Douglas Goldstein, CFP®, Financial Planner & Investment Advisor
Kerry Bowers is trying to set the standard for the 2016 presidential election. He is
a military hero, a successful businessman and a volunteer spokesman for American’s
for fair taxation and he is a candidate for the 2016 United States Presidential Election.
Douglas Goldstein, financial planner & investment advisor, interviewed Bowers on Arutz Sheva
Radio.
Douglas Goldstein: You talk about setting the standard for the presidential candidate.
It’s kind of an interesting slogan. How did you come up with that?
Kerry Bowers: When I’m talking about a standard, we’re not talking about a standard of character.
What we’re talking about here is a standard in our platform and a standard of campaigning
and what I’m talking about is a standard in this case where the candidates shouldn’t
be required by the people, the electorate, to lay out their platform in detail that include
their objectives, their strategies they have to use as they pursue those objectives, goals
by which we can measure our progress towards those objectives and most importantly a timeline.
Now this is not a standard that I can actually impose but it is something that I have put
out there for the people to see and look and see what this guy the name of Kerry Bowers
that most Americans have never heard of has put together this very detailed plan and one
that really refocuses us back in the direction of the constitution that I feel we have far
too long and too far departed from but will draw us back there and it’s a plan that
Kerry Bowers put together someone from out there in right or left field whichever field
you want to choose me from has put together and why not hold every candidate to that same
standard. In other words, no more generalities but a standard of the details with the objectives,
the strategies, the goals and the timeline so that we have something to hold that candidate
responsible for in creating that plan and then accountable to once he is elected.
Douglas Goldstein: One of the things you said is you would want the people to demand this,
meaning it’s not that there will be a law that would require but you would expect the
people would demand that of a candidate. The problem is these days people are way too busy
with their Facebook, their Twitter, their internet, how can you get them to actually
make these demands of their candidate when frankly we see that they don’t ask anything?
Kerry Bowers: One of the ways that I’m using is through my internet site and through the
campaign website that I have in addition to the various social media. I use Facebook a
lot, I use Twitter and the other social media that we have available out there to bring
out these ideas that I have been inspired to put down in paper and in many cases, you’ll
find too that I have presented those in a video format so that people can actually watch
it or listen to it in addition to reading it as they may desire. So we find to put it
out there to various media forms and through various media sources in order to people will
catch the idea and maybe that will draw them in to learn more as it has in very many cases
about my platform and then when they start examining other candidates, they’re going
to be looking at him to see how they compare them to what Kerry Bowers has said on a specific
issue.
Douglas Goldstein: I like to dive in to one of the most important topics which is as president,
how would you create the policy towards Israel or how would you recreate the current policy
towards Israel?
Kerry Bowers: As far as policy and define that policy, what I would do is recommend
or support one that indicates an arguable commitment to the strengthening and maintenance
of a bond between the American people and that of one of our most trusted allies and
I believe that importance arises for many factors that bind our nations together. Some
of those are familial ties. There are parallels and ethical standards in many endeavors in
which our nation is individually engaged and among others are the values that we share
for human rights.
So the bottom line is I wanted to be well understood that the bond between the United
States and Israel is strong. I think there’s some repair to be made, not all of that break
in the bond or some of the fractures that we’ve had in it have come under President
Obama’s administration. I think it goes back further than that but we want to assure
the American people and the Israeli people that we can strengthen that and maintain that
strength as we go forward.
Douglas Goldstein: What would be your message to the crowd that are really developing both
on the college campuses in the United States as well as in Europe regarding BDS on Israel?
Kerry Bowers: When we’re talking about boycotting, divestment and sanctions that are imposed
by other nations upon our allies then I’m opposed to that application and along those
lines, I have to applaud the good efforts of the US Congress and particularly that of
Representative Roskam of Illinois who apparently was able to include wording in recent foreign
trade legislation that will prohibit future trade agreements with nations that employ
BDS specifically against Israel and that is something I strongly support and I would carry
that message forward to the audience whether it be on college campus or to the senior citizen
center down the street that I would be opposed to that.
Douglas Goldstein: One of the main issues I know that comes up in Israel a lot, in fact
between Israeli leaders and American leaders, is the case of Jonathan Pollard who was an
American naval analyst and who tends to life imprison in the United States for sharing
information with an ally and the opportunities have arisen many times for US presidents to
pardon him not only for humanitarian reasons but simply because he has spent more time
behind bars than any other person indicted for spying in the history of the United States.
