Introduction
Free markets, free enterprise, innovation and entrepreneurship are the foundation for economic growth and job creation in America. For the past four years, Democrats in Washington have enacted policies that undermine these basic concepts which have historically placed America at the forefront of the global marketplace. As a result, most Americans know someone who has recently lost a job, and small businesses and entrepreneurs lack the confidence needed to invest in our economy. Not since the Great Depression has our nation’s unemployment rate been this high this long.
So they chose to begin with revisionist history, the tactic Republicans love most. You see they are implying that our current predicament was a result of the policies of the Obama administration and the Democrats in Congress, even though our economic collapse and the majority of job losses occurred even before President Obama was sworn into office by policies enacted by Republicans. They also choose to ignore that de-regulation and lack of oversight was a primary factor leading to our current economic situation, Democrats are for regulation, I'm surprised they forgot that since they point it out so often. Maybe the below graph from the Bureau of Labor Statistics will make it more clear:
Enough is enough. More taxation, regulation, and litigation will not create more jobs.
The Clinton administration increased taxes, increased regulation and litigation and created over 22 million jobs. Bush reduced taxation, regulation, and litigation which led to the loss of 7.9 million jobs, but please continue.
Government takeovers of the economy have failed while the size and the scope of the federal government has exploded.
Chrysler just paid back their government loans with interest this past Tuesday, 6 years early. General Motors paid back its government loans with interest last April, 5 years ahead of schedule. The government stepping in to prop up this struggling industry saved millions of jobs, created new jobs (new auto-parts plants have announced plans for opening where I live in Kansas City for example) and is the sole reason America is still making cars today. Now that the auto loans have been paid back these actions ended up not costing the American taxpayers a dime. TARP if you recall is that nasty little four-letter word also known as the "Wall Street bailout", the original line of credit extended was $700 billion but as of this past fall estimates that put that number closer to $25 billion and it's dropping each month, the expectation is that the government will actually make a profit on this venture just as it did with the auto industry bailout. I guess the GOP's definition of failure is different from mine.
Empower Small Business Owners and Reduce Regulatory Burdens
Job creators are being bogged down by burdensome regulations from Washington that prevent job creation and hinder economic growth. These regulations are particularly damaging for the real job creators in the country: small business owners.
Ah yes that pesky regulation. Thank goodness Republicans are for stripping regulations, that worked so well when they let Wall Street self-regulate didn't it? Or how about when we allowed BP, Transocean, and Haliburton to do their own thing with the Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig? Oh wait, that's right they cut corners which resulted in a rig explosion killing 11 workers, harming the environment, hurting the local economy, and costing them billions more than they would have spent in regulatory compliance. De-regulating the meat industry would make beef cheaper right? Maybe in the near-term but it wouldn't take long until thousands developed an illness from tainted beef resulting in lawsuits which would result in payments by the manufacturer who will have to increase prices to cover the risk of not following regulation. But the GOP has an answer for this. Remember earlier in their proposal when they mentioned litigation? Their plan would not only remove regulations but prevent you from being able to sue those companies who injure you by cutting corners. Keeping those businesses profitable. But let us be clear, regulations do not harm small businesses and that's not who Republicans care about anyway, they want to remover regulations to help large businesses and corporations. Small businesses are exempt from a lot of regulations due to their size, and the Obama administration has created targeted tax cuts to small businesses to help offset the cost of any new regulations, regulations that ultimately are put in place to protect and benefit their employees and customers.
Background: The House has already acted on several regulations that hurt job creators both large and small including: The EPA’s regulation of greenhouse gases, the Federal Communications Commission’s net neutrality proposal, and duplicative and burdensome pesticide regulations.
The above actions were all taken to benefit large businesses and corporations and in many ways harm small businesses. For example, opposing net neutrality would provide customers with faster routes to websites of large corporations while placing small business websites on a slower speed connection making it less likely for consumers to visit sites of smaller companies.
Fix the Tax Code to Help Job Creators
America’s tax code has grown too complicated and cumbersome, and it is fundamentally unfair. It is filled with loopholes and giveaways.
Here is one statement in their plan that I am in complete agreement with. Let's see what they have to say next:
Congress should eliminate the special interest tax breaks that litter the code and reduce the overall
tax rate to no more than 25% for businesses and individuals including small business owners.
And now they've just lost me again. We have a debt of over $14.2 trillion and according to the GOP solving that means decreasing revenue, I don't think the math works out on that one. They also want to decrease the top tax rate to a level not seen since the 1930s when we were economically worse off than at any other point in our history.
At a combined state and federal rate of just over 39%, the U.S. currently has the second-highest corporate tax rate among the developed nations of the world (those in the OECD).
