President Trump is failing to "Make America Great Again"

I would really enjoy writing a post about my Sevilla Trip. Sevilla is an incredibly underrated city, and I would highly suggest visiting it if you have the opportunity. The people are genuinely nice to tourists, the weather is beautiful (it's sunny there 300 days a year), and it has a great marriage between the old city and modern advances. I would really, really enjoy writing about that- but unfortunately I cannot do that.

Everyone that knows me knows that I do not have a problem letting my opinion be heard. While that might rub some people the wrong way, I have always been that way and always will be. With that said in wake of our election last November I decided to hold my tongue. It wasn't that I was afraid of disagreement with those who voted for our now-President, I couldn't find the appropriate topic or discourse to voice my displeasure with the election of President Trump. It was disappointing for me to see that our country elected someone who was so openly xenophobic, who bragged about sexually assaulting women, and seemed to lack just general decency to his competitors throughout the campaign. President's Trump's words and actions weren't the only thing that concerned me during his campaign. I just genuinely disagreed on a majority of policies and, regardless of his temperament, I thought he would move the United States in the wrong direction. After his election I felt like it was best to move on from my disappointment, and hope that as he entered the office President Trump would become less radicalized and put the country first. Many people pointed to his Election Night speech where President Trump said "... it is time for us to come together as one united people. It's time," as the example that he would set for himself as he moved into the highest office in the land. While I was extremely dubious, I had hope that this would be the case.

Quickly into his term as President, President Trump has proved my doubts to be correct. I'm going to focus on two of his "landmark" actions in his term, and explain why I think that our President has already veered off of his course to "Make America Great Again".

The first topic I'd like to address is NAFTA, TPP, and Trade as a whole. As a relatively free market economy, competition and trade are two things that are absolutely necessary to help our economy survive and thrive. I am going to reference a study by the Congressional Budget Office entitled How Preferential Trade Agreements Affect the US Economy. I will include what I have found is particularly relevant in the study, and if you want to read it yourself I will link to it at bottom of the post.

We can start with why is trade good. According to the CBO, Trade, "Trade increases competition between foreign and domestic producers....... As a result, trade encourages a more efficient allocation of resources in the economy and raises the average productivity of businesses and industries in the United States. Through that increase in productivity, trade can boost economic output and workers’ average real (inflationadjusted) wage". Wow, we don't even need to go an entire page til we see that trade benefits not only the companies in our country, but also the real wages of workers. Many people would question this, and say that they don't see these increases and that trade actually moves their jobs away from the United States and to countries abroad. This is a completely valid point, but one where people are putting their own wants and needs ahead of the country's. People love to say that those on welfare should just get a job and stop relying on social programs to help provide for them. Why don't these people do the same? If it is so easy to break into the workforce, why don't these people learn new skills and change career paths to help meet the needs of the 21st century consumer? It's obviously not that simple to develop the requisite skills to be a competitive candidate in the job market, but that doesn't stop people from trying to make it seem as if it is.

Here are some more findings from the CBO study that help support the idea behind Preferential Trade Agreements (PTO) "...relatively small positive effects on total U.S. trade (exports plus imports) and, primarily through that channel, on the U.S. economy". And "As a result, the indirect effects of PTAs on productivity, output, and employment in the United States have also been small and positive". Specifically on NAFTA, CBO states "The likely increases in overall trade from NAFTA are significant but still small". There is a slight variety in the estimations of how much trade growth has resulted from NAFTA, but the range is 2.9-7.9% growth. In an economy the size of the United States, even 2.9% growth is significant, and while it isn't ideal that these agreements have cost people their jobs I would argue that sacrificing some jobs to help the consumer and economy as a whole are worth that price. Other studies have found similar results like United States International Trade Commission's study entitled Economic Impact of Trade Agreements Implemented Under Trade Authorities Procedures, 2016 Report which I will also link at the bottom. Trade is good, NAFTA is good, and a United States Economy that is protectionist is bad for consumers, bad for jobs, and bad for the US Government.

I would also like to address President Trump's Executive Order that banned travel from 7 countries and completely halts all refugee admission for 120 days. While it might be easy to call the EO un-American, a rejection of the ideals of the Constitution, or just plan wrong, I am not going to do that. What many people fail to understand is the already extreme vetting that the Department of Homeland Security already completes as part of the refugee admission process, and the same goes for getting a green card. The United States of America does not have open borders where people can flood in by the droves, and if you believe that you either A) are completely mistaken or B) have Breitbart as one of your bookmarks on your computer. For those that still believe this EO was necessary, I'd like to ask you a question. How many people have died via acts of terrorism by people that are affected by this EO in the United States? A grand total of 0. Even if you choose to ignore this information, just know that this EO is the exact propaganda that terrorists organizations like ISIS use daily to radicalize impressionable, young men and women abroad. Terrorism thrives when people are angry, skeptical, and scared, and this EO is a reflection of a segment of our society that feels that way.

You want to know the best way to combat terrorism? Invite those that want to come to America with open arms. Show them what it is like to be proud of your country. Sing the Star Spangled Banner with pride and feel the hair on the back of your neck stand up as your fellow citizens, refugees, and green card holders join you doing the same. Show these people that the answer to hate is not closing our borders and saying it's not our problem, but to come together and show enemies at home and abroad that we are better and stronger than they are.

I am not naive enough to believe that everybody that reads this will agree with 100% of what I said. The beautiful thing about this country is that we can have a open, amicable dialogue about what we believe in and don't have to fear any repercussions. If you think I am wrong tell me. What I ask you not to do is come to me with talk of emails, corruption charges, or Hillary Clinton would've been worse. The President of the United States is Donald J. Trump, and we must now focus on his actions as our leader. I wanted, and hoped that President Trump would help improve the lives of every day Americans throughout the country, but so far I, and the rest of America, are being let down.

Duncan Hensley
Indiana University
Kelley School of Business '18

Sources:

Congressional Budget Office: https://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/114th-congress-2015-2016/reports/51924-tradeagreements.pdf

United States International Trade Commission: https://www.usitc.gov/publications/332/pub4614.pdf

CNN: http://edition.cnn.com/2017/01/28/politics/donald-trump-travel-ban/

New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/29/us/trump-refugee-ban-muslim-executive-order.html?_r=0

Politifact: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2017/jan/29/jerrold-nadler/have-there-been-terrorist-attacks-post-911-countri/