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End anti-growth, anti-business policies . . . so no more Carrier interventions are necessary



I understand why a lot of conservatives are squeamish about the deal Donald Trump made to prevent the move of 1,000 Carrier jobs from Indiana to Mexico. We don’t like politicians intervening in business decisions. We’re not the biggest fans of special tax incentives that give one business breaks others don’t get. We tend to call that crony capitalism. When politicians say they have no choice but to do things like this to save jobs, we usually respond by saying they should fix the bad policies that cause companies like Carrier to want to move jobs out of the country in the first place – and that will render such special interventions unnecessary.
That’s why I think conservatives on balance should be happy with what seems to be on offer from the incoming Trump Administration. If there was no plan to correct bad policies, and the whole answer was to swoop in and do special deals whenever a company threatens to move jobs, that would represent guaranteed failure. The policies in place today are largely Democrat policies – the high corporate tax, the tax on repatriated profits, the heavy hand of regulation, the thumb on the scale in labor negotiations to favor unions. All these things make it harder to make a profit in the United States, and they all contribute to the reasons companies think about moving jobs elsewhere. Trump has indicated his intention to deal with all these problems. A comprehensive tax overhaul is being developed as we speak, and as of this morning we’re hearing that it does indeed include a reduction or outright elimination of the tax on repatriated profits. That would especially impact Carrier, which according to the Wall Street Journal has $6 billion sitting overseas that it would consider bringing home if it didn’t have to pay this ridiculous tax on the money. Who knows how many other companies would also repatriate overseas profits if they didn’t have to pay that tax? I’ve been advocating getting rid of it for years and I’m thrilled that we finally have a president and Congress who appear ready to take action.

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As for the regulatory state, so much of that has been made worse in recent years by Obama’s executive actions – things Trump can reverse or eliminate with a single stroke of a pen. I expect we will hear about a lot of such pen strokes in the early days of his presidency. So why go and make this special deal with Carrier then? Why not just leave them alone and get the big policies right? Remember, Trump is not yet president. He’s working on these policy proposals but we’re still waiting for the new Congress to be sworn in – and obviously for Trump himself to take the oath of office on January 20. Does it make sense in the short term to save 1,000 jobs in Indiana until you’re in a position to do more? I’d say you should ask the 1,000 Carrier employees who still have their jobs today. What do you think they would say? It makes sense to do what you can now, and solve the more fundamental problems with the nation’s business climate as soon as you can. It’s certainly better than doing nothing and maintaining the status quo, which is the Obama approach. Say what you want about Trump, but the man sees a problem and seeks a solution to it. It’s been awhile since we had a president like that. I think I could get used to this.


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Herman Cain’s column is distributed by CainTV, which can be found at Herman Cain


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