Donald Trump in Time to Get Tough, by Donald Trump
On Environment:
FactCheck: Yes, hybrid family vehicles are available in US
Trump complained in his book "Time to Get Tough": "Obama's total cluelessness was revealed at one speaking event. A man told Obama that he and his wife need a bigger vehicle because they have 8 kids. So what did Obama do? He told the guy, 'Buy a hybrid
van.' Just one problem: they don't exist in America. The president cannot even speak intelligently without a teleprompter." (p. 18).Is that true? We researched whether any hybrid vans are available in America. Technically, Trump is correct; but
in the car showroom, Obama is correct.
Trump is technically correct if one differentiates "vans" from "SUVs". Hybrid SUVs ARE available in America: the Chevy Tahoe and the Toyota Highlander both seat families of 7. There are hybrid vans available
outside the US: the Toyota Estima (seats 7) is a hybrid available in Japan and Hong Kong. We would interpret Obama's statement as meaning "encourage Toyota to import that van if the SUV won't suit you." We would not interpret Obama's comment as "clueless
Source: OnTheIssues FactCheck on Time to Get Tough, by Donald Trump
On Corporations:
0% corporate tax would create millions of jobs
We need to lower the U.S. corporate tax rate from 39 percent to zero. America's corporate tax rate is the second highest on the planet. The international average is 26 percent.
How can we expect companies to hire American workers and locate their business in America when our government taxes them at exorbitant rates for doing so? That's crazy. I want to encourage American companies to stay here and hire
American workers, and I want foreign companies to relocate their businesses to the United States and create jobs here.
We are the greatest country on planet earth--the world's companies want to be here. A zero percent corporate tax would create an unprecedented jobs boom. Millions of jobs would materialize.
Source: Time to Get Tough, by Donald Trump, p. 63
Dec 5, 2011
On Corporations:
Fight crony capitalism with a level playing field
One thing the Tea Party folks and the Occupy Wall Street people can and should agree on is tackling the rampant problem in the Obama administration of crony capitalism. We've already seen with Solyndra and
Fisker how the president's pals and big time campaign donors all got sweetheart loans and deals and stuck taxpayers with the bill. I predict we haven't heard the last of it and that the
Obama administration engaged in many more cases of funneling money to companies connected to the president and his donors. Mark my word.I love capitalism enough to protect it. There has to be a level playing field where everyone can compete fairly.
The guy swinging a hammer all day shouldn't have the government reaching in his pocket and handing his taxes to Obama's big shot donors. It's wrong and unfair.
Source: Time to Get Tough, by Donald Trump, p.188
Dec 5, 2011
On Energy & Oil:
No Cap-and-Tax: oil is this country's lifeblood
As crazy as it sounds, the Obama administration wants higher energy prices because they believe that will force America to drive less and businesses to slow down on production and transportation.Remember Cap-and-Tax (or as they called it Cap and
Trade)? [In 2008], Obama outright admitted that his plan to tax businesses on carbon emissions that exceeded his arbitrary cap would drive energy prices sky high. Here's what he said:
"Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would
necessarily skyrocket, even regardless of what I say about coal, because I'm capping greenhouse gases. Whatever the plants were, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that on to consumers."
Most of us shake
our heads in disbelief at this stuff.
Until we get this country's lifeblood--oil--back down to reasonable rates, America's economy will continue to slump, jobs won't get created, and American consumers will face ever-increasing prices.
Source: Time to Get Tough, by Donald Trump, p. 15-16
Dec 5, 2011
On Energy & Oil:
Jobs will slump until our lifeblood--oil--is cheap again
Until we get this country's lifeblood--oil--back down to reasonable rates, America's economy will continue to slump, jobs won't get created, and American consumers will face ever-rising prices.Obama promised he was going to create millions of
so-called "green collar" jobs. He used that promise to justify his massive government giveaway of billions and billions of taxpayers' dollars to green energy companies. We're now seeing the results of Obama's promise and big government scheme.
