Yes, it's big but is it beautiful?

AWANI

U.S President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax and spending bill has been signed into law. What’s in it—and what does it mean for the U.S. and beyond? Prof Emeritus Datuk Dr Woo Wing Thye breaks it down on Woo Says.

Transcript

00:00Now, moving on. This week on Wu Says We Take a Closer Look at Donald Trump's Big Beautiful Bill.

00:09Now, Melissa Idris discusses this with Prof Emeritus, Datuk Dr. Wu Wingtai.

00:16Well, the two things that are definitely at the top of his mind.

00:20One is to show that he's a friend of the common folks.

00:25And one of the common disdain in America is towards the government.

00:34The government is often portrayed as out of control, wasteful, and ineffective in his mission.

00:43So giving that depiction, of course, did not originate with Donald Trump.

00:51That was Ronald Reagan's message when he successfully won the election in 1980.

01:00Ronald Reagan's campaign consists of getting the government out of your way.

01:09And getting government out of the way means that instead of the government spending your money for you,

01:16you go and invest your money and make the economy grow.

01:19So the depiction of the government that Donald Trump is exploiting is the depiction of the government as tax and spend organization

01:34because it's the ability to tax and so it taxes and it spends.

01:40So the way to eliminate that tendency is to do what Ronald Reagan says, starve the beast.

01:53How do you starve the beast?

01:54You don't give it food.

01:56And what is his food?

01:57Revenue.

01:58So you take away its revenue and prevent it from spending.

02:02So in this particular, this is what Ronald Reagan started, followed by George Bush Jr.

02:12When he came to power in 2000 and now by Donald Trump in his first term and second term.

02:22Let us talk about the specific package of starve the beast this round.

02:29The first thing is he has cut taxes and the largest proportion of the tax cuts go to the richer segments of the population.

02:42There are tax cuts for the lower classes in terms of there will be no more taxation of tips and overtime.

02:56And people who are retired, their social security payments will have bigger tax deductions.

03:04Catch the full conversation of this on all Awani International social media accounts at Power Affairs.

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