I am willing to concede that may be an accurate statistic so I'll take them at their word. But the legal tax rate and the effective tax rate are two completely different things. GE and Exxon are just a few companies that fall under the 39% combined tax rate but they don't pay anything in taxes, actually they get money from the government placing their effective tax rates in the negative. That's got to be the lowest effective tax rate among the developed nations of the world. How many more companies will avoid taxes if the rate is reduced to 25%? Here's a look at how it really works and why I agreed with their statement of the tax code being unfair:
Increase Competitiveness for American Manufacturers
For more than three years free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea have sat idle, blocked by House Democrats’ political posturing. As President Obama said on January 27, 2010, “If America sits on the sidelines while other nations sign trade deals, we will lose the opportunity to create jobs on our shores.”
Another instance where I agree with the GOP, these trade agreements are vital to expansion of American manufacturing, will help create jobs, and increase exports. But they're not telling the entire truth. The reason these deals have been held up in Congress is because the GOP is refusing to extend the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program that has been supported by both sides of the aisle for over 50 years. The TAA provides temporary unemployment and health insurance benefits to Americans whose jobs are shipped overseas as a result of these trade agreements. Democrats feel that helping Americans who lose their jobs because of the agreements is the right thing to do. Republicans on the other hand feel that money is more important than people and they don't feel that we can afford this program that has been a part of any trade agreement for 50 years even though there will be an increase in tax revenue from these deals will help offset the cost of TAA.
Maximize Domestic Energy Production to Ensure An Energy Policy for the Twenty-First Century
Since President Obama has taken office, American energy production has been halted and the average national price of gasoline has doubled. The rising cost of gasoline and dependence on foreign oil mean less money for families struggling to make ends meet and for business owner who are trying to get our economy moving again.
Did you catch that? It's all President Obama's fault that gas prices are high and I'm assuming we never had high fuel prices during the Bush administration. The Republican solution is to expand domestic exploration and domestic production. Never mind that we wouldn't see any benefit at the pump from these new sites for another 10 to 20 years at which time it would be really nice if we weren't so dependent on oil. The real problem with gas prices is that crude oil prices are determined by speculation. Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson surmised that speculation drove up the price of oil by as much as 40% during a recent Senate hearing. Currently there is a lawsuit pending against Parnon Energy and Arcadia Energy alleging that they manipulated oil prices in 2008 resulting in $50 million for their efforts. Until we address the real root of gas prices small businesses and individual Americans will continue to loose at the pump.
Pay Down America's Unsustainable Debt Burden and Start Living Within Our Means
President Obama and congressional Democrats have overseen the largest budget deficits in the history of the U.S. In the last two years, non-defense discretionary spending has increased by over 80%. They’ve maxed out our nation’s credit cards and are asking us to increase their credit limit so they can spend more. To create jobs and save our country from national bankruptcy, we must stop spending money we don’t have.
Notice they don't mention Defense spending in that statement, I guess we're going to continue the Bush policy of ignoring the costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I think that everybody is in agreement that we must address deficit spending, but each side of the isle has a different idea of how this should be done. Personally I am for reducing wastefull spending at this point, increasing taxes on the top 2% of Americans to the levels they were at during the Clinton administration, elimination of corporate tax loopholes, and elimination of tax subsidies to industries and businesses who do not require them. After we are on better economic footing and the unemployment rate is down to an acceptable range I believe that then, and only then, we can address further cuts to spending beyond waste. Republicans love to give the "kitchen table" analogy, you know the one where a struggling family is at the kitchen table to discuss their budget and reduce their household spending. It's a fair analogy but their explanation doesn't go far enough and their proposals don't match reality. Yes the family will reduce their household spending, but will do so smartly. They will keep their mortgage, car payments (because that's how they get to work to make money), paying student loans, and other necessary spending. They may cut things like cable, going to the movies, eating out, etc. The expectation should be no different for the government, spending will need to be cut but not for programs that are essential to the success of the American people. The Republicans wish to reduce revenue by slashing taxes to levels not seen sine the 1930s and here's where the analogy no longer works. Once the family determines their budget and identifies where they can reduce spending you won't hear one of the parent's say "now I'll quit my job to help us pay these bills." That's what the GOP is proposing, to address our debt and deficit we must reduce our revenue. The math just doesn't work.
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So there you have it, the House GOP's plan for putting Americans back to work. It only took them 141 days to come up with a plan that contains less words than my review of their plan, I'm sure it will only take a few hundred more days to enact any of their proposed solutions. In the meantime the Obama administration and legislation enacted by Democrats will continue to create 200,000+ private sector jobs each month.
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