Candidates, Policies, Choices

by Tyler Bennett

It is that time of the year when the majority of television is made up of

presidential debates and commercials being paid for by political parties

committees, slamming their opposition and trying to sway votes.

The population in the States, are in two camps when it comes to politics, either

taking it seriously or just ignoring it all together.

The majority of students at West Virginia University Parkersburg, will be voting

for the first time.

Voting for the next president is a big decision for many of the younger

generation. Finding information that will affect them in the next five years is hard.

Every candidate has his or her positives and negatives depending on who is

voting.

Representing the Republican Party is Donald Trump from New York.

Trump believes that lowering the corporate income tax rate to 15% will help

created jobs, saying that lowering the rate will “unleash American ingenuity here

at home and make us more globally competitive.”

His proposed cuts will put United States rates 10 percentage points below

China.

Trump plans to get rid of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), President Barack

Obama’s trade deal, before he leaves office.

“The TPP is an attack on America’s business, it does not stop Japan’s currency

manipulation.”

Saying that along with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA),

that the number of jobs and amount of wealth and income the United States have

given way is staggering, and thinks the situation is about to get drastically worse

if the TPP is not stopped.

A decision that will not be popular with college students, but Trump does not

think free tuition is financially possible.

He does want to fix the issue that many students once leaving college are in

six-figure debt.

“You take a look at how college costs are and there’s no reason for it,” Trump

said.

“We can’t forgive these loans, but we should take steps to help students.”

Representing the Democratic Party is Hillary Clinton from New York.

Clinton said that increasing the federal taxes should be a priority is reforming

the tax code.

“Hard working families need and deserve tax relief and simplification, and those

at the top have to pay their fair share.”

Clinton supports the Buffet Rule, closing the carried interest loophole, that lets

wealthy financiers pay an artificially low rate.

While on board with Obama’s TPP last year, Clinton now disapproves of the

plan.

Saying that learning more about the plan in the last year, the negatives out

weigh the positives for the nation.

“I’m worried about currency manipulation not being part of the agreement.

We’ve lost American jobs to the manipulation that the countries, in particularly in

Asia, have engaged in,” Clinton said.

Potentially gaining votes from students, Clinton believes that universities should

be tuition free.

“Students should never have to borrow to pay for tuition, book, and fees to

attend a four-year public college in their state under the New College Compact.”

Under her plan, every student will have the opportunity to graduate from an in-

state four-year public college or university without taking on any student debt.

Families earning $85,000 or less will immediately be able to attend an in-state

college or university without paying any tuition.

From New Mexico, Gary Johnson will be representing the Libertarian Party.

Johnson believes that lowering the corporate income will create millions of jobs.

“Eliminating income taxes on businesses will transform the U.S into the ‘job

magnet’ of the world. Why would any corporation move its operations off-shore

when the best tax ‘haven’ on the planet is right here at home?” Johnson said.

Johnson is pro TPP, he believes that while it may not be perfect, it may help

lead to a better plan.

“Is it a perfect document? Based upon what I understand it is not, but I could

not tell you what the specifics are for why that’s not the case other than that it’s

better than nothing given the current state of trade. So I would be in support of

TPP.”

Johnson does not believe that colleges or universities should be free, but he

would get rid of student loans.

“In my opinion the high cost of college tuition has everything to do with

guaranteed student loans. I believe that if guaranteed government student loans

were to have never existed then college tuition today would be half of what it is,”

Johnson said.

From Massachusetts, Jill Stein is running for the Green Party.

Stein is not for or against on lowering the corporate income.

“We want to directly create jobs, not simply provide tax breaks for the job

creators to move their jobs to China or India,” Stein said.

Stein’s Green New Deal will create 25 million jobs, including a spectrum of jobs

in the green sector, work in agricultural, manufacturing to preserving or restoring

environmental quality, as well as jobs that meet our social needs.

Stein said the Green Deal would be like the New Deal that got us out of the

Depression.

Stein thinks the TPP is harmful by giving corporations more power than nations.

“It lets multinational corporations overrule our laws, including critical protections

for workers, our health, and the environment, the safety of our food, air and our

water,” Stein said

Stein will abolish student debt and guarantee tuition-free, world-class public

education from pre-school through university.

She also intends too end high stakes testing scores that determines school’s

and teacher’s financial pay.

Early voting is going on right now, and will end three days before Election Day,

Nov 5th.

On Nov 8th, polls will be open from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m..