Forget A Universal Basic Income. Instead, Pay Married People To Have More Babies
Republicans must become not just the party of workers but also the party of families. They should do it by upping Joe Biden’s proposed child tax credit into something bigger.
As the Republican Party charts its path during a Joe Biden presidency, there will undoubtedly be calls from the corporate wing to return to the neoliberal orthodoxy that defined it under the Bushes, Mitt Romney, and Paul Ryan. This would be a profound mistake.
President Donald Trump has repositioned Republicans as the party of workers with his focus on trade, industrial, and immigration issues. By crafting an expanded platform directed at working and middle-class Americans, Republicans can build on Trump’s success to build a more durable and potent electoral coalition. Republicans must become not just the party of workers but also the party of families.
Biden’s COVID spending plan raises the urgency of this shift, as Republicans will have to respond to his proposal to raise the child tax credit to $3,600 from $2,000. Rather than countering with frugality, conservatives should counter with a larger program that will not only help parents balance the checkbook each month but also encourage having more children.
Housing, Education Are Eating Stagnant Income Gains
Over the past four years, Trump focused relentlessly on the income issues facing Americans after two decades of wage stagnation. Thanks to this, real median household income rose 6.8 percent in 2019, the fastest since at least 1985. From 1999 through 2016, real median income rose just 0.3 percent. In Trump’s first three years, it rose 9.2 percent—nearly $6,000.
While Trump’s policies addressed income stagnation, this is only half of the problem facing Americans, who struggle to raise families given ever-rising costs. Since 2000, the cost of education, according to the Consumer Price Index, has risen by 148 percent while the cost of shelter has risen by 73 percent. Both are well in excess of the 54 percent rise in the overall price level.
Republicans must address these affordability issues. Of course, the cost of housing and education are particularly important to would-be parents deciding how many children to have. This is critical, as our most pressing medium-term policy problem is the low birth rate.
https://thefederalist.com/2021/01/19/forget-a-universal-basic-income-instead-pay-married-people-to-have-more-babies/