Posted on 12/20/2008 3:09:04 PM PST by SeekAndFind
What is Washington waiting for? The inauguration is less than five weeks away: At the rate we’ve been going, another 500,000 jobs will be lost by then. The downward spiral is deepening and accelerating: Congress and the president must act now.
American families have lost about $11 trillion in net worth as securities and home values have plummeted. This translates into about $400 billion less annual consumer spending, net of government safety-net funding. Exports won’t grow to make this up, as the dollar has strengthened with investors worldwide clamoring for its relative security. Investments won’t make up the gap either, as bank loans and secondary-market financing have shrunk and as fresh equity is virtually non-existent.
So this is surely the time for economic stimulus. But — and this is the crucial point — the government can’t just make itself bigger and more oppressive in the guise of stimulating the economy. That would make matters worse. Nor should we forget that fiscal stimulus is but one part of the solution. As Christina Romer, Barack Obama’s designee as chairperson of the Council of Economic Advisors concluded from her study of the Great Depression, bad monetary policy was its greatest cause and good monetary policy was its most effective cure. The Fed should continue to expand the money supply. And, it should confirm that it will not tolerate deflation — the pain of inflation pales in comparison.
That being said, a stimulus plan is needed without further delay, and there are some things that Republicans should insist on.
The first is that tax cuts are part of the solution. Harvard professor and economist Greg Mankiw points out that recent research confirms that tax cuts have a greater multiplier effect than new spending — more economic bang for the federal buck. We should lower tax rates for middle-income families and eliminate their tax on savings altogether — no tax on interest, dividends or capital gains. Let’s also align our corporate tax rate with those of competing nations. These actions will rapidly expand consumption and investment, and right now, time is of the essence.
On the spending front, infrastructure projects should be a high priority. But because infrastructure projects involve engineering, environmental studies, permitting and contracting, they can take a long time to actually boost the economy. Spending to refurbish and modernize our military equipment is urgently needed, and it has a more immediate impact on the economy. A great deal of our armament was damaged or lost in the Middle East, and the rest is long overdue for maintenance.
We should also invest to free us from our dependence on foreign oil, not by playing venture capitalist, but by funding basic research in renewables, material science, combustion, nuclear reprocessing, and the like. During the 2008 campaign, virtually every candidate agreed on the need for an “Apollo-like mission” to achieve energy independence. Now is the time to start.
Cities and states will clamor for government dollars. Like the Big Three automakers, states should first take advantage of the downturn to do some needed cost cutting and restructuring. State employee numbers, pensions, and health-insurance premium sharing — as well as duplicate and ineffective agencies and programs — should be high on the hit list. State budgets should be brought in line with those of the most efficient of their comparables. And the federal government should look to ease the burden of mandates on states, like Medicaid.
Republicans should also lay down a gauntlet: All new spending projects should be selected by the responsible federal agency according to published criteria, not by congresspersons and senators based upon favors and politics. Republicans should commit to vote no on any stimulus bill with earmarks that have not been voted upon by their entire body.
There is a danger that new spending and deficits will lead to runaway inflation, flight from the dollar, and another economic crisis. It is essential, therefore, that Congress and the president commit to reform entitlement spending as soon as the economy recovers. With the footing of our long term economy at risk, with entitlements already reaching 60 percent of federal spending and with baby boomers nearing retirement, this can be delayed no longer.
We must also be careful to avoid burdening the economy with excessive regulation in response to the need to reform regulatory oversight of the financial sector. Going too far could cripple the entire industry, further tightening the credit markets. And we should make it clear that Washington will not act to virtually impose unions on small business by eliminating the right of workers to vote by secret ballot in the workplace. This “card check” payback for the AFL-CIO’s support of the Democrats would devastate business formation and employment.
The Democrats may want to wait for Obama, but the country needs action now. Republicans can — and must — play an important role in shaping a stimulus bill that makes sense for America and lays a foundation for future prosperity and growth.
--— Mitt Romney is the former governor of Massachusetts.
We need a competition of good common sense ideas over the next four years to best choose our candidate.
