Opinion on what economic policies the US government should pursue

[vanguard96]

Making the US government focus on courts, military defense not regime change or humanitarian action seem to be two primary functions to emphasize. These two and the protection for fraud and dispute settlement to allow for the division of labor and private property.

Anything else is fluff and we should disarm the ability of the government to grant favors especially on the Federal level.

Ending the drug war would be a boon for the government. With that the opioid epidemic would go away as it is starting to go down in places that treat drug addiction as a health problem rather than a crime problem like Portugal.

I would also consider ways to quit the ineffective 'war on poverty"and the new unholy alliance of social conservatives and feminists behind the 'war on trafficking' that is more an attack on prostitution among consenting adults. The model of Australia and not Sweden seems to be the one I would follow toward that goal.

With all the reductions in lobbying for the prisons, the drug companies, the military hardware makers, big tobacco, etc then we can reduce our regulatory red tape.

With the auditing and reduction in the interference of the Federal Reserve in distorting the market the US can move in the right direction on economic freedom.

Combined with the reduction of corporate taxes with unneeded and unproven subsidies for big corporations we will see a return to prosperity long term with a heavy focus on private entrepreneurship.

If this is not acceptable to the liberals in CA or OR or the conservatives in TX or AL then let the states decide with only very limited oversight by the US government and state autonomy in economic matters will be the rule. When we force the issue one way or the other that's when we will see further conflict as the states clamor for federal money for infrastructure or military or social benefits.

[vanguard96]

Strict welfare reform. President Obama gutted the welfare reform in 2012.

In the very least get rid of so-called 'welfare cliff' where the benefits go down and you get less when you go over a certain threshold. That means people shun overtime, second jobs, promotions, and salary increases. This is so counterproductive when combined with the rules put in place to restrict what you can buy and also where they go through people's personal items to see if the woman has a boyfriend or someone else supporting them.

http://www.learnliberty.org/blog/the-welfare-cliff-and-why-many-low-income-workers-will-never-overcome-poverty/

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This can somewhat explain why you have people working at the same pay rate for a super long time. It is an absolute travesty of the system.