants to do and what has been done during the past four years. Donald Trump ruled over an American renaissance cut short by Covid and all of the economic, social and medical destruction that it wrought. Please go out and vote for a better American future. I look forward to voting in person in Primm, the farthest reach of Clark County.