This group is going to be focusing on big businesses and their relationship to elections. One of the more important issues in this post-election period, is the influence of big businesses on the outcome of the elections and its effect on our government and economy, specifically debt. During the campaign, businesses lobby candidates to support their self-interests. The candidates get behind the ideas of these businesses and get sponsorships from them for their campaigns. Big businesses influence the election outcomes, because the candidates will be promoting and getting behind policies and ideas that they do not really believe in, but do because they received sponsorship for it. When these candidates get in power, they act in the ways that favor those deals made with these businesses.
In this year, the new president-elect, Donald Trump is a massive business mogul with businesses everywhere in the world. He is in a transition period to the Presidency right now, and the issue he is facing is the fact that he has conflicts of interest. He has issues separating his personal life from his presidential life. He has made his intentions clear, to have his children run some of his businesses, but the money they make will still be in his name. Donald Trump is a proud business man and a self-proclaimed genius when it comes to debt, even though a good portion of some of his businesses have failed. Playing with debt is a concept embraced by a lot of businesses to make profit and reduce what they owe, years down the line. Meanwhile this has been a great concept for Trump in his businesses, the fear is that, the nation is not a business. The nation cannot be run as a business. Playing with debt while running a nation could have serious ramifications on the economy of the country.
The citizens make up the general public, which is the audience for the political leaders, and make up the consumer base for the big businesses. Lobbying is something that occurs, typically, between these big businesses and the political leaders. These are deals that are made with the aim of protecting their self-interests. The importance of this issue comes in here. These people are making these deals with their benefits in mind first, and are not thinking about anything or anyone else. In this case, the candidates running for presidency are expected by the public to have their interest in mind, which is not the case and the public ends up in the middle. This also takes away trust from the candidates and businesses, because the needs of the public are supposed to be the focus for these candidates and that is not the case. During the 2016 elections, Donald Trump promised to return the jobs lost in America which is one of the reasons he gained positive feedback. People believed and are counting on him for that because he is a business mogul and surely knows what he is talking about. He also promised to cut down on taxes but the issue with that is that it will cost the government a lot more money, and the government debt will increase faster and substantially. Eventually, this will lead to an increase in interest rates. The increase in interest rates will lead to more expensive borrowing, cars and homes will cost more on a monthly basis. This will also affect business investments and to pair it up with the high government debt, will put the country in a dangerous economical position.
Again, our new president-elect is a businessman and he does not let that get ignored. One of his most recent deals is one that he struck with an air conditioning and heating manufacturer, Carrier. He did this in order to save jobs for Americans but the issue is with what he offered the company to stay in America. He slashed all corporate tax rates from thirty-five percent to fifteen percent, Carrier is going to be receiving various incentives from the state and it has been said that those incentives will amount to about $700,000.00 per year. Even though he claimed that he saved jobs for Americans, most of the company’s jobs in Indiana will still go to Mexico. The incentives that have been offered to this company will now have to be made up by the residents of that state. So, the residents in Indianapolis will shoulder that burden. Even though, he is making out to seem like he did a good thing, it is not a good thing. The deal on the surface seems alright until you get to details. He really didn’t save that many jobs for Americans. He really showed up as a business man. This is a prime example of what we need to worry about, because that deal was clearly in favor of the company, more than anything else. Getting rid of regulations and slashing corporate tax rate does not benefit the public in any way, and if it does, not as much as the businesses. He has explained, in the past, his love for playing with debt, but the only debt or money he has ever played with has been his own. Compared to the national economy, that is nothing. If a bad deal was made or a deal went under with his company, a set number of people suffered the loss, significant or not. But this is the whole country, and if better care is not taken with examining the kinds of deals made, the whole nation suffers. This carries more burden and the position he is in now. As previously mentioned, this is not help with building the trust between the people and the president that he is looking out for the interest of the people.
We want the take-away from the site to be the consciousness of the various factors that affect our elections, especially the influence of the electoral candidate by big businesses and endorsements. Also, to raise awareness of some of the issues we could be facing for the next four years with our new president-elect, Donald Trump, and if he will be able to grasp the bigger picture of things. As a president his job is to look after the citizens and take their concerns to heart. All these promises sound good but the reality of them coming to pass and actually having a positive effect on the economy is a total gamble. With this in mind, we should keep our eyes open for quick fixes that could lead to more trouble in the future. As a businessman, it would be okay if this was another one of his businesses he was gambling with, but these are the futures of citizens who voted him in with the hope of gaining better quality of life for them and their families.