I’m just sayin’ I’d hate to wait 4 years for the guy, see him win potus and leave this country in as bad a shape he left MA.
One thing is for sure. There will be no peace in the GOP or progress toward re-establishing conservatism as the core of the party until we rid ourselves of these RINOs and re-indoctrinate their supporters.
Their stench has been dragging us down much too long and we actually have folks, even on this forum, who believe the likes of Mitt Romney are conservatives. What a mess.
Romney BOOM
"All new spending projects should be selected by the responsible federal agency according to published criteria, not by congresspersons and senators based upon favors and politics." --Mitt Romney
Willard explicitly proposed that new spending should be selected by the federal agencies. Handing the Congressional power of the purse over to the bureaucrats is both idiotic and unconstitutional.
And it demonstrates Romney's contempt for our Constitution.
Mitt can not pull triggers. He’s a political wimp.
Utah Olympic corruption? Don’t look in to it.
3 billion dollar grows to 14 billion dollars Big Dig? Don’t look into it.
Widespread Louisiana style croynism, corruption, fraud waste and abuse at each and every level in Massachusetts? Don’t look in to it.
Besides his control of the State Police, he could of taken a couple of million of his own money and with investigators, accountants and public records had them running like rats in a magnesium fire. Instead he got his resume buffed, ticket punched and bailed out of his contract two years into his term to spend 50 million of his own money to prep for his run. No one ever saw him his second two years except for national TV somewhere out of state.
And, now he’s preaching to other politicians that they should put their noses to the grindstone and make, for them, hard decisions.( Not that this boob bait for Romney Bubbas was ever meant for Washington.)
Thank’s Mitt for the obvious. We’ll tape it to the fridge for when someone that has balls and likes to fight comes along.
Some may have been fooled...but I'll stick with Jim Robinson. I consider that good company. Guess you don't.
Tragic really. With the onslaught of the financial crises, could it be ANY clearer, that Romney with all his experience making insolvent companies, solvent and profitable, was exactly the man we needed at this time for president?
THE REAL DEAL: Romney got a "C" from CATO -- even before he tanked Massachusetts
with RomneyCARE=HillaryCARE and his coverup of the BIGdig.
Romney also betrayed President Bush. Here are the facts.
"As U.S. real output grew 13 percent between 2002 and 2006, Massachusetts trailed at 9 percent.
* Manufacturing employment fell 7 percent nationwide those years, but sank 14 percent under Romney, placing Massachusetts 48th among the states.
* Between fall 2003 and autumn 2006, U.S. job growth averaged 5.4 percent, nearly three times Massachusetts' anemic 1.9 percent pace.
* While 8 million Americans over age 16 found work between 2002 and 2006, the number of employed Massachusetts residents actually declined by 8,500 during those years.
"Massachusetts was the only state to have failed to post any gain in its pool of employed residents," professors Sum and McLaughlin concluded.
In an April 2003 meeting with the Massachusetts congressional delegation in Washington, Romney failed to endorse President Bush's $726 billion tax-cut proposal.
[Cato Institute annual Fiscal Policy Report Card - America's Governors, 2004.]
Compare that to an EFFECTIVE BELOVED GOV., like Gov Palin.
Gov. Palin got the oil companies to pay the citizens of Alaska.
Gov. Palin increased the tax on oil companies and
made "tax breaks" to help small biz.
FRee Republic Member Opinion
WINNER - Thompson 66.8% 1,658
LOSER --- Romney 12.7% 315
Post Election Rasmussen poll - GOP voters:
WINNER - Palin -- 64%
LOSER --- Huckabee -- 12%
LOSER --- Romney -- 11%
The best possible way to bring the German people back into work is to set German economic life once more in motion through great monumental works... This is not merely the hour in which we begin the building of the greatest network of roads in the world, this hour is at the same time a milestone on the road towards the building up of the community of the German people.
— Adolf Hitler
Romney has a PROVE contempt for all Constitution.
Romney overruled the Massachusetts Constitution.
First, lady lawyer, you are a liar about the article.