Source: Time to Get Tough, by Donald Trump, p. 16-17
Dec 5, 2011
On Energy & Oil:
Enough natural gas in Marcellus Shale for 110 year supply
Did you know that with the natural gas reserves we have in the United States we could power America's energy needs for the next 110 years? Those aren't my estimations, that's what the
United States Energy Department's Energy Information Administration says. In fact, one of the largest mother lodes of natural gas, the Marcellus Shale, could produce the energy equivalent of 87 billion barrels of oil.
Some critics believe those numbers might be inflated. Fine. Let's say the real number is fifty-five years of energy. Or that we only get 43 billion barrels' worth of energy.
So what? That buys us more time to innovate and develop newer, more efficient, cleaner, and cheaper forms of energy.
Source: Time to Get Tough, by Donald Trump, p. 24
Dec 5, 2011
On Energy & Oil:
Libya: No oil, no support; no exceptions
Qadaffi is dead and gone. So what? We have spent more than $1 billion on the Libya operation. And what are we getting in return? A huge bill, that's what. It's incredible how foolish the Obama administration is. Libya has enormous oil reserves.
When the so-called "rebels" came to NATO (which is really the U.S.) and asked for help to defeat Qadaffi, we should have said, "Sure, we don't like the guy either. We will help you take out Qadaffi.
But in exchange, you give us 50 percent of your oil for the next twenty-five years to pay for our military support and to say thank you for the United States doing what you could never have done on your own."
The "rebels" would have jumped at the offer and said yes.Imagine the amount of oil we could have secured for America. Our policy should be: no oil, no military support.
Source: Time to Get Tough, by Donald Trump, p.102
Dec 5, 2011
On Foreign Policy:
China is our enemy; they're bilking us for billions
China is bilking us for hundreds of billions of dollars by manipulating and devaluing its currency. Despite all the happy talk in Washington, the Chinese leaders are not our friends. I've been criticized for calling them our enemy.
But what else do you call the people who are destroying your children's and grandchildren's future? What name would you prefer me to use for the people who are hell bent on bankrupting our nation, stealing our jobs, who spy on us to
steal our technology, who are undermining our currency, and who are ruining our way of life? To my mind, that's an enemy. If we're going to make
America number one again, we've got to have a president who knows how to get tough with China, how to out-negotiate the Chinese, and how to keep them from screwing us at every turn.
Source: Time to Get Tough, by Donald Trump, p. 2
Dec 5, 2011
On Foreign Policy:
When you love America, you protect it with no apologies
I love America. And when you love something, you protect it passionately--fiercely, even. We are the greatest country the world has ever known. I make no apologies for this country, my pride in it, or my desire to see us become strong and rich again.
After all, wealth funds our freedom. But for too long we've been pushed around, used by other countries, and ill-served by politicians in Washington who measure their success by how rapidly they can expand the federal debt,
and your tax burden, with their favorite government programs.American can do better. I think we deserve the best. That's why I decided to write this book.
The decisions we face are too monumental, too consequential, to just let slide. I have answers for the problems that confront us. I know how to make American rich again.
Source: Time to Get Tough, by Donald Trump, p. 7
Dec 5, 2011
On Foreign Policy:
By 2027, tsunami as China overtakes US as largest economy
There is a lot that Obama and his globalist pals don't want you to know about China's strength. But no one who knows the truth can sit back and ignore how dangerous this economic powerhouse will be if our so-called leaders in
Washington don't get their acts together and start standing up for American jobs and stop outsourcing them to China. It's been predicted that by 2027, China will overtake the United States as the world's biggest economy--much sooner if the
Obama economy's disastrous trends continue. That means in a handful of years, America will be engulfed by the economic tsunami that is the People's Republic of China--my guess is by 2016 if we don't act fast.For the past thirty years,
China's economy has grown an average 9 to 10 percent each year. In the first quarter of 2011 alone, China's economy grew a robust 9.7 percent. America's first quarter growth rate? An embarrassing and humiliating 1.9 percent. It's a national disgrace.
