Newt Gingrich: Economic policies could make Seattle look like Detroit

President Trump recently mentioned that he’d like to reopen the country’s economy. Here in Washington, where we were one of the hot spots, it might be a little more problematic to do it sooner rather than later.

What KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson finds more concerning locally is that politicians are using this health crisis to push through a progressive agenda, specifically with many socialist-leaning members on the Seattle City Council pushing a tax increase on 700 of the largest employers, many of which are teetering on the brink.

They say they want to use that money to, among other purposes, give $500 monthly checks to our homeless community and to people who are here illegally.

Former United States Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, joined the Dori Monson Show to discuss.

“That’s why I tell everybody, the president’s got three different assignments: Beat the virus, relaunch the economy, and drive back local governments to the rule of law in the Constitution. The problem you have in Seattle is that a number of left wing cuckoos have been elected who have no understanding of economics and who are going to bankrupt the city,” Gingrich said.

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Gingrich believes such policies would both undermine the local economy and ultimately turn Seattle into a magnet for the homeless.

“Then they’re going to look back later when they turn it into Detroit and they’re going to say, ‘gee, how did this happen?’ But if you raise taxes on everybody who’s creating money, and then you give the money to people who are not creating money, you’re going to attract a lot more homeless people, and you’ll attract a lot more illegal immigrants, because they’re going to say, ‘Hey, go to Seattle and get $6,000 a year.’ So this is this is a recipe for absolute disaster.”

What did Gingrich think about the President’s plan to reopen the economy?

“Well, I thought it was exactly the right direction. As you know, this is a huge country, and things that work in Washington state may or may not work in Kansas and probably won’t work in New York City, and vice versa. So I don’t think you can have Washington try to control 330 million people in a continent-wide country,” Gingrich said.

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“And I think we’re turning power back to the governor’s, giving them responsibility but at the same time setting up a series of very common sense public health standards that have to be met at each stage. I thought it was very well done, and I think it’s the best possible way to get us reopened and to get us back into business.”

Listen to the Dori Monson Show weekday afternoons from noon – 3 p.m. on KIRO Radio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.