[Guest Contributor - Donald G. Mutersbaugh Sr.]
I read an interesting article the other day about “Why
the #NeverTrump Will Never Work.”
The author states: “But here’s the problem for Bush and
Romney and the whole #NeverTrump thing generally: You don’t win campaigns
solely by running against somebody else. You have to give voters something — or
someone — that they can be for….Instead of shoring up a candidate they
could enthusiastically be for, they continued to define themselves by the
campaigns they were against, offering support only when it was already clear
which way the voters were going….Trump has gotten to where he is by savaging
the Republican establishment as expedient and craven — politicians willing to
sacrifice any principle to preserve their own power. It’s amazing that
Republican leaders seem so hell-bent on proving him right.” https://www.yahoo.com/politics/why-nevertrump-will-never-work-1392133276262454.html
In addition to
the above article’s conclusion, the larger outcome is giving the White House to
the Democrats – because you cannot resolve the intraparty fighting. If
Trump isn’t the nominee and if he enters the convention with a plurality of
delegates and leaves without the nomination, then my guess is that Trump either
becomes a third party candidate or spends an exorbitant amount of time and
money urging his supporters to never vote Republican again. Any of the outcomes
are bad for the Republican Party – to the point a permanent schism could result
which would take probably a decade to resolve.
Nate Silver, an articulate
and accurate psephologist, predicts that the race will be very close for Trump
to secure the necessary 1,237 delegates in the first round of voting. His
actual prediction is 1,208; but he may be able to go over the top by securing
the vote of the unbound and currently uncommitted delegates. http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/will-donald-trump-clinch-the-republican-nomination-before-the-convention/
Another great psephologist,
Larry Sabato, thinks that Trump will (barely) reach the magic number of 1,237
(at 1,239): “If Trump finishes, say, less than 100 delegates short, but he is
still comfortably leading national polls of Republicans and wins statewide
victories in places like California and New Jersey on the final day of voting
(June 7), it’s hard to see how, practically, he wouldn’t be the nominee. Trump
would have far more delegates than his rivals, and he would also be heading
into the pre-convention period with major statewide victories. Only if Trump
finishes 100 or more delegates short does the contested convention become a
more prominent possibility. As we’ve previously stressed, there are a small
number of unpledged delegates as well as delegates from other candidates that
Trump may or may not able to win over in the interim from June 7 through the
opening of the convention on July 18.” http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/
“A new poll indicated 63 percent of Republicans think
front-runner Donald Trump should get the party’s nomination if he wins the
delegate race but falls short of the majority needed to clinch it
outright….More than six in 10 voters opted for the plurality candidate over a
brokered convention….” http://www.gopusa.com/?p=7690?omhide=true
Besides the electorate’s complete disgust with the establishment,
there is a sense of restlessness in the air; it’s like the people know that
there’s something different going on – but they can’t quite put their finger on
it or articulate it: it’s Zeitgeist! There
is a need to fill a vacuum that shouldn’t be there. So, with this discussion as
a backdrop, let’s discuss why Trump is the right man for the job this election
cycle.
To understand this I need to present some financial
musings. I believe that the number one problem facing America today is the national
debt. Currently at approximately $19 trillion (still rising and will be perhaps
$23 trillion by 2021), the US government has unfunded liabilities in excess of
$123 trillion ($210 trillion by some estimates and still rising). The national
debt per person is over $59,000; the unfunded liabilities per person are over
$381,000. http://usadebtclock.com/
“What's the word for our fiscal situation? Stunning?
Shocking? Desperate? In recent testimony before the Senate Budget Committee,
Boston University Economics Professor Laurence Kotlikoff, in effect, told the
Committee that all of these terms are pathetically inadequate to describe our
true fiscal situation. In compelling testimony, Kotlikoff argues that the
federal fiscal situation is much worse than the CBO estimates let on. The
reason is that CBO's debt estimates do not take into account the full financial
obligations the government is committed to honor, especially for future
payments of Social Security, Medicare, and interest on the debt. He asserts
that the federal government should help the public understand the nation's true
fiscal situation by using what economists call "the infinite-horizon
fiscal gap," defined as the value of all projected future expenditures
minus the value of all projected future receipts using a reasonable discount
rate.
“What difference does the fiscal gap approach make in our
understanding of the true federal debt? CBO tells us that the national debt was
a little less than $13 trillion in 2014. But the fiscal gap in that year as
calculated by Kotlikoff was $210 trillion, more than 16 times larger than the
debt estimated by CBO and already judged, by CBO and many others, to be
unsustainable. If a $13 billion gap is unsustainable, what term should we apply
to a $210 trillion gap? Kotlikoff also calculates that the fiscal gap is equal
to about 58 percent of the combined value of all future revenue. Thus, we would
need to reduce spending or increase taxes by enough to fill that 58 percent gap
if we wanted to put the federal budget on a path to solvency that balances the
interests of those now receiving benefits and those who hope to receive
benefits in the future.”
Consider this
horrifying point: mandatory versus discriminatory spending. “Sometime between
2030 and 2040 mandatory spending will exceed government revenues.” https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_debt_of_the_United_States#/media/File:GAO_Slide.png.
Another startling statistic is that the total debt as a percentage of GDP is
105%.
Baby boomers are now retiring in large numbers. That
means they will be exiting the workforce; so what? Instead of paying money to
the government, they will be receiving money from the government. Instead of
spending money, they will probably be saving money. The official unemployment
rate is about 5%; the actual number of unemployed people (including long-term,
discouraged workers) is about 23%. http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/unemployment-charts
I believe that we are at a nexus in history. This
election will probably be one of the most important for at least the next two
decades. The most obvious reason is because of the number of Supreme Court
appointees; they will influence the judicial process and outcome for at least
the next 2 to 3 decades. Another major issue is terrorism and why Americans do
not feel safe. Political correctness – need I say more about how it is
destroying our society and productivity? Immigration and its impact on not only
the workforce but our economic status – pathetic. These and all of the other
issues can be handled by Mr. Trump by the appointment of many of his learned associates.
The reason Mr. Trump is the right man for the job is because the greatest task
at hand is the financial survival of the USA. He possesses the mind – and has
demonstrated time and time again – that he understands world markets,
productivity, financing, leveraging – all things financial. I don’t understand
how a socialist or progressive is even contending in this election – except the
electorate doesn’t understand that there is no such thing as Mr. Sanders’ money
tree or an inexhaustible supply of billionaires standing in line to pay taxes.
Please: Excuse Mr. Trump’s foibles and support somebody who has the leadership skills
and ability to bring America back to greatness!
____________________________________
Donald G.
Mutersbaugh, Sr. earned his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of
Maryland and his Master of Business Administration degree from Mary Washington
College. He is the former Associate Administrator of Information Resources for
the U.S House of Representatives under Speaker Newt Gingrich.
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