Experts: Credit Romney for homosexual marriage
'What he did was exercise illegal legislative authority'
"While former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney claims he did everything possible to throttle homosexual marriage in his state – his campaign now saying he took "every conceivable step within the law to defend traditional marriage" – several constitutional experts say that just isn't so.
"What Romney did [was] he exercised illegal legislative authority," Herb Titus said of the governor's actions after the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court released its opinion in the Goodridge case in 2003. "He was bound by what? There was no order. There wasn't even any order to the Department of Public Health to do anything."
Titus, a Harvard law graduate, was founding dean of Pat Robertson's Regent University Law School. He also worked with former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, ...
Romney's aides have told WND that after four of the seven court members reinterpreted the definition of marriage, he believed he had no choice but to direct clerks and others to change state marriage forms and begin registering same-sex couples.
Some opponents contend that with those actions, Romney did no more or less than create the first homosexual marriages recognized in the nation. And Titus agrees."
"....But the court's decision conflicts with the constitutional philosophy of three co-equal branches of government: executive, legislative and judicial, Titus said. It also violates with the Massachusetts Constitution, which states: "The power of suspending the laws, or (suspending) the execution of the laws, ought never to be exercised but by the legislature..."
And it cannot even be derived from the opinion itself, asserts the pro-family activist group Mass Resistance, which says the decision did four things:
* First, it acknowledged that the current law does not permit same-sex marriage.
"The only reasonable explanation is that the Legislature did not intend that same-sex couples be licensed to marry. We conclude, as did the judge, that G.L. c. 207 may not be construed to permit same-sex couples to marry."
* Second, it said it is NOT striking down the marriage laws (among other things, the Massachusetts Constitution forbids a court to change laws)
"Here, no one argues that striking down the marriage laws is an appropriate form of relief."
* Third, it declared that not allowing same-sex marriages is a violation of the Massachusetts Constitution.
"We declare that barring an individual from the protections, benefits, and obligations of civil marriage solely because that person would marry a person of the same sex violates the Massachusetts Constitution."
* And fourth, given that the court is not changing any laws, the SJC gave the Legislature 180 days to "take such action as it may deem appropriate."
"We vacate the summary judgment for the department. We remand this case to the Superior Court for entry of judgment consistent with this opinion. Entry of judgment shall be stayed for 180 days to permit the Legislature to take such action as it may deem appropriate in light of this opinion."
After the Legislature did nothing during the 180 days, Romney then took action "on his own," the group said.
"Gov. Romney's legal counsel issued a directive to the Justices of the Peace that they must perform same-sex marriages when requested or 'face personal liability' or be fired," the group said."
That’s for damn sure, and I’m sick to death of having to reemphasize basic facts ad infinitum that ought to be known to every man, woman, child, and corpse about this guy. I’m sorry, but any jackass who says this man is a Conservative knowing the mountain of evidence to the contrary is a troll. Period.
The only way that has any meaning is if the state got better when Romney left. Or did it get worse.
If it got worse, then Massachusetts is the problem, not Romney.
Stupid throw away line.
"All new spending projects should be selected by the responsible federal agency according to published criteria, not by congresspersons and senators based upon favors and politics." --Mitt Romney Willard explicitly proposed that new spending should be selected by the federal agencies. Handing the Congressional power of the purse over to the bureaucrats is both idiotic and unconstitutional.
You do realize that selecting a spending project and appropriating money for that project are two different things... right?
For example DOD selects a tanker project. Congress allocates money for the tanker project.
You are twisting Mitt's words.
Maybe YOU aren't but YOU are the exception.
FR is full of bigots.
Right out of the old Leftist playbook, huh? Save it for them.
Jim and I and probably you, as well as Ann and Mark, are usually on the same side of most issues. AND I consider you all good company and always welcome on my side or to join my side, in this case. : )
And they might be trolls too.
Look we need a leader. That’s what we need. Not a Rino; but a leader.
Seems to me it was you playing that game, not me. When the tactic got turned on you then you go ballistic...which is typical liberalism.
Now that facts are Romney’s record is liberal.
No thanks, I’m a conservative.
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