With “the Dow Jones Industrial Average down more than 500 points, as investors appeared to lose faith in the ability of the world’s policy makers to revive the global economy” and a “growing realization among even the most optimistic investors that the United States is entering a new recession — a dreaded ‘double-dip’“, Republicans need to put forward a plan to jumpstart the economy.
We know that increased government spending won’t do the trick. We have to find ways to stimulate the dynamic and job-creating sector of the economy. Perhaps the biggest problem is what the blogress formerly known as Little Miss Attila dubs the “pervasive climate of regulatory uncertainty” which . . .
. . . has led to the phenomenon of businesses “not knowing which way to turn.” When businesses don’t know what to invest in, they keep their money to themselves. [The president] should have signalled that he’d try to be fair to entrepreneurs and corporations.
Via Instapundit. Over at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s blog, Tom Donohue offers “five steps officials in Washington should take immediately to spur faster hiring in America’s private sector” which instead of ratcheting up federal spending will thin “the ranks of those who are dependent on government support”:
- Ratify Pending Free Trade Agreements With Colombia, Korea, and Panama.
- Unlock Our Domestic Energy Resources.
- Green-Light Transportation and Energy Infrastructure Projects.
- Speed Up Permitting and Provide Immediate Regulatory Certainty.
- Put the Welcome Mat Back Out for Tourists and Travelers.
Of those five points, I think we need focus on 1, 2 and 4, but alas that the incumbent administration does not seem much interested in such free-market policies.
With the debt debate behind us, House Republicans must at minimum debate bills which would unshackle the engines of economic growth, removing burdens from entrepreneurs, those job creators and innovators who are the life-blood of any economy.
Conservatives have to do more than just criticize Obama’s big-government policies. We have to offer free market alternatives. With these five steps, the Chamber of Commerce has done just that. It’s time for House Republicans to follow suit.
I sure am glad thet the DNC chairperson, Debbie Wasserman Schwartz, informed the world that “They own the economy”. And I hope all conservative politicians replay that TV clip during election season.
Its hard for me to understand how free trade agreements will spur hiring. These countries can sell us far more than they will ever buy.
The result will be more lost jobs (like the New Balance factory in Maine where $10/hour workers are worried about Losing their jobs to Vietnam).
Can anyone name a benefit from NAFTA?
“We don’t need to teach the grass to grow. We just need to move the rocks.”
Not sure who this quote belongs to, but heard it today. In essence, it I take it to mean that government just needs to get out of the way and our economy will start to grow (economy = grass, govt = rocks).
SCR,
I believe even if there was a ‘trade imbalance’ with Korea, Columbia and Panama, the strengthening of ties would help strengthen relations. I’m pretty sure we could export *something* (I recommend firearms to Columbia, it helps counter Chavez)
A part of the equation is the fact that companies like GM, GE, apple produce product overseas and sell them within that market/region. For example, look at GM and Ford, If you look at their balance sheets, most of their new car sales came from China, India and other eastern counties. they export next to nothing from the states because it’s too expensive to produce and transport products. that is the reason why companies that are thriving overseas and are in the black.
The only thing the US should do with respect to Panama that safeguards the future of the US economy is to re-confiscate the Panama Canal.
The problem with “Regulatory Certainty” is that the political landscape is too-unstable to convince small and medium business-owners and managers. What one Congress passes the next will withdrawn, and vis-a-versa. Business plans require years or a decade of stability, not mere months between biannual election-cycles.
Numbers-Two and -Three would work IF the Federal government wasn’t already in-hock at record levels. But I guess it’s better at pump-priming than the current-scheme of paying civil-service and public-sector salaries with borrowed-dollars…that’s just using the seed corn to make today’s bread.
All great ideas, Dan. But I think the one that would do the most good for the economy is #2.
Not quite. The one that would do most good is not on the list:
0. Repeal ObamaCare.
And to continue the list:
6. Repeal Dodd-Frank.
7. Repeal Sarbanes-Oxley.
8. Cut spending immediately by $1 trillion THIS YEAR (FY2013, starts soon). Ace has a post on how: http://ace.mu.nu/archives/319670.php – The biggest cuts come, as they should, from entitlements and all other transfer payments, including corporate welfare.
The complete list would set the economy roaring with new businesses and new jobs.
Sorry typo, I meant FY2012, heh.
Weren’t we told that the $800 billion ‘stimulus’ package was about list item #3? Instead the money largley went to state and local government to keep thier spending programs afloat. A classic example of ‘bait-and-switch’.
Eliminate the no Alternative Maximum Tax and toss the capital gains for at least two years.
Oh, and we might want to run Dave Ramsey for 2012. 😉
6. Make gold and silver legal tender
7. Abolish the Federal Reserve and nationalize the major banks, lower interest rates
8. Abolish the federal income tax
9. End the military industrial complex
10. Stop bailouts to the offshore banks
12. declare the 1.5 quadrillion in derivatives fraudulent
And then Eisenhower said:
I’druther see an end to funding Global Warmism alarmists, treadmills for shrimp, the mating habits of the Famous Mexican Staring Frog of Southern Sri Lanka etc. done all in the name of “science”.