After former Senator and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced her candidacy for the President of the United States, the Republican presidential candidates seem to focus her (The New York Times 4/18/2015).
Given that it is still early in the Presidential campaign and Mrs. Clinton being the current front runner in the Democratic ticket, it is a wise decision for the Republicans to temporarily unite against Mrs. Clinton than fight each other.
But on a serious note, at the time of this writing, there has not been substantive debate or even detailed proposals on policy offered by any presidential candidates so far. Checking all of the presidential candidates’ websites, there are only snippets of policy positions on specific issues that the campaign finds important. Granted, it is still early in the campaign season, and I am sure that those detailed broad policy position papers are being prepared as the campaigns develop.
Reading the current candidates’ position on jobs and the economy (if they have any yet) bring disappointment. According to the Federal Reserve’s latest minutes, the economy is in a mixed recovery, with certain areas (e.g. GDP growth, labor market conditions) performing well while other economic measurements seems to see a deceleration (e.g. Real personal consumption expenditures). If anybody would like to get a real detailed, non-partisan report on the current state of the economy, then the Federal Reserve’s minutes provide a clear picture. The report also shows the complexity of the US economy, including how different measures of the economy, while providing contradictory trajectories, represent the complicated interlocking components working together to move ahead on a slow economic recovery (The Federal Reserve 3/17/2015).
After skimming the Federal Reserve minutes, the small snippets on how the candidates will improve the economy look childish. So far, none of the presidential candidates have written any policy positions in regards to improving the US economy given the global market’s impact in our economy.
Does anybody remember the phrase “End America’s dependency on foreign oil”? Where did that phrase go? It disappeared because the overly simplistic political discourse on the American economy did not anticipate that oil prices could go as low today. The reasoning to the decline of the price of oil is still being debated (Saudi Arabia defending market share vs. Saudi Arabia trying to eliminate competition by artificially lowering gas prices vs. glut in the oil inventory in the oil market vs. other reasons), but that debate is more substantive than the overly simplistic political discourse of “America’s dependency on foreign oil”. At the end of the day, the price of gas in the pump is low in America due to the impact of the international oil markets abroad.
Our American economy influences and is influenced by the global economy, and any sensible policy positions on the US economy ought to include some fact on how this country will move forward with trade agreements, tariffs, multilateral cooperation on global market stability, and other components that deals with international trade. It is a bit early in the campaign to demand detail policy statements from the candidates, but I hope the candidates would go beyond the simplistic political snippets and offer a more comprehensive proposal for not only the US economy but on other issues.
Candidates' position on the Economy (that is available on 4/20/2015). Please note that people who have filed as a candidate with the Federal Election Commission and had a policy position on the economy posted on their own website are listed.
- Marco Rubio - Marco Rubio's Plan To Eliminate Debt
- Ted Cruz - JOBS & OPPORTUNITY | Cruz for President
- Rand Paul - Taxes and Spending and Debt
- Mark Everson - Mark on Taxes and Mark on Banks
- Robby Wells - Eaglenomics and Fiat Money and Industrial Homestead and Jobs VAT
