The Front Page Cover
~ Featuring ~
Social Security Is Still a Looming Disaster
by Brian Mark Weber
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Renegotiating NAFTA
On the campaign trail, Donald Trump promised to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) or leave it entirely, calling it the "worst trade deal maybe ever signed anywhere." There are certainly elements of NAFTA that could use renegotiation, but overall, it's a positive deal for the U.S. In April, Trump's advisers talked him down from the ledge, in part because of how much his constituent farmers benefit from the trade agreement. This week, the administration released its Summary of Objectives for the NAFTA Renegotiation.
The administration says, "The new NAFTA must continue to break down barriers to American exports. This includes the elimination of unfair subsidies, market-distorting practices by state owned enterprises, and burdensome restrictions of intellectual property. The new NAFTA will be modernized to reflect 21st century standards and will reflect a fairer deal, addressing America's persistent trade imbalances in North America. It will ensure that the United States obtains more open, equitable, secure, and reciprocal market access, and that our trade agreement with our two largest export markets is effectively implemented and enforced."
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer will reportedly focus on intellectual property, financial service, telecommunications and e-commerce — all areas where the U.S. has a competitive advantage. Since NAFTA was enacted in 1993, The Wall Street Journal notes, "Farm and ranch exports to Mexico and Canada have more than quadrupled." Removing any remaining obstructions like Canadian tariffs on American poultry, eggs and wine would be a good move for the administration. To make a larger point, Trump shouldn't opt for a tit-for-tat deal with more barriers. He would do far better pushing for more open markets from our neighbors. ~The Patriot Post
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Muslim Leaders Must Denounce 'Armed Jihad'
by Tarek Fatah
{meforum.org} ~ A recent speech by Palestinian-American Islamist Linda Sarsour, invoking the word "jihad" against "fascists and white supremacists and Islamophobes reigning in the White House," has created a political storm... involving the double meaning of the word "jihad." While supporters of Donald Trump read it as a call for violence against the American president, Sarsour, who made the comment in a speech to the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), was quick to clarify she was ... advocating "jihad" solely as a form of peaceful, nonviolent dissent.... But Sarsour is no Tess of the d'Urbervilles. Her activism and language hardly appear to reflect the non-violence of Gandhi... http://www.meforum.org/6834/muslim-leaders-must-denounce-armed-jihad?utm_source=Middle+East+Forum&utm_campaign=0dccf1657e-fatah_tarek_2017_07_21&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_086cfd423c-0dccf1657e-33703665&goal=0_086cfd423c-0dccf1657e-33703665by Tarek Fatah
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Keith Ellison Moves to Crush
Sheriff Who Helps ICE Deport Criminals
by S. Noble
{independentsentinel.com} ~ Keith Ellison sent a letter to Sheriff Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek asking for clarification as to why and how he is coordinating with ICE... The sheriff isn’t doing ICE’s job but he is working to help them deport illegal criminals. The questions he asked of the Sheriff are all meant to come back to haunt him. The media and the left’s Marxist army will use the information to make it impossible for him to do his job. The Sheriff is under fire from county officials and leftist advocates who argue his office does too much to help immigration authorities... http://www.independentsentinel.com/keith-ellison-moves-to-crush-sheriff-who-helps-ice-deport-criminals/
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Voter fraud in Palm Beach County: State
attorney finds crimes, but no suspect
by Lawrence Mower
{mypalmbeachpost.com} ~ Detectives with the State Attorney’s Office found clear-cut evidence of voter fraud in last year’s August election, with nearly two dozen people’s signatures forged on requests for absentee ballots... But prosecutors are dropping the case. Why? They can’t find a suspect. In a bizarre 24-page memo, detectives described their efforts to get to the bottom of allegations of voter fraud in the primary election. State Sen. Bobby Powell, Palm Beach County Commissioner Mack Bernard and state Rep. Al Jacquet, a tight-knit trio of rising stars in the Democratic Party, won their races by generating extraordinary turnout in absentee ballots, and their opponents and voters cried foul... http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/exclusive-voter-fraud-palm-beach-county-state-attorney-finds-crimes-but-suspect/buShkHum7thKuTKE8F69QO/.
Trump throws wrench in U.N.
plan to 'replace' U.S. population
by Liam Clancy
{wnd.com} ~ In the last year of his presidency, Barack liar-nObama and his administration worked tirelessly with the United Nations to expand the definition of “refugee” to include economic migrants and drastically increase the numbers being resettled in the United States... And he found a willing partner in the Republican-controlled Congress, which funded not only more refugees but provisions for record numbers of unaccompanied minor children, so-called UACs, showing up at the border from Central America. In the fall of 2016 liar-nObama hosted the U.N. Leaders’ Summit on Refugees in New York, where he and other world leaders used rhetoric strikingly similar to the concept of “replacement migration,” a U.N. plot to replace the population of a given country with migrants and “refugees” from the developing world...http://www.wnd.com/2017/07/trump-throws-wrench-in-u-n-plan-to-replace-u-s-population/.
