This article was authored by Andy Puzder for the Wall Street Journal on September 13, 2024
President Kennedy’s economic policies put him closer to Trump than Harris.
When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. endorsed Donald Trump, five of his siblings issued a statement denouncing him: “Our brother Bobby’s decision . . . is a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear.”
Among the values they cited was “a shared vision of a brighter future” defined by “economic promise.” But when it comes to economic policy, Mr. Trump is much better aligned with the values of President John F. Kennedy than Kamala Harris is.
In December 1962, speaking at the Economic Club of New York, JFK said that the “federal government’s most useful role” was “to expand the incentives and opportunities for private expenditures” by cutting “the fetters which hold back private spending.” He committed “to an across-the-board, top-to-bottom cut in personal and corporate income taxes.”
Kennedy believed tax cuts for everyone would generate economic growth benefiting everyone, once famously noting that “a rising tide lifts all boats.” He argued that tax cuts enable those in lower brackets to increase consumer demand by spending “their additional take-home pay” while making it possible for “those in the middle and upper brackets . . . to invest more capital” to meet that demand. He believed corporate tax rates “must also be cut to increase incentives and the availability of investment capital.”
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