Sept. 19, 2019
Permission to republish original opeds and cartoons granted.
For those rooting for an economic downturn to oust President Trump, this has to be the worst recession ever
There are more than a million more jobs available than job
seekers, manufacturing output grew rapidly in August, the nation’s credit score
has never been higher, people are making and keeping more of money in their
paychecks, while depending upon the federal government for food assistance
significantly less, and more people are employed than at any time in history. For
those who have been actively rooting for an economic downturn in the hopes of
ousting President Donald Trump in 2020, this has to be the worst recession
ever. What recession?
Will local governments still be allowed to make zoning decisions without federal coercion?
The American people are still awaiting the Trump administration
rewrite of the Obama-era Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule that
conditioned more than $3 billion of annual community development block grants
to more than 1,200 cities and counties on making changes to local zoning based
on income and racial guidelines. It would have put the federal government in
charge of zoning. Congress stepped in and blocked the rule. However, HUD
Secretary Ben Carson appears committed to continuing to use block grants to
make changes to zoning, not to address racial or income inequality, but to help
making housing more affordable. In an Aug. 13, 2018 interview with the Wall
Street Journal he said, “I would incentivize people who really would like to get
a nice juicy government grant [to look at their zoning codes].” While
addressing zoning and removing regulations to help make housing affordable is a
laudable goal, municipalities should be the ones to address it, not bureaucrats
in Washington, D.C. We’ve seen this movie before. Once it is no longer up to
cities and counties to make these decisions, the federal government will never
give it back.
ALG praises end of California waiver on emissions
Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning: “Former
President Barack Obama put in place unreachable fuel economy standards through
a regulation designed by many of the same people who support the Green New
Deal. The Trump administration is wise to review the pie in the sky Obama
limits with a view towards consumer safety and vehicle affordability. The
President’s announcement that California will no longer be allowed a special
exempt status in the future reflects a national vision for a robust domestic
automobile industry and safe, affordable and clean cars. While many will whine
that somehow the air will be dirtier, the truth is that affordable vehicles
that utilize less gasoline and meet up to date environmental standards is far
better for the environment across the nation, consumers and those who sell
vehicles. On the affordability point alone, vehicles manufactured and sold
staying at the 37-mpg fleet standard requirement will save consumers thousands
of dollars on their new vehicles.”
Rep. Vicky Hartzler: Pass USMCA to boost American automakers
“It has become clear over the last decade that NAFTA’s rules over
automobile manufacturing were outdated and were hurting the American auto
industry. Under the new USMCA, we are creating a freer, fairer, global economic
environment for American-made automobiles to thrive. The USMCA is the right
deal for Missouri and the right deal for America.”
For those rooting for an economic downturn to oust President Trump, this has to be the worst recession ever
By Rick Manning
Below are a few good news economic stories you might have missed since the media created recession fears have been negated by the robust U.S. economy.
The August jobs data showing more people employed than at any time in history with more than a million more job openings than unemployed people in the country effectively ended, in many people’s minds, the notion that recession is right on the horizon.
The even better news is that economic data coming out from the Federal Reserve this week blew away expectations for U.S. manufacturing output, beating the anticipated 0.2 percent increase by a whopping 200 percent, coming in at 0.6. The D.C. pundit class has been speculating that manufacturing output is being harmed by the China trade war. The perpetually wrong talking heads would be spinning over the August manufacturing output numbers, if they bothered to report them.
And all of us who became addicted to checking our credit scores based on the onslaught of television ads with catchy jingles from about a decade ago will be pleased to note that CNBC reported last week that the nation’s average household’s FICO score has hit an all-time high of 706. In simple terms, this means that people are paying their bills, not something that happens when the economy is falling apart heading into a recession.
Oh, by the way, the much vaunted “interest rate inversion” of the 10-year and 2-year treasuries which all the smart people say is a red flashing recession signal, un-inverted after a few days to virtually zero fanfare.
And this is not to mention that inflation remains very low at both the consumer and producer levels and the average American is making more money than ever before with the average annual household income up over $61,000, more than a million households have moved up into the middle class and 6.7 million people are off of food stamps since President Trump took office.
So, to sum up, there are more than a million more jobs available than job seekers, manufacturing output grew rapidly in August, the nation’s credit score has never been higher, people are making and keeping more of their money in their paychecks, while depending upon the federal government for food assistance significantly less, and more people are employed than at any time in history.
For those who have been actively rooting for an economic downturn in the hopes of ousting President Donald Trump in 2020, this has to be the worst recession ever.
Realizing this, can it be any surprise that the New York Times has reverted back to making up stories about Supreme Court Justices. Maybe there’s another Russian dead-end lead to chase down. After all, the real economic conditions in the country are just too darn good to talk about to their Trump Derangement Syndrome afflicted audience, so why bother with reality?
Rick Manning is the President of Americans for Limited Government.
Will local governments still be allowed to make zoning decisions without federal coercion?
By Robert Romano
The American people are still awaiting the Trump administration rewrite of the Obama-era Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The original rule, finalized in 2015, conditioned more than $3 billion of annual community development block grants to more than 1,200 cities and counties on making changes to local zoning based on income and racial guidelines.
It would have put the federal government in charge of zoning for every major population center in the country that depends on federal funding, an effective end of local government in the name of social justice. In addition, critics blasted the danger of this power being used for political gerrymandering.