Source: Time to Get Tough, by Donald Trump, p. 30
Dec 5, 2011
On Free Trade:
Fair trade instead of embarrassing deal with South Korea
I'm for free and fair trade. After all, I do business all over the world. But look at the deal Obama cut with South Korea. It was so bad, so embarrassing, that you can hardly believe anyone would sign such a thing. In theory, the agreement
Obama signed will do next to nothing to even out the trade imbalance, will further erode American manufacturing and kill more American jobs, and will wipe away the tariffs South Korea presently pays us to sell their stuff in our country.
Why would Obama agree to these terms, especially when we hold all the cards?Why is our president signing the trade bill that the
South Koreans want him to sign instead of the one that gives us maximum advantage?
Source: Time to Get Tough, by Donald Trump, p. 5
Dec 5, 2011
On Free Trade:
Repatriate jobs that China has been stealing
I'm sick of always reading about outsourcing. Why aren't we talking about "onshoring"? We need to bring manufacturing jobs back home where they belong. Onshoring, or "repatriation," is a way for us to take back the jobs China is stealing.
We know that China's wages are increasing. Also, China lacks certain natural resources that we have in abundance. If we exploit those two key facts, we can begin making the case to companies that they should bring their manufacturing facilities home to
America.Onshoring has huge potential. That's why Congress need to pass Virginia Congressman Frank Wolf's bill called the "Bring Jobs Back to
America Act" (H.R.516) to help expand the onshoring movement and get American jobs back where they belong--here in America.
Source: Time to Get Tough, by Donald Trump, p. 37-39
Dec 5, 2011
On Free Trade:
Repatriate jobs that China has been stealing
I`m sick of always reading about outsourcing. Why aren`t we talking about onshoring? We need to bring manufacturing jobs back home where they belong. Onshoring, or repatriation, is a way for us to take back the jobs China is stealing. We know that
China`s wages are increasing. Also, China lacks certain natural resources that we have in abundance. If we exploit those two key facts, we can begin making the case to companies that they should bring their manufacturing facilities home to America.
Onshoring has huge potential. That`s why Congress need to pass Virginia Congressman Frank Wolf`s bill called the Bring Jobs Back to America Act
(H.R.516) to help expand the onshoring movement and get American jobs back where they belong--here in America.
Source: Time to Get Tough, by Donald Trump, p. 37-39
Dec 5, 2011
On Free Trade:
20% tax on all imported goods
If we want jobs in America, we need to enact my 5-part tax policy: kill the death tax; lower the tax rates on capital gains & dividends; eliminate corporate taxes in order to create more American jobs; mandate a 15% tax for outsourcing jobs and a
20% tax for importing goods, and enact the 1-5-10-15 income tax plan [four brackets with a top rate of 15%].Government needs to stop pick-pocketing your wallet. Every time it does, it slows growth and kills jobs. It's also immoral.
Source: Time to Get Tough, by Donald Trump, p. 65
Dec 5, 2011
On Health Care:
Kill ObamaCare before it becomes a trillion-ton weight
Obamacare can't be reformed, salvaged, or fixed. It's that bad. Obamacare has to be killed now before it grows into an even bigger mess, as it inevitably will. Obamacare takes full effect in 2014. If it's not repealed before then, it will be more than
just another failed government entitlement program--it will be the trillion-ton weight that finally takes down our economy forever.
Obamacare is a heat-seeking missile that will destroy jobs & small businesses; it will explode health-care costs; and it will lead to health care that is far less innovative than it is today. Every argument that you'd make against socialism you can make
against socialized health care, and any candidate who isn't 100% committed to scrapping Obamacare is not someone America should elect president. Repealing Obamacare may be one of the most important and consequential actions our next president takes.
Source: Time to Get Tough, by Donald Trump, p.121-122
Dec 5, 2011
On Health Care:
Increase insurance competition across state lines
Even if we elect a real president who will get tough and repeal Obamacare, we still need a plan to bring down health-care costs and make health-care insurance more affordable for everyone.
It starts with increasing competition between insurance companies. Competition makes everything better and more affordable.
One way to infuse more competition into the market is to let citizens purchase health-care plans across state lines.
This could be easily accomplished if Congress got some guts and did the right thing. The U.S. Constitution gives
Congress control over interstate commerce. But for whatever reason, the Congress has never exercised this power regarding health insurance. They need to.
