Economic Bunk

All of us have heard how horrible this economy is. Companies losing profits, and laying people off. Our politicians have been telling us that this is the greatest recession since the great depression. With the economy like this you would think people would be lining up at the soup kitchens. We are told by the media that this economy is unrecoverable without overwhelming government action. Unfortunately most of the information that is being spewed by the media and our politicians is at the least skewed and at the worst an outright lie.
I don’t see many people lining up for soup, unless soup is the new name for the next IPhone. The real facts about the economy are a stark contrast to the picture presented by our beloved media. 2008’s GDP grew by 1.3%. and loses only occurred in the last 2 quarters of 2008 and only 3 out of the last 16 quarters have seen a GDP decrease. In 2001 the GDP shrank by .5%, and this is the greatest recession since the 1930s?? The real fact is that just 30 years in 1979 the economy was much more bleak. In 79 inflation was over 13%, 2008s inflation rates are at a staggering 0.1%. 2007’s inflation was at 4% (Anything around 3% is considered average.) and we are told of impending doom.
I’m not about to sit here and say that there are not problems with the economy. There is no doubt that we are in a recession, but no economy can stay in the black. If anyone can name one investment that has never had negative numbers? Please let me know so I can move my money. Economic slowdowns are expected in any economy, but we are told that the sky is falling. There is no doubt that we need to fear for our economic future, not because of the policies of the past, but because of the promised policies to come from the Democrats. This proposed “stimulus” will not bring a quick close to this economic crisis. Even Obama admits that “…this is a big problem, and it’s going to get worse”. We have to look at history. Why does Obama promise dark days when Reagan took a very steep recession of 1982 and turned 11/1982 to 07/1990 into the longest period of sustained growth during peacetime. How did Reagan take an economy that only averaged 1.6% growth during the Carter years and turn it int0 a boom of 3.5% growth during his presidency? Reagan implemented across the board tax cuts, and market deregulation. He encouraged individual freedom and free markets. He cut spending and taxes. Obama’s plan embraces the same old policies that the Democrats have been pandering to us since the days of FDR.
This “stimulus” includes a lot of great items: $1 billion for Amtrak, the federal railroad that hasn’t turned a profit in 40 years; $2 billion for child-care subsidies; $50 million for that great engine of job creation, the National Endowment for the Arts; $400 million for global-warming research and another $2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects. There’s even $650 million on top of the billions already doled out to pay for digital TV conversion coupons. Only $30 billion, or less than 5% of the spending in the bill, is for fixing bridges or other highway projects. There’s another $40 billion for broadband and electric grid development, airports and clean water projects that are arguably worthwhile priorities.
Our government is asleep at the wheel. This “stimulus” package will be a weight hung around the necks of our children for generations to come. Obama claims that this package will create over 3.5 million jobs. This certainly is a great promise to throw around to gain public support. But anyone who has graduated the 5th grade can do the math on this bill and recognize that the math just does not work. Assuming that 3.5 million jobs are created by this $800 billion dollar “stimulus” bill, that means that each job will cost tax payers over $200,000. That’s over 5 times what the average American worker earns. This bill is nothing more than funding for a laundry list of Democrat policies being advanced under a smoke screen of “stimulus”. This bill is a stimulus of government spending and national debt what will do little to help the economy. 1588 pages of wasteful spending will not stimulate the economy. I thought Obama was bringing fresh ideas of change and hope to help the American public. It’s not even like we the government has the 800 billion to spend in surplus. This 800+ billion is being borrowed by our government, meaning it will have to be repaid by taxing future generations or by more borrowing. Mortgaging the future of American generations to advance politicians careers and fund special interest groups is criminal.

The FIX
Governments since the dawn of time have been promoting themselves as the fix to their people’s problems. They promise shelter from the raging storms, but time only deliver in unintended consequences. The fix to our economy is not to let the government spend away our future. First we must lower taxes on the people who generate economic growth. America suffers from a 35% tax rate on businesses (one of the highest in the world). This tax cut will enable the producers in our society to generate more jobs. “Tax cuts give incentives to work, save, and invest, thus creating jobs and increasing economic growth.” The way out of this mess is to allow the people of this great nation to do what they do best, generate wealth. The true failed policies of the past are the tired policies tried with FDR, Carter, and in socialist nations around the world. Obama is right about one thing, if we allow government to try to spend its way out of this crisis, the times before us will be more difficult.”The issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or be ruled by a small elite.”– Thomas Jefferson. Our country was build around the principle that people should have the right to their own property and how it should be exercised, not on big government spending taking from the pocket of the producers and wasting it on massive deficit spending

–Aaron West

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