[Hoot Gibson]

[SIZE="2"]"As far as my opinion being "wrong, that is nonsense. Future events will prove whether my opinion was well founded or not, but your listing of names of economic experts who support Trump is not going to prove anybody's opinion wrong or right. It is amazing that you do not understand that simple fact.

In my opinion, Donald Trump has presented no credible plan to address the exploding national debt. In my opinion, neither has Hillary Clinton presented a credible plan to address the national debt. In my opinion, Ted Cruz has presented a credible plan to address the national debt by specifically naming five major federal agencies that he fight to eliminate.

None of the above statements in the poorly written paragraph above may be proven wrong, because they are each an example of a statement of opinion." [/SIZE]----Hoot Gibson



You admitted only 13 posts earlier to stating opinion, did you not? You even went as far as to point out that whereas I had posted the names and opinions of economic experts who support Trump's financial policy; You pooh-poohed my well sourced view point as name dropping, favoring instead your own opinion. It is amazing that you do not understand that simple fact.

What about your list was well sourced? You rattle off lists of names, as if those names should influence people to support Trump.

As I pointed out, Laffer dismissed Trump's threats of imposing high tariffs on Chinese products and Trump's promises to deport millions of illegal aliens as political rhetoric. In fact, Laffer has stated that he expects Trump to favor free trade policies if elected instead of pursuing the protectionist policies that he has espoused on the campaign trail.

So, who do you trust more, Donald Trump or Art Laffer? Art Laffer's assessment of Trump's economic plan is based partly on his assumption that Trump will not keep some of the most popular promises he has made during his campaign.

Laffer said in an interview that he does not believe Trump will follow through with his plan to deport all immigrants here illegally. He also said Trump, who has threatened tariffs on China and Mexico in order to leverage more favorable terms of trade for the United States, is no more protectionist on trade than Cruz — or almost any other American politician - and that he will eventually favor freer trade than America has now.

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Maybe Laffer's prediction of which promises Trump will keep and which ones he will break will come true. My point has been and remains that listing endorsements with no context is pretty meaningless. When Ronald Reagan took office, his views on capitalism and economic freedom were well established. Laffer did not have to predict what kind of economic plan Reagan would adopt once he was elected president because Reagan's political philosophy had remained virtually the same since the early 60s and he put his ideas to work as California's governor.

Believing that Trump will create the same kind of economic climate as Reagan did requires a great deal of faith in Trump. Laffer has such faith and I do not. That is not an insult aimed at Laffer, it is an insult of Trump.

The above quote was taken from an August, 2015 Washington Post article but I recently watched a Laffer interview in which he made the same points as he made in the August article. I do not pretend to have Laffer's economic credentials, but my opinion of Trump's honesty is just as valid as Laffer's or anybody else's.

Opinions are necessary ingredient in any debate. What separates debate winners and losers is the ability to support those opinions with facts. There is no better example than our debate over whether Colorado held a primary election to pledge delegates to the GOP national convention in 2012.

You were doomed to lose that debate when you took the position that a well documented historical event - the non-binding 2012 Colorado GOP Caucuses - never happened. When the facts no longer support an opinion, it is time to adopt a new opinion. Adopting an opinion that is not supported by facts is worse than having no opinion at all.