Let me count the ways. Inflation is down. Job numbers are up. The deficit projections are down. And the stock market continues to rally.
Why is it that those on the left just cannot accept good news when they read it?
It was not long ago that candidate Kerry was saying that President Bush would have the worst jobs record in modern times. And the media wrote article after article about how the deficit would keep getting worse for decades to come.
I believe that President Bush’s tax cuts are a major reason for the continued strong economy. Just as Presidents Kennedy and Reagan proved before him, tax cuts provide people with the incentives to want to earn that extra dollar which they can spend in our economy.
Now is the time for Congress to make those tax cuts permanent so that individuals and businesses can properly plan their respective investments in goods and services to keep the positive momentum going.
Before I am accused of just being a partisan shill for the Bush administration, I will repeat what I have said in past columns. Federal spending is out of control. President Bush’s failure to veto any spending bills has been a great disappointment to me.
In fact, spending growth under President Bush has been almost four times as high as it was during a similar timeframe under Bill Clinton. And it is not just necessary homeland defense spending that has bloated the budget or the growth of entitlements like Social Security and Medicare. Rather, there are many Republicans in the Congress who do not know how to “just say no” to road and building projects or crop subsidies.
I hope that someone in the administration will bring back the push for a budgetary line item veto so President Bush can wipe out pork barrel spending as his brother, Jeb, can do here in Florida.
As good as our economy is doing, there are still many citizens under tremendous personal financial pressure. Will this mountain of credit card and home equity debt finally bring a halt to personal spending which has played a major part in driving our economy?
And while employment numbers are near what economists call “full employment”, there are still many of our fellow Americans who are underemployed and lacking the training and skills to move on from work that has been replaced by less expensive sources.
Fortunately in today’s America, people can still easily improve their lives by starting their own businesses, taking affordable night school courses to learn a new trade, and confidently investing in the world’s most important stock market. Opportunities continue to abound for those that seek them.
I am optimistic for our country’s future. Our economy continues to be the envy of the world. So much so that we continue to attract immigrants – some legal and some not – who come to our shores for their piece of the American pie.
Our economy is the fuel behind that bright shining city on the hill that President Ronald Reagan immortalized more than twenty years ago. Let’s hope that Congress, the Federal Reserve, and the Bush administration continue to provide it with the appropriate fiscal tools so it can continue to shine.