The regulation turned out to be fairly unpopular, and Congress responded by defunding any action that might be taken to force cities and counties to make changes to zoning under Division F, Title II of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2019, Section 232: “None of the funds made available by this Act may be used by the Department of Housing and Urban Development to direct a grantee to undertake specific changes to existing zoning laws as part of carrying out the final rule entitled ‘Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing’ … or the notice entitled ‘Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Assessment Tool’…”
An identical provision sponsored by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) passed the Senate easily 87 to 9 in 2016. At the time it was a rare bipartisan expression against overreach by the Obama administration and in favor of federalism, whereby decisions affecting local communities are best left to states and local entities.
Congress acted specifically to make implementation of the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule as currently written to make changes to zoning illegal. It needs to be rewritten. In that spirit, Americans for Limited Government embraced the opportunity the Trump administration presented to revisit the regulation when the revisions were announced in Aug. 2018.
Last week, Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning urged that the Congressional prohibition be left in place as Congress considers funding bills for fiscal year 2020: “The temptation is always strong at the federal government level to exert power over local governments, and one such area is zoning. This is why Americans for Limited Government and members of Congress most notably Senator Susan Collins of Maine and U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona who fought the Obama administration on the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing regulation when HUD attempted to condition federal funds on changes to local zoning by enacting a Congressional prohibition against the regulation. Because this prohibition is based on the principle of federalism and not any animus toward one administration over another, it is important that it be retained in the appropriations process this month and that it be respected by the Trump administration HUD leadership.”
However, HUD Secretary Ben Carson appears committed to continuing to use block grants to make changes to zoning, not to address racial or income inequality, but to help making housing more affordable. In an Aug. 13, 2018 interview with the Wall Street Journal he said, “I would incentivize people who really would like to get a nice juicy government grant [to look at their zoning codes].”
In light of Congress’ action, from HUD’s perspective, rescinding the rule would be the easiest fix, since HUD could argue that Congress had foreclosed the possibility of implementing the regulation, which depended on changes to zoning being made. Or it could just excise out any mention of zoning in the regulation and just leave the rest of the rule in place.
While addressing zoning and removing regulations to help make housing affordable is a laudable goal, municipalities should be the ones to address it, not bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. We’ve seen this movie before. Once it is no longer up to cities and counties to make these zoning decisions for themselves, the federal government will never give it back.
Robert Romano is the Vice President of Public Policy at Americans for Limited Government.
ALG praises end of California waiver on emissions
Sept. 18, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement praising President Donald Trump for ending California's waiver to make its own regs on fuel economy standards:
“Former President Barack Obama put in place unreachable fuel economy standards through a regulation designed by many of the same people who support the Green New Deal. The Trump administration is wise to review the pie in the sky Obama limits with a view towards consumer safety and vehicle affordability. The President’s announcement that California will no longer be allowed a special exempt status in the future reflects a national vision for a robust domestic automobile industry and safe, affordable and clean cars. While many will whine that somehow the air will be dirtier, the truth is that affordable vehicles that utilize less gasoline and meet up to date environmental standards is far better for the environment across the nation, consumers and those who sell vehicles. On the affordability point alone, vehicles manufactured and sold staying at the 37-mpg fleet standard requirement will save consumers thousands of dollars on their new vehicles.”
To view online: https://getliberty.org/2019/09/alg-praises-end-of-california-waiver-on-emissions/
ALG Editor’s Note: In the following featured oped from the Washington Examiner, U.S Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.) makes the case for the USMCA:
Rep. Vicky Hartzler: Pass USMCA to boost American automakers
By Rep. Vicky Hartzler
The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement is a great win for hardworking Americans and will play a critical role in the revitalization of our automobile industry. The agreement modernizes the existing continental relationship among our most important trading partners, allowing American businesses to better compete in the modern global economy.
Provisions in the agreement jump-start new investments in the auto industry, create new well-paying jobs here at home, and protect hardworking Americans from being undercut by cheap labor abroad.
My home state of Missouri houses one of Ford's assembly plants, building the company’s most profitable model, the F-150 line. Many of our communities depend on a robust auto industry, and the passage of the USMCA will help create just that.
According to the U.S. Trade Representative’s office, the implementation of the USMCA will spur new, massive investments in the auto manufacturing sector worth approximately $34 billion over the next five years.
New investments worth nearly $23 million will go into U.S. auto part purchases and promoting automotive research and development so that America remains a competitive player in the global automotive industry. More investment will also be directed towards the research and creation of cleaner, energy-saving automobiles and new automotive technologies. The new provisions will also spur more investment into the production of primary goods flowing into the auto industry, encouraging bigger purchases of U.S.-made steel and aluminum.
These investments alone will create 76,000 new well-paying jobs right here in America, targeting communities like the auto industries housed in Missouri.
Under the “Rules of Origin” provision, the USMCA will require that 75% of all automobile and light truck components that take advantage of the tariff-free provisions must be produced in North America. This provision already represents a drastic improvement from the current North American Free Trade Agreement, which only requires less than two-third of the components be made in North America.
As a safeguard to protect American workers from cheaper labor costs in Mexico, the agreement also requires that up to 45% of all automobile and light truck components be made by workers earning a base wage of at least $16 per hour. Missouri’s median hourly wage for auto manufacturers is already above $16, meaning that the implementation of the USMCA will put Missouri in a great position to continue supplying the world with dependable auto parts.
The agreement also includes provisions to modernize and streamline the certification mechanisms to ensure compliance. These new provisions will drastically reduce the bureaucratic red tape on American automakers in comparison to the existing provisions under NAFTA.
It has become clear over the last decade that NAFTA’s rules over automobile manufacturing were outdated and were hurting the American auto industry. Under the new USMCA, we are creating a freer, fairer, global economic environment for American-made automobiles to thrive. The USMCA is the right deal for Missouri and the right deal for America. I hope Congressional Democrats will join with my Republican colleagues to pass this agreement.
