http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/the-new-narrative?f=puball
The 2012 election should come down to a simple question: what is the best way to create millions of new jobs in an economy where 12 million people are unemployed, 5 million are underemployed and 6 million people have become so disillusioned they have given up looking for work altogether.
Where Are We?
We have added 3.8 million jobs in the three years and two months since the June 2009 recovery began according to the administration. That is 100,000 jobs a month, the worst recovery in 67 years.
During this recovery, the US government spent $11 trillion, 5 million people were added to the poverty roles, 14 million more people now receive food stamps, 3.5 million people were added to social security disability roles, the value of the dollar tanked, and the debt of the US went up nearly $6 trillion to $16 trillion, a greater per capita debt than Greece.
Manufacturing jobs have been lost as have jobs in energy and mining. Measured from January 2009, no net new jobs have been created. Economic growth this past quarter as been 1.5%. 150 new regulations costing more than $1 billion each are poised to cascade through the economy starting next year. Taxes are scheduled to go up by $500 billion each year for the next decade, 10 times the highest tax increase ever in US history.
The administration says “this works” and they assert we just have to do more of the same and the US economy will boom as it did under President Clinton in the 1990s.
What is wrong with this picture?
Since the election of President Reagan in 1980, the US has had three economic recoveries prior to the one we are now in. They were 1983-89, 1991-2000 and 2003-07. In that 24 year period, the US economy produced 54 million jobs in the 22 growth years or 250,000 jobs a month. Can we do this again?
Yes we can–but if we copy Reagan not Obama. Clinton in his second term copied Reagan, not Obama.
In 1983-89, what did the US government do to improve the economic climate to encourage job growth? Let us look at the record.
REAGAN
Taxes: Cut tax rates 30% on individuals; cut top rate to 28% including cutting capital gains to 20%, compared to Carter era 70% and 35% respectively.
Regulations: Have major regulatory reform of trucking, transportation, communications and energy, resulting in millions of new jobs in these economic areas.
Energy: Reduce the price of oil from $32 barrel (December 1980) to $16 barrel in 1989.
Spending: Reduced government spending as a percent of GDP by 1.5%.
Revenue: Government income increased an average of $65 billion a year.
GDP: Growth in the US economy averaged 3.9% between 1983-89.
Jobs: Job growth reached 20 million from January 1983 to January 1989 or 3.3 million a year and 11 million from 1983-5 in first three years of the recovery.