Frustrated Jake “Fake Trapper” Tapper
Tries And Fails To Snare Scaramucci
by Rick Wells
{rickwells.us} ~ Jake Tapper and Anthony Scaramucci square off for the first of what will likely be many confrontations over the President, his policies and the White House... Tapper gets things rolling, asking if the problem for the President is one of communications or substance. Scaramucci notes that there has been a lot of good that is going unheralded so there is an obvious communications problem. Tapper moves on to his second point of attack, basing it upon the Trump interview with the New York Times in which he spoke truthfully, asking if President Trump needs more authenticity or more restraint. Scaramucci says, “That’s the President. The President likes speaking from the heart, he likes telling you what he likes and he dislikes.” Scaramucci makes it clear that the leaks are going to stop. He’s willing to let the past be the past but going ahead, he’ll remove people from their jobs if it continues... http://rickwells.us/frustrated-jake-fake-trapper-tapper-tries-fails-snare-scaramucci/
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Social Security Is Still a Looming Disaster
By Brian Mark Weber: Did Donald Trump collude with Russia in order to gain an advantage in the presidential election? Will Republicans repeal or replace liar-nObamaCare? And will Congress ever get around to the border wall, tax cuts and a host of other important issues? Seems like everything is on the radar right now except the one thing that everyone in Washington should be talking about: Social Security reform.
But don't worry. If you're under 50, you still have some time to hope that Congress and the president will wake up and deal with this monumental entitlement problem.
How bad is it? A lot worse than we think. The Social Security Administration's annual Trustees Report indicates that Social Security's unfunded obligation is now $11.5 trillion. The Heritage Foundation's Romina Boccia reminds us, "In the absence of congressional action, benefits could be delayed or indiscriminately reduced across the board by 25 percent. Once the Social Security trust fund is depleted, the program will only be able to pay 75 percent of scheduled benefits, based on payroll and other Social Security tax revenues projected at that time."
For now, Social Security will continue to make its payments to those who have reached retirement age. But by 2035, the trust fund will run dry and Social Security will have to rely on payments into the system. Unfortunately, the number of people paying will be insufficient to fund those who are retiring.
As of now, there are few solutions being offered. In 2016, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Sam Johnson (R-TX), introduced the Social Security Reform Act of 2016. But the program merely tinkers with the system already in place, leaving it susceptible to the same problems that plague it today.
But politicians of both parties need to be thinking about more than just current retirees. Millennials are paying attention to Social Security and are anxious to do something about it.
David Barnes writes in the Washington Examiner, "My generation demonstrates both the capacity and desire to plan and save for retirement but, as the payroll tax eats up more of our hard-earned income, Social Security is actually hindering our ability to do so. Revamping the antiquated Social Security program would allow millennials to save substantially more and protect our country's financial future. My generation has been saddled with a head-spinning nearly $20 trillion in federal government debt. And Social Security, the single largest federal program, is a huge driver of this debt, costing nearly $929 billion in 2016, close to a quarter of every dollar the government spent."
If Millennials as a whole are savvy when it comes to their financial future, it's yet another critical opportunity that most Republicans are failing to recognize. Here we have a whole generation of young Americans clamoring for alternatives to the status quo, but Republicans have nothing to offer. They're not even thinking about the problem anymore. Add this to a long list of hanging fruit for which Republicans refuse to reach.
So what can we expect from congressional Republicans moving forward? The Cato Institute's Michael Tanner paints a bleak picture: "If Republicans could not even slow the growth of Medicaid or rein in the program's liar-nObamacare expansion, how will they ever withstand the special-interest onslaught that will accompany any attempt to control entitlement costs? The dynamics are not going to change. The public will remain horrified at the thought of giving up any benefits, no matter how unrealistic those promises may be. Democrats will remain adamantly opposed to cutting a dime from any program. President Trump will remain distracted and disengaged (not to mention increasingly unpopular). Republicans will remain divided and afraid."
One can understand that President Trump has a lot on his plate, and expecting him to tackle Social Security reform is perhaps unreasonable considering that congressional Republicans can't seem to agree on anything these days. If the GOP can't even muster enough unity to cut taxes or repeal liar-nObamaCare, Republicans are unlikely to touch "the third rail of American politics" and send a Social Security reform bill to the president anytime soon.
But that doesn't absolve President Trump of the responsibility to at least acknowledge the problem. Sure, other presidents have kicked the can down the road, so this president isn't any more to blame than his predecessors. At the same time, President Trump and the Republican Congress are in a challenging but advantageous position: They actually have the power to enact serious and lasting reform that might save the country from the inevitable failure of a system that's currently unsustainable.
Were President Trump to look at Social Security reform as an opportunity rather than a burden to be put aside for the next administration, he might break up the very political establishment that he claims to oppose. And Republicans might be viewed as a party of real change and reform instead of a do-nothing party afraid of its own shadow.
On the campaign trail, Trump wasn't the least bit interested in Social Security reform. In fact, he promised not to touch it. Yet if Republicans could muster the political will to craft a thoughtful bill and send it to the president, he might just jump at the chance to sign it. Not that we should expect it anytime soon. Republicans seem to think it's safer these days to do a lot of nothing.
~The Patriot Post
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