Source: Time to Get Tough, by Donald Trump, p.131
Dec 5, 2011
On Homeland Security:
American interests come first; no apologies
I believe that any credible American foreign policy doctrine should be defined by at least seven core principles:- American interests come first. Always. No apologies.
- Maximum firepower and military preparedness.
- Only go to war to win.
-
Stay loyal to your friends and suspicious of your enemies.
- Keep the technological sword razor sharp.
- See the unseen. Prepare for threats before they materialize.
- Respect and support our present and past warriors.
Source: Time to Get Tough, by Donald Trump, p. 87
Dec 5, 2011
On Homeland Security:
All freedoms flow from national security
Obama's recent decision to gut the U.S. military by cutting $400 billion from our defense budget, a figure more than double what then-Secretary of Defense Robert Gates identified as being prudent.
Now here's Obama, a guy who never met a spending bill h doesn't love. But when it comes to funding our troops and giving them the equipment, training, and support they need,
Obama is MIA.The reason conservatives support a strong and well-funded military is because they know that all freedoms flow from national security. That's why we need a new president.
It's also why we need to get tough in foreign policy to deal with the threats and challenges America faces from rival and enemy nations.
Source: Time to Get Tough, by Donald Trump, p. 90-91
Dec 5, 2011
On Immigration:
351,000 illegal aliens are in our prisons; costing $1.1B
America's prisons house 351,000 criminal aliens who committed a crime after having already broken the law by entering American illegally.
Making taxpayers pay for 351,000 criminals who should never have been here in the first place is ridiculous. The annual price tag to incarcerate these thugs is $1.1 billion. And get this: criminal aliens have an average of seven arrests.
That's at least seven crimes committed against American citizens by each of these criminals who should never have been allowed to cross our borders.
One out of every three federal prison inmates is a Latino, and three quarters of these are here illegally.
Source: Time to Get Tough, by Donald Trump, p.136
Dec 5, 2011
On Immigration:
Anchor babies were NEVER the intent of the 14th Amendment
The root cause of all the welfare payments to illegal aliens is the so-called "anchor baby" phenomenon, which is when illegal immigrant mothers have a baby on American soil. The child automatically becomes an American citizen,
Though this was NEVER the intention of the Fourteenth Amendment, which states, "All citizens born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the state wherein they reside."
The clear purpose of the Fourteenth Amendment, ratified in 1868, three years after the end of the
Civil War, was to guarantee full citizenship rights to now emancipated former slaves. It was not intended to guarantee untrammeled immigration to the United States.
Source: Time to Get Tough, by Donald Trump, p.140-141
Dec 5, 2011
On Immigration:
Invite foreigners graduating from college to stay in US
Our country's leaders are just so plan stupid. As an example, foreign students come over to our colleges, learn everything there is to learn about physics, finance, mathematics, and computers, and graduate with honors. They would love to stay in this
country, but we don't allow them to. We immediately ship them back to their country to use all of the knowledge they learned at the best colleges in the United States back in their country rather than keep it here in ours.
When we have gifted people in this country we should cherish them and let them stay. But instead we fling our arms wide open to the lowlifes, the criminals, the people who have no intention to contribute to our country.
Wouldn't it be better if we
invited foreign student graduating from our colleges to stay to build American companies, instead of foreign companies that will be wreaking havoc against Boeing, Caterpillar, and many other of our great American companies in the future?
Source: Time to Get Tough, by Donald Trump, p.145
Dec 5, 2011
On Immigration:
Triple-layered fence & Predator drones on Mexican border
I am impressed with the success of the double- and triple-layered fence in places like Yuma, Arizona. The wall there is a serious 20-foot wall. It has three walls separated by 75-yard "no man's lands" for border agents to zoom up and down in vehicles.
It also has cameras, radio systems, radar, and pole-topped lights. After the triple-layered fence was installed, the 120-mile stretch of the US-Mexican border known as the Yuma sector experienced a 72 percent plunge in illegal immigrant apprehensions.
