The American economy is booming thanks to President Trump’s pro-growth policies, and now the President can set his sights on ensuring that prosperity reaches every nook and cranny of the country.
In a move designed to help underperforming areas prosper along with the rest of the country, Donald Trump recently signed an executive order that will steer additional long-term investments to 8,000 American communities designated as “opportunity zones”.
With an average poverty rate of 32% and 1.6 times more unemployment than the rest of the country, these forgotten communities are in desperate need of help and intervention.
The President’s historic tax cut bill laid the groundwork for the economic revival of those areas, offering tax breaks for companies to invest in new economic activity. The recent executive order builds on that concept by establishing a “White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council” that will give opportunity zones priority for things like federal grants, infrastructure spending, and crime prevention.
By turning opportunity zones into hubs of economic growth and investment, President Trump’s new policy is expected to improve the lives of approximately 35 million people while producing a positive return on investment for taxpayers.
The executive order doesn’t rely solely on the federal bureaucracy, though. To ensure that interventions are targeted where they will do the most good, the Revitalization Council will closely coordinate with officials from state, local, and tribal governments that better understand the challenges faced by their local communities.
Because the White House believes in evidence-based solutions to spur economic development, the council will also collect data to measure the success of opportunity zone initiatives, allowing it to constantly improve and streamline its approach.
Most importantly, the council will solve one of the main problems affecting previous efforts to spur development of high-poverty areas: lack of coordination among government agencies. By bringing 13 different federal agencies under the same umbrella, the council will be able to reduce regulatory redundancy and minimize administrative costs so that the money spent in opportunity zones has the greatest possible impact.
Thanks to the Trump administration, the national economy is healthy again for the first time since the Great Recession, with GDP growth on pace to exceed 3 percent and unemployment at historic lows. President Trump’s executive order will ensure that this prosperity is further shared by Americans across the economic spectrum, giving new life to communities that have long been overlooked by politicians in Washington.
Some Presidents depart the Oval Office with a lengthy list of unkept promises. Others leave behind a legacy of fruitless failure. When Donald Trump leaves the White House in 2025, he will be remembered as the leader who saved the American Dream for all Americans.
Brad Thomas is a South Carolina native and has more than 30 years of experience in commercial real estate where he has formulated a deep understanding of development, finance, and securities analysis. He is the #1 analyst on Seeking Alpha, editor of the Forbes Real Estate Investor, and Senior Analyst at iREIT Investor. Thomas also serves on the Advisory Board for the Donald J. Trump presidential campaign.
