https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nd8uiIpAy8E

Summarized:

Go back to 1944, Bretton Woods. Everybody knows about the currency agreement. But there was more to it than that. WWII was ending. Western Europe was virtually destroyed. But we needed them on our side to fight the Cold War. So we bribed them. We'll let you have a bunch of trade deals that are very favorable to you, so you can get your economies back up and running. And we will provide security for your trade routes, so you don't have to spend much on defense. In return, you'll follow our lead in the Cold War.

Problem is, it worked. And nobody had figured out what to do if we did win. I remember Ross Perot said what I was thinking, "In the post-Cold-War era, economic strength will matter more than military strength." But we didn't shift gears. We are still living with tax and trade policies that favor them over us. We're still spending way more than they are to defend their trade routes. And our world policeman label has led lots of groups like al-Qaeda to hate us.

We tied one hand behind our back from an economic competitiveness standpoint in order to win the Cold War. Trade policy gave in to defense policy. But that's not where we are any more.

So what to do? Here's my idea. Do a consumption tax. That levels a lot of the playing field by itself. It also lets us lower income taxes and take the burden of health care off employers by implementing Bismarck, making us way more attractive to investment. It also gives us enough to replace the welfare plantation with a guaranteed minimum income, which reduces inequality dramatically over time. And we balance the budget which frees up capital markets. And since it's not a tariff, it's not subject to WTO regulation, and there's no real way to retaliate. Then tell everybody they have to pick up more of the defense load, and we will help them do it.