We need to be ready to build other kinds of fences, too. The point is that properly built walls work. We just need the political will to finish the job. And by the way, finishing the job will employ a lot of construction workers. Moreover, I call on
Congress and the president to hire another 25,000 border patrol agents and give them the aerial equipment they need, such as Predator drones, to provide real-time aerial reconnaissance information to agents guarding the border wall.
Source: Time to Get Tough, by Donald Trump, p.146-147
Dec 5, 2011
On Jobs:
Raising business tax causes businesses to move jobs overseas
People are smart. They know you can't be "for" jobs but against those who create them. It doesn't work. All raising taxes on businesses does is force business owners to lay off employees they can no longer afford. It also drives up prices, encourages
businessmen and women to move their businesses (and their jobs) to other countries that have far lower tax rates and regulatory costs, and sends people scrambling for tax shelters.
Obama appears surprisingly clueless about how easy it is now for anyone to outsource jobs to foreign workers with just the click of a mouse. On our broadband, high-speed Internet world, the old brick-and-mortar barriers of business have vanished. That me
Source: Time to Get Tough, by Donald Trump, p. 54
Dec 5, 2011
On Principles & Values:
No more morning in America; we'll be mourning FOR America
If we keep on this path, if we reelect Barack Obama, the America we leave our kids and grandkids won't look like the American we were blessed to grow up in. The American Dream will be in hock. The shining city on the hill will start to look like an
inner-city wreck. It won't be working in America, as President Reagan put it. We'll be mourning for America, an America that was lost on Obama's watch. The dollar will fall as the world's international currency.
Our economy will collapse again (something I believe is a very real danger and risk: a double dip recession that could turn into a depression). And China will replace American as the world's number one economic power.
But it doesn't have to be this way. If we get tough and make the hard choices, we can make America a rich nation--and respected--once again.
Source: Time to Get Tough, by Donald Trump, p. 4
Dec 5, 2011
On Principles & Values:
5-point plan to return America to her former greatness
We can return America to her former greatness if we get tough and act smart.- It starts with China and OPEC. The hundreds of billions of dollars they steal from us each year must end right away. That one action alone will result in a windfall to
help us pay down our debt and meet our commitments.
- Next, we enforce a zero-tolerance policy for the kind of brainless government waste that we've all become far too accustomed to from Washington.
- We go after the criminals and con artists who are
defrauding taxpayers of $243 billion every year in Medicare fraud and billions more in other kinds of fraud, such as the disability racket.
- We must save Social Security through economic success.
- We need to put Americans back to work and kick the
community organizer out of office so we can instill some fiscal sanity in Washington.
We do those five things and we will pass along to our kids and grandkids not only a government they can afford, but also one they can be proud of.
Source: Time to Get Tough, by Donald Trump, p. 82-83
Dec 5, 2011
On Principles & Values:
USA is the greatest force for freedom world has ever known
Maybe my biggest beef with Obama is his view that there's nothing special or exceptional about America--that we're no different than any other country. Our country is the greatest force for freedom the world has ever known.
We have big hearts, big brains, and big guts--and we use all three. In the past our free market capitalist system has created more wealth and prosperity than any government-controlled economy could ever dream of doing.
Because of that wealth, we give more in charity than any other country, and twice as much as the second most generous nation.We need a leader who will get tough, get smart, and get America working again. I believe America is worth fighting for,
I believe America has nothing to apologize for. I believe America can get back her greatness. But we need a tough leader for tough times--someone who isn't afraid to do hard things.
Source: Time to Get Tough, by Donald Trump, p.155-156
Dec 5, 2011
On Social Security:
Social Security isn't an "entitlement"; it's honoring a deal
Social Security faces a problem: 77 million baby boomers set to retire. Now I know there are some Republicans who would be just fine with allowing these programs to wither and die on the vine. The way they see it, Social Security and Medicare are
wasteful "entitlement programs." But people who think this way need to rethink their position. It's not unreasonable for people who paid into a system for decades to expect to get their money's worth--that's not an "entitlement," that's honoring a deal.
We as a society must also make an ironclad commitment to providing a safety net for those who can't make one for themselves.Social Security is here to stay. To be sure, we must reform it, root out the fraud, make it more efficient, and ensure that the
program is solvent.
