OPINION:
There are plenty of politicians in Washington who say all the right things but don’t do squat. President Donald Trump may not say (or tweet) everything the way I would always say it, but he gets the job done. If I have to choose, I’d rather have a doer than a talker.
Unemployment in America is at the lowest level in nearly 50 years. For African-Americans, for Hispanic-Americans, for Asian-Americans, for people with disabilities and for veterans, unemployment hit the lowest level ever recorded for each category during Mr. Trump’s tenure in office.
Overall, more than 6 million jobs have been created since President Trump’s election. The economy achieved the longest positive job-growth streak on record. And there are more job openings — nearly 7.4 million job openings for American workers — than there are people looking for work.
In manufacturing, more than 500,000 jobs have been created since Mr. Trump’s election. Of that, 264,000 manufacturing jobs were created last year alone — which is the most of any year in the past two decades. And blue-collar workers are on track to see nearly $2,500 more in wages each year.
Real median household income is at $65,084 (in 2019 dollars) for the 12 months ending in July — according to the U.S. Census bureau. That is the highest level ever and it is up $4,144 from when Mr. Trump took office.
Workers are seeing their largest wage growth in nearly a decade — with the lowest wage earners seeing the strongest gains. More than 7 million Americans have been lifted off of food stamps since the 2016 election. And the poverty rates for African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans have reached the lowest levels on record during this term. The policies of the Trump administration are working.
This year will be the first time that people will see a decrease in their health care premiums since Obamacare caused them to rise. Mr. Trump signed the “Right to Try” legislation into law that expands experimental treatments for people facing a terminal illness. And prescription drug prices have fallen for the first time in 46 years — saving Americans more than $26 billion.
Now, some want to turn over operations of our healthcare system to the federal government. That would likely lead to longer wait times, poor service, higher costs and other problems. And taxes will go up on the middle class under their plan.
Their government-run health care plans would eliminate private health insurance plans for 150 million or more Americans. On top of that, union members would lose the health care benefits that they negotiated for - often in place of higher wages. And they will do all of this while giving full health care coverage to illegal immigrants with taxpayers footing the bill.
In contrast, Mr. Trump signed the largest tax cuts in American history into law — more than $5.5 trillion in gross tax cuts with nearly 60 percent going to families. On average, a married couple with two children saved more than $2,900 thanks to the tax cuts. That is largely because the child tax credit was doubled to help reduce the financial burden of raising a family.
Thanks to the tax cuts, 9 out of 10 workers are expected to see an increase in their paychecks — according to the U.S. Department of Treasury. Employers say a reduction in their tax rates from the highest in the developed world to levels that allow them to compete with the rest of the world. Lower taxes, higher wages, more money in paychecks: Good things are happening in America.
When Barack Obama and Joe Biden were in office, many areas of the country were a mess. Unemployment was high and wages were down. Under Donald Trump and Mike Pence, the country is on the right track.
We faced similar challenges when I was running for governor in Wisconsin back in 2010. The unemployment rate at the start of that year was 9.3 percent. The state faced a $3.6 billion structural deficit. They raided the transportation fund and the fund to pay patients and families for medical malpractice.
In 2010, there was a waiting list for people living in poverty to obtain health coverage under Medicaid. The Democrats cut aid to schools and other local governments — forcing layoffs and program cuts. And property taxes went up 27 percent during the decade prior to our tenure.
After the 2010 elections, Republicans in the state Legislature and I took over state government. The unemployment rate dropped to an all-time low of less than 3 percent and more people were working in the state than ever before.
Our state budget had a surplus every year in office, the rainy day was 190 times larger than when we first took office and we paid off the raids on segregated funds. Schools and local governments saved billions of dollars that went into services, we eliminated the waiting list for health care coverage, property taxes actually went down and the overall tax burden is more than $13 trillion lower than when we took office.
Common-sense conservative reforms work — in Wisconsin and in Washington. We just need leaders who are not afraid to implement them.
• Scott Walker was the 45th governor of Wisconsin. You can contact him at swalker@washingtontimes.com or follow him @ScottWalker.
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