Andy Puzder, CEO of Carl's Jr. and Hardee's parent CKE Restaurants, said he is among 100 businessmen and businesswomen, entrepreneurs and executives in a statement of strong support for Donald Trump's pro-growth economic plan to revive our stagnant economy.
“By making America grow again, we can make America great again,” Puzder — along with fellow Trump adviser former Nucor CEO Dan DiMicco, wrote in an op-ed on CNBC.com.
While critical of Clinton, Puzder and DiMicco said Trump's economic plan would "incentivize both small and large business growth by lowering the corporate tax rate" as well as encouraging businesses to invest in America and to bring their foreign earnings to the U.S.
Puzder, a senior policy adviser to the Trump campaign, told CNBC that while both candidates "are not perfect," he focuses on economic issues and facts, not tabloid fodder.
"Every element of the Trump plan points synergistically, interactively, and dynamically towards growth. Hillary's plan points in the exact opposite direction — and towards a secular bear market," they wrote.
As our statement says, "our nation needs a president who understands free markets because he's lived and worked in them. We need a president who understands how government can hobble innovation, destroy opportunity and restrain growth. We need a president who knows how economic freedom can lift people from poverty, open paths to and grow the middle class while offering everyone the opportunity to earn their success."
Donald Trump would be that president. We strongly urge our fellow Americans to help us see that he is."
Puzder and DiMicco aren't alone in their apprehension of a Clinton presidency.
Economist and professor Peter Morici told Newsmax TV that while a Hillary Clinton presidency would be “more stable” for the stock market, a Donald Trump White House would be better for the economy in the longer run.
“I think it's fair to say that a Clinton victory would be more stable for the stock market than a Trump victory simply because he represents change,” said the professor at the University of Maryland Smith School of Business and former chief economist at the U.S. International Trade Commission.
“But longer term, a Trump victory would be better for the economy than for the stock market because his policies would be more conducive to growth,” the Newsmax Finance Insider told Miranda Khan on “America Talks Live” on Newsmax TV.
Public opinion is viciously split as to how Trump and Clinton would guide the economy.
A recent analysis reported that Clinton and Trump's tax plans are "mirror images" of one another, with the Democrat proposing steep tax hikes on the wealthy while the Republican candidate proposes even deeper reductions in the taxes paid by America's richest people.
The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center found that the top 0.1 percent of taxpayers would pay $800,000 more in taxes on average under Clinton's plan while Trump's plan, their taxes would decline by more than $1 million.
The study found that Trump's proposed cuts would cost $6.2 trillion over 10 years while Clinton's would raise $1.4 trillion in new revenue over that time period -- money the Democrat proposes using for new government programs, the Associated Press reported.
The analysis does not account for the possible economic effects of the tax plans. The Trump campaign has already complained to the Tax Policy Center that it is failing to account for the growth that it says the GOP nominee's tax cuts would unleash. But the analysts predicted that Trump's plan would hurt economic growth by running up large deficits that cause interest rates to soar, cutting into the economy.
In contrast, an analysis by the Tax Foundation, which advocates for lower taxes, found Trump's proposal could create $2 trillion in new tax revenues by triggering growth. But even that analysis found it would leave a net deficit and that more of its benefits would accrue to wealthier taxpayers.
Clinton's tax hikes would fall almost exclusively on businesses and taxpayers in the top 1 percent. The analysis found that some of the cuts in the plan — including a doubling of the child tax credit the Clinton campaign announced Tuesday morning — could lead to a 1 percent increase in income for the poorest 20 percent of U.S. households.
By contrast, Trump would cut taxes for most, but not all, Americans. The analysis found Trump would cut the average tax bill by $2,940, or 4.1 percent. But those in the top 0.1 percent would have their bill reduced by 14 percent, or $1.1 million.
Because of the way it changes standard deductions, the Trump proposal would actually raise taxes for an undetermined number of middle-class and lower-income households that have many children or are headed by a single parent, the analysis found.
Meanwhile, Clinton’s proposed tax increases on people with high incomes and on businesses would constrain economic growth, leading to lower wages and about 697,000 fewer jobs, according to a right-leaning policy group’s analysis.
The Democratic presidential nominee’s tax plan, which includes proposals to raise taxes on multimillionaires and impose a “financial risk fee” on banks, would change economic behavior enough to reduce U.S. gross domestic product by 2.6 percent over the long run, according to a study prepared by the Washington-based Tax Foundation. In that slightly smaller economy, wages would be 2.1 percent lower, Bloomberg quoted the report as saying.
(Newsmax wire services contributed to this report).
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