Same goes for Medicare. Again, people have lived up to their end of the bargain and paid into the program in good faith. Of course they believe they're "entitled" to receive the benefits they paid for--they are!
Source: Time to Get Tough, by Donald Trump, p. 68-69
Dec 5, 2011
On Social Security:
Disability Racket: $25B in fraudulent disability filings
The top estimates are $2,340,000,000 in Medicare fraud over a decade--or 16% of America's entire national debt!Then there's the disability racket. Did you know that one out of every 20 people in America now claims disability? That adds up to $170
billion a year in disability checks. Between 2005 and 2009, it is estimated that $25 billion were eaten up in fraudulent Social Security Disability Insurance filings. On and on, scam after scam it goes; as always, taxpayers are the ones getting stiffed.
Source: Time to Get Tough, by Donald Trump, p. 77
Dec 5, 2011
On Tax Reform:
Cutting tax rates incentivizes a strong national work ethic
No doubt you work hard for your money--I know I do--and you should be permitted to keep more of it. Anything less creates a disincentive for a strong national work ethic. President Ronald Reagan saw it the same way: "The more government takes in taxes,
the less incentive people have to work." As with most things, President Reagan had it right, But Reagan was merely echoing the economic thoughts of President John F. Kennedy, who had already said, in 1962, "The paradoxical truth is that the tax rates
are too high today and tax revenues are too low and the soundest way to raise revenues in the long run is to cut rates now."
Reagan and Kennedy's views prove that smart tax policy shouldn't be a partisan issue. It should be common sense.
If you tax something you get less of it. It's as simple as that. The more you tax work, the less people are willing to work. The more you tax investments, the fewer investments you'll get. This isn't rocket science.
Source: Time to Get Tough, by Donald Trump, p. 51-52
Dec 5, 2011
On Tax Reform:
4 brackets; 1-5-10-15%; kill death tax & corporate tax
My 5-part tax plan involves reforming the income tax. The government confiscates way too much of your paycheck. The tax code is also a very complicated system that forces Americans to waste 6.1 billion hours a year trying to figure it out.What does
that tell you? It tells me that it's time we restore simplicity & sanity to the income tax. Here's my income tax plan:
- Up to $30,000, you pay 1%
- From $30,000 to $100,000, you pay 5%
- From $100,000 to $1 million, you pay 10%
- On $1 million
or above, you pay 15%
It's clear and fair. Best of all, it can be filled out on the back of a postcard and will save Americans big bucks on accountants and massive amounts of time wasted attempting to decipher the tax code.Our country is hungry
for real tax reform. That's why we should implement the 1-5-10-15 income tax plan. And we need to enact [the rest of] my 5-part tax policy: kill the death tax; lower the tax on capital gains & dividends; eliminate corporate taxes; and a 20% import tax.
Source: Time to Get Tough, by Donald Trump, p. 64-65
Dec 5, 2011
On Technology:
China threatens US with cyber warfare & industrial espionage
Where do you think Communist Chinese President Hu Jintao plans to direct most of China's educational and economic edge? That's right, the military and weapons industries.What China is doing on the cyber warfare front is equally alarming.
Cyber spying can isolate network weaknesses and allow the Chinese to steal valuable intelligence.
China presents three big threats to the
United States in its outrageous currency manipulation, its systematic attempt to destroy our manufacturing base, and its industrial espionage and cyber warfare against America. The Chinese have been running roughshod over us for years.
Obama claims we can't do what's in our interests because it might spark a "trade war"--as if we're not in one now.
Source: Time to Get Tough, by Donald Trump, p. 32-33
Dec 5, 2011
On War & Peace:
Iraq should pick up the tab for their own liberation
When you do someone a favor, they say thank you. When you give someone a loan, they pay you back. And when a nation like the US sacrifices thousands of lives of its own young servicemen and women and more than a trillion dollars to bring freedom to the
people of Iraq, the least the Iraqis should do is pick up the tab for their own liberation.How much is it worth to them to be rid of the bloodthirsty dictatorship of Saddam Hussein and to have gained a democracy? In reality, that's a priceless gift.
