How did you enjoy your economic recovery last summer? Well, that's what President Barack Obama said we were having. He wrongly thought the stimulus, the bailouts and the takeovers were the solution. He said they worked.
The federal government's addiction to spending must be brought to a halt and we must have a president who has a growth agenda with pro-growth policies.
America's economy is not even growing at 2 percent — and that's what many projections say we can expect for the next decade. That's not acceptable.
Let's start with a big, positive goal. Let's grow the economy by 5 percent, instead of an anemic 2 percent.
It's been done before: Between 1983 and 1987, the Reagan recovery grew at 4.9 percent annually. Between 1996 and 1999, under President Bill Clinton and a Republican Congress, the economy grew at around 4.7 percent annually.
In each case, millions of jobs were created, incomes rose and unemployment fell to historic lows. The same can happen again.
How do we do it? Our economy will never grow at 5 percent laboring under a federal tax code that is hostile to business.
American businesses pay the second highest tax rates in the world. That's a recipe for failure, not adding jobs and economic growth. We should cut the corporate tax rate by more than half. I propose reducing the rate to 15 percent from 35 percent, recognizing that the tax code is littered with special interest handouts, carve-outs, subsidies and loopholes that should be eliminated.
But just changing business tax rates is not enough. That's because we know most job growth will come from small and medium-size businesses, and their owners are taxed under individual tax rates, not corporate rates. So, pro-job and pro-growth tax reform must include individual tax reform as well.
Five percent economic growth over 10 years would generate $3.8 trillion dollars in new tax revenues. With that, we would reduce projected deficits by 40 percent — all before we made a single budget cut.
The next part of my plan deals with that other 60 percent.
A balanced federal budget should not just be a political sound bite. As one of 49 governors operating with balanced budget requirements, I balanced every budget in my two terms as governor of Minnesota. I know the only reason the Minnesota legislature ever gave me a balanced budget was because, under Minnesota's Constitution, it had to.
That's why I support a constitutional amendment that not only requires a balanced federal budget, but also caps federal spending as a percentage of our economy, around 18 percent of gross domestic product.
But passing a constitutional amendment will take awhile. The crisis that we face requires immediate action. That's why I have proposed capping and block-granting Medicaid to the states, raising the Social Security retirement age for the next generation and slowing the rate of growth in defense spending.
I will also call for Congress to grant the president the temporary and extraordinary authority to freeze spending at current levels, and impound up to 5 percent of federal spending until the budget is balanced.
As an example, cutting even 1 percent of overall federal spending for six consecutive years would balance the federal budget by 2017.
There are some obvious targets to cut. We can start by applying what I call "the Google test." If you can find a good or service on the Internet, then the federal government probably doesn't need to offer the same good or service.
What's more, the same competitive efficiency that revolutionized America's private sector over the last three decades should at long last be applied to every corner of the federal bureaucracy.
In particular, one efficiency program, Lean Six Sigma, already has a proven track record of using performance-based management practices to streamline organizational programs at the CIA, the Pentagon, and — as I can personally attest — various agencies of the Minnesota state government. If we applied this approach throughout all federal agencies, we could save up to 20 percent in many of the programs' budgets.
Cutting taxes and spending is only the beginning. The real slog of the next administration will be an unrelenting trench battle against overregulation. Obamacare, financial reform and Environmental Protection Agency overreach are all weighing down our economy; we should require sunsetting of all federal regulations, unless sustained by a vote of Congress.
We can fix our economy. Our people are ready to get back to work. We just need to give them tools to get there and to get the government out of the way.
Source: www.chicagotribune.com
The federal government's addiction to spending must be brought to a halt and we must have a president who has a growth agenda with pro-growth policies.
America's economy is not even growing at 2 percent — and that's what many projections say we can expect for the next decade. That's not acceptable.
Let's start with a big, positive goal. Let's grow the economy by 5 percent, instead of an anemic 2 percent.
It's been done before: Between 1983 and 1987, the Reagan recovery grew at 4.9 percent annually. Between 1996 and 1999, under President Bill Clinton and a Republican Congress, the economy grew at around 4.7 percent annually.
In each case, millions of jobs were created, incomes rose and unemployment fell to historic lows. The same can happen again.
How do we do it? Our economy will never grow at 5 percent laboring under a federal tax code that is hostile to business.
American businesses pay the second highest tax rates in the world. That's a recipe for failure, not adding jobs and economic growth. We should cut the corporate tax rate by more than half. I propose reducing the rate to 15 percent from 35 percent, recognizing that the tax code is littered with special interest handouts, carve-outs, subsidies and loopholes that should be eliminated.
But just changing business tax rates is not enough. That's because we know most job growth will come from small and medium-size businesses, and their owners are taxed under individual tax rates, not corporate rates. So, pro-job and pro-growth tax reform must include individual tax reform as well.
Five percent economic growth over 10 years would generate $3.8 trillion dollars in new tax revenues. With that, we would reduce projected deficits by 40 percent — all before we made a single budget cut.
The next part of my plan deals with that other 60 percent.
A balanced federal budget should not just be a political sound bite. As one of 49 governors operating with balanced budget requirements, I balanced every budget in my two terms as governor of Minnesota. I know the only reason the Minnesota legislature ever gave me a balanced budget was because, under Minnesota's Constitution, it had to.
That's why I support a constitutional amendment that not only requires a balanced federal budget, but also caps federal spending as a percentage of our economy, around 18 percent of gross domestic product.
But passing a constitutional amendment will take awhile. The crisis that we face requires immediate action. That's why I have proposed capping and block-granting Medicaid to the states, raising the Social Security retirement age for the next generation and slowing the rate of growth in defense spending.
I will also call for Congress to grant the president the temporary and extraordinary authority to freeze spending at current levels, and impound up to 5 percent of federal spending until the budget is balanced.
As an example, cutting even 1 percent of overall federal spending for six consecutive years would balance the federal budget by 2017.
There are some obvious targets to cut. We can start by applying what I call "the Google test." If you can find a good or service on the Internet, then the federal government probably doesn't need to offer the same good or service.
What's more, the same competitive efficiency that revolutionized America's private sector over the last three decades should at long last be applied to every corner of the federal bureaucracy.
In particular, one efficiency program, Lean Six Sigma, already has a proven track record of using performance-based management practices to streamline organizational programs at the CIA, the Pentagon, and — as I can personally attest — various agencies of the Minnesota state government. If we applied this approach throughout all federal agencies, we could save up to 20 percent in many of the programs' budgets.
Cutting taxes and spending is only the beginning. The real slog of the next administration will be an unrelenting trench battle against overregulation. Obamacare, financial reform and Environmental Protection Agency overreach are all weighing down our economy; we should require sunsetting of all federal regulations, unless sustained by a vote of Congress.
We can fix our economy. Our people are ready to get back to work. We just need to give them tools to get there and to get the government out of the way.
Source: www.chicagotribune.com
No comments:
Post a Comment