First and foremost, we must unshackle America’s domestic energy industry. While not an overnight fix, this is the most powerful non-monetary tool we have to confront inflation, protect our energy security, and provide Americans with tens of thousands of well-paying jobs. Getting this right will require a complete revamp of the onerous regulatory framework that is today a tangled web of red tape and bureaucracy clearly intended to stymie U.S. energy development and production.
Second, we must affirm and reinforce Trump-era trade and immigration policies that reflect the geo-political realities we face today. The framework of America First is not a polemic but rather sound economic and social policy. Supply chains must shift, manufacturing capacity on-shored, natural resources (like strategic metals) unlocked, and incentives aligned to get people back to work. Immigration must be regularized and aligned to the nation’s strategic interest. This means giving a preference to productive contributors to sciences, technology and the real economy who love America and want to adopt its foundational values. Mass illegal immigration robs American workers and taxpayers. It saps our nation’s strength and her citizens’ wealth. It must be stopped.
Third, Congress must somehow end its paralyzing infighting and come up with a real infrastructure plan that is actually about national infrastructure, not advancing the extremist ideologies and harebrained ideas (e.g., the Green New Deal) put forward by the Biden administration. Since at least the global financial crisis, Congress has been derelict in its duty to coordinate effective fiscal policy that stimulates investment and innovation in the real economy. Instead, Congress has defaulted to the blunt-force instrument of monetary policy, raising debt for handouts, stimulating inflation and fueling an asset bubble, while handing over the steering wheel of our economy to the undemocratic Federal Reserve. This is madness.
Related to the third, Congress should pass rational, just, and comprehensive 21st century laws regarding stablecoins (as first priority) and then crypto generally. Lack of clarity, antiquated law, tax policy confusion, and contradictory regulations are all conspiring to hamstring development and impeding wide-spread consumer adoption of the most promising sector of the digital economy. This poor oversight and lack of understanding has enabled some of the spectacular crypto failures and frauds that we’ve seen in recent months.
The U.S. managed to get it close enough to right it the 1990s with reasonably enlightened regulation that enabled the emerging digital economy (WWW, e-commerce, etc.) to flourish and for the U.S. to retain its position as the clear global leader in technology. For example, we managed to avoid adopting short-sighted legislative proposals like taxing e-mail messages to make up for the revenue lost by the U.S. Postal Service. Today, if we’re not careful, we risk squandering a similarly gigantic opportunity to lead the world in what will certainly be another revolution in technological and economic development.