When I say they should pay us back, I'm not even talking about cash out of their pockets. All I'm asking is that they give us, temporarily, a few flows of oil--enough to help pay us back and help take care of the tens of thousands of families and
children whose brave loved ones died or were injured while securing Iraqi freedom.
But does Iraq do that? No. In fact, they've made it clear they have no intention of ever doing so. Ever. The ingratitude of Iraq's leadership is breathtaking.
Source: Time to Get Tough, by Donald Trump, p. 9-10
Dec 5, 2011
On War & Peace:
Stop Iran's nuclear programs by any & all means necessary
America's primary goal with Iran must be to destroy its nuclear ambitions. Let me put them as plainly as I know how: Iran's nuclear program must be stopped--by any and all means necessary. Period. We cannot allow this radical regime to acquire a nuclear
weapon that they will either use or hand off to terrorists. Better now than later!Pres. Bush authorized a covert program to "undermine the electrical and computer systems" at Natanz, Iran's uranium enrichment facility. What came out of that initiative
was the Stuxnet cyber worm. It was unleashed against Iran's nuclear centrifuges and made them spin so fast they destroyed themselves. The operation was very successful and destroyed roughly 1/5 of Iran's centrifuges.
No one knows for sure how many months or years we put back on Iran's nuclear clock. Some analysts say 6 months, others 1 or 2 years, But that's the point: the clock is still ticking.
Source: Time to Get Tough, by Donald Trump, p. 98
Dec 5, 2011
On Welfare & Poverty:
I don't like firing people; work makes people better
The American work ethic is what led generations of Americans to create our once prosperous nation.That's what I find so morally offensive about welfare dependency: it robs people of the chance to improve. Work gives every day a sense of purpose.
A job well done provides a sense of pride and accomplishment. I love to work. In fact, I like working so much that I seldom take vacations. Because I work so hard, I've been privileged to create jobs for tens of thousands of people.
And on my hit show "The Apprentice", I get to work with people from all works of life. I'm known for my famous line, "You're fired!" But the truth is, I don't like firing people. Sometimes you have to do it, but it's never fun or easy.
One of my favorite parts of business is seeing how work transforms people into better, more confident, more competent individuals. It's inspiring and beautiful to watch.
Source: Time to Get Tough, by Donald Trump, p.107
Dec 5, 2011
On Welfare & Poverty:
Food stamps should be temporary; not a decade on the dole
The food stamp program was originally created as temporary assistance for families with momentary times of need. And it shouldn't be needed often. Thankfully, 96 percent of America's poor parents say their children never suffer even a day of hunger.
But when half of food stamp recipients have been on the dole for nearly a decade, something is clearly wrong, and some of it has to do with fraud.
The really infuriating thing is that the Obama administration doesn't seem to care about how taxpayers are being shaken down by this outrageously mismanaged government program.
The blatant waste of taxpayers' dollars doesn't bother
Obama, because it's all part of his broader nanny-state agenda. Perhaps that's why his administration doesn't give a rip about policing fraud or administering responsible oversight-he's buying votes.
Source: Time to Get Tough, by Donald Trump, p.113-114
Dec 5, 2011
On Welfare & Poverty:
Apply welfare-to-work to 76 other welfare programs
The secret to the 1996 Welfare Reform Act's success was that it tied welfare to work. To get your check, you had to prove that you were enrolled in job-training or trying to find work. But here's the rub: the 1996 Welfare Reform Act only dealt with one
program, Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), not the other seventy-six welfare programs which, today, cost taxpayers more than $900 billion annually. We need to take a page from the 1996 reform and do the same for other welfare programs.
Benefits should have strings attached to them. After all, if it's our money recipients are getting, we the people should have a say in how it's spent.The way forward is to do what we did with AFDC and attach welfare benefits to work.
The Welfare Reform Act of 2011--proposed by Republican Congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio, Tim Scott of South Carolina, and Scott Garrett of New Jersey--does just that.
Source: Time to Get Tough, by Donald Trump, p.116
Dec 5, 2011
Page last updated: May 20, 2016