What would your position be on that?
Kerry Bowers: My position on that would be as it would be really with any case. Number
one, as president, we don’t want to jump to any conclusions and certainly as a candidate.
In any case like this, it needs to be re-examined and in a case such as that where we had such
a imposed upon him, it needs to be re-examined and I would certainly consider looking at
a re-examination of that case and take argument for both sides for and against determining
whether or not if a pardon would be a justifiable route to take as a president of the United
States.
Douglas Goldstein: How do you feel the economic relationship between the US and Israel could
be improved from a policy basis? What are some of the steps you think you could take?
Kerry Bowers: The first thing that has to be done is to implement the plans that I’ve
been inspired to design. We will restore and sustain the American economy. If I do not
first focus on America then America will be a declining value to another nations in consequence
to our decline in economic, military and our industrial capabilities. I think I said it
best in my foreign policy document that if we do not restore our economic, industrial
and military capabilities then we may well be shaped as a nation by the same capabilities
of other nations and I intend to not let that happen. Now in that straightening process,
we need to reassess where we have commitments today that would be better serve to working
more closely with our allies, Israel being among the nations that we should aim that
focus. We need to examine the resources, each of us has to offer for mutual strengthening
and then establish as I talked about before, objectives, strategies and goals and a timeline
they will provide the focus to achieve the end we desire.
I will say that I am a proponent to free trade and prefer government to stay out of the business
of people doing business to the extent possible but the government can certainly help pay
the stronger applications, free enterprise and free trade through deregulation and elimination
of obstructive taxation like that we have today and that will work to the advantage
actually of both our nations.
Douglas Goldstein: How would you be sure to have a balanced budget which is just skyrocketing
out of control that quite frankly many people have no idea how the US could even get back
onto a normal track?
Kerry Bowers: There are two areas for the United States that we have to focus on is
the expenditures of our government and our tax system. It is our tax system that really
obstructs our ability to be able to steadily grow our economy. I think the United States’
GDP is running around 1% or so annually now, somewhere in that range. That is way too low.
We need to change our tax system in order to be able to improve upon our nation economic
from that point of view.
The one measure that I am a proponent of is that of what we call the fair tax, the tax
we’ve been introduced on legislation, in our congress and both the house of representatives
and the senate and bills H.R. 2.5. and S. 155 and what that does is that it eliminates
all federal income, payroll, corporate capital gains of state and give taxes and replaces
all those with one single national sales tax. Now it doesn’t eliminate [excess] taxes
and and those types of things that may continue to exist but those types of taxes that I just
addressed on individuals and businesses will go away. And it’s been projected that with
the implementation of such a tax system which would really be the only kind in the world,
we’re looking at probably in the first year a 10% growth in our GDP and I know your background
in the finance and perhaps offshore and cross boarder type activity, what this does is it
makes America then really one of the best havens for bringing your resources, your finances
into this country because if you combine the best tax system that doesn’t tax those savings
and investments in this country, combine that with the fact that we have one of the most
secure systems in the world then you’ve got the best haven possible to put your money
which means greater capital in this country for us to be able to grow and expand and have
actually I believe lower driven interest rates based on what the market determines and not
what the Fed determines for.
The other thing of course too is through the deregulation and in the deregulation process.
We’re making it much easier then for businesses to be able to start a business, to maintain
a business and to grow a business in this country and instead of gentleman and ladies
sitting around during the board of directors meeting and trying to decide how they can
avoid taxation and how they can get around regulation, we’re going to have better regulations
and better taxation that’s not going to interfere in that process. Through this, we
will increase our revenues. We will also in the process begin reducing the size of government
and I address this quite a bit on my website and even go through each one of the major
agencies we have in the government that I would eliminate, reduce the size of government,
so we reduce the expenditures, start restoring the sovereignty back to the states and let
them handle many of the issues that have been picked up by the federal government over the
years so we will have a reduction in expenditures. Bottom line, reduce your expenditures and
improve your tax system and we will get to a balanced budget and not only balanced but
in the sense that we’ll have a surplus that will actually be applied towards reducing
our debt, very critical issue.
Douglas Goldstein: How can people learn more about you?
Kerry Bowers: I encourage them to go to www.kerrybowers.com and there you can learn a lot more about me
and my platform.