Many of the news headlines that I have seen emerge on my computer screen are of the current US political scene. With the rise of ultra-conservative Republican Donald Trump, along with the ascent of “honest” politicians such as Bernie Sanders, the 2016 election promises to be unforgettable. Whether you are a Republican or a Democrat, a conservative or a liberal, American or non-American, one thing is for sure: you’ll be glued to your seat when the time comes for America to elect its next leader. However, there’s one problem (for me at least): I don’t identify fully economically with any of the major frontrunners’ policies. Regardless of the powerful rhetoric of Hillary Clinton or the punchy, powerful words of Bernie Sanders, there seems to be some policies that I just don’t like. While I fully acknowledge that no candidate will be perfect for anyone, the purpose of this article is simply to outline the economic policies that I would espouse, if I were to run for President, and to see people’s opinions on them.

It is my firm avowal that a major part of the economic progress of a country is the status of its most economically destitute individuals. As such, I propose raising the minimum wage progressively to a living wage, inflation adjusted, which varies state by state. While the spending power (in real terms) of the poorest individuals has seen near stagnation over the past decades, the cost of goods and services has increased by a quite substantial amount. To combat this, the minimum wage needs to be raised to a living wage over a period of a few years. In a time where worker productivity has nearly doubled from 30 years ago, it is only fair that the people at the bottom of the supply chain see their wages increase as well. The higher minimum wage will also mean that more skilled workers will be attracted to these minimum wage jobs, meaning that corporations will be able to pick and choose between the best employees. This results in an increase in productivity for the corporation, which will also increase their profits, keeping everyone happy, so to speak.

Of course, some might argue that corporations will not be able to fund a higher minimum wage, which will result in widespread job cuts. That is exactly the reason for my next policy: to cut corporation tax. When corporation tax is cut, corporations have more disposable income to spend, meaning that they can fund more workers, all of which are paid the living wage, at least. In addition to this, cutting corporation tax means that corporations have more money with which to invest in new branches and stores, employing more people and increasing their profits. When more people are employed with a good wage, more people will spend more money at different stores, resulting in more profits for those stores, so that they can employ more people, and so on and so forth. This positive multiplier effect will continue on and on after reducing corporation tax, stimulating economic growth. In addition, the cut in corporation tax will incentivise more corporations to come to the USA, maximising the revenue that the government receives from taxation. With my proposed crackdown on corporate tax avoidance and evasion supplementing this, in the long run, the government will receive far more overall revenue from taxation than they would otherwise.

An integral part to my economic plan for the USA is the Robin Hood tax. Even though the tax is miniscule in nature to financial institutions, it has the potential to make the government gargantuan amounts. The crux of the Robin Hood tax is that despite being of little or no concern to large financial institutions such as J.P. Morgan, it will do bucketloads for your average Joe. The money that will be garnered from the Robin Hood Tax will fund a program that guarantees free healthcare. In the 21st century, free healthcare is simply a fundamental human right, and therefore, any economic plan must find some way to guarantee free healthcare for US citizens. With the sheer volume of financial transactions made on stock exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ, it should come as no surprise that even a small tax on these transactions would generate a huge amount of income. The key to economic prosperity is not to alienate the banks, so this tax would not be too large, however, it would be adequate for purpose and adequate for providing every citizen with their rightful healthcare. Hopefully, an amalgamation of all these economic policies would result in a new era of economic prosperity coming over America.

What do you think of my economic plan for the USA? Leave your answers in the comments below. Thanks for reading!