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Politics continues to dominate the most active topics being discussed over the weekend and seven of the top ten most active threads were political. Many of those were threads that I've already discussed, including the most active thread (the choice of Tim Walz to run for Vice President). The first of the threads that I haven't already talked about was titled, "Trump is awful but I want helicopter money and illegal immigration to stop" and, of course, posted in the "Political Discussion" forum. The background to this title is that during the COVID pandemic the government made considerable amounts of money available to keep the economy afloat. This was metaphorically described as "dropping money from helicopters". This influx of cash has been blamed by many for the rise in inflation. The original poster says that she believes that former President, current cult leader, and convicted felon Donald Trump is "awful" and his running mate, J. D. Vance was "the wrong pick". Nevertheless, she says that she cannot take Vice President Kamala Harris seriously about the border and immigration. She says that there is a chance that Trump can fix these things because he will have other individuals at the helm running things. The original poster believes, however, that this would not be the case if Harris wins. I am not going to bother with the rest of the thread because there is plenty here on which to comment. While it seems to have vanished from our collective memory, there were economic stimulus programs during Trump's administration. This includes the $2 trillion CARES Act that provided direct payments to Americans and the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) that provided forgivable loans to millions of U.S. businesses. Therefore, if the helicopter drops were bad, Trump is also to blame. While I accept that the conventional wisdom is that the helicopter drops of money caused inflation, I believe that this is a case in which the conventional wisdom is either partially or fully wrong. What I think most people don't consider is the alternative to the helicopter drops. Respected economists were expecting a severe recession with massive loss of employment. The influx of cash kept many businesses alive and was welcome income to lower and middle class Americans. Prices did rise, but so did corporate profits. As such, corporate greed is also responsible for inflation. Under the stewardship of President Joe Biden, the U.S. economy has led the world and Biden has engineered a "soft landing" that many thought impossible. Inflation is now under control and prices are dropping. Harris will likely continue this trend. In contrast, Trump proposes a 10% tariff on all imports. This would undoubtedly be inflationary as it would lead to price increases on imported goods. With regard to immigration, this is another case of viewing Trump's presidency through rose-colored glasses. Migration actually rose during Trump's administration. His policies were either ineffective or inhumane. Many children separated from their families as a result of Trump's brutal policies still have not been reunited with their parents. Trump is now promising the forced expulsion of a million undocumented residents which would result in even greater human tragedy and potential social upheaval. Harris has been tasked with exploring the root causes of migration. As such, she likely has a more comprehensive and long term view of how to control immigration. Moreover, she supports the bipartisan immigration bill that Trump prevented from being passed. Harris would follow a course of action that has broad support from both political parties and would likely be much more effective than the inhumane approach proposed by Trump. Even in the case of appointees, there is every reason to believe that Trump's would be much worse than Harris before we even consider court nominees.