Economy

This weekend House Majority Leader Eric Cantor announced that the GOP House would focus on addressing the needs and concerns of small business by passing initiatives that will reduce their tax burden, as well as make it easier for them to obtain financing they need to grow and create jobs.

By the Numbers

Taxes: The President’s Budget proposes increasing taxes by $1.9 trillion, raising tax revenues as a share of the economy by nearly two percentage points above historic norms.

At the end of August  2011 as Hurricane Irene approached our nation’s shorelines, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) made much of the efforts of the government to prepare for what was assumed to be a major disaster.

As Irene lurched towards landfall, FEMA issued a news release with the following quote:

“Under the direction of President Obama and Secretary Janet Napolitano, the entire federal family is leaning forward to support our state, tribal and territorial partners along the East Coast.”

The president can’t bring himself to put politics aside, aid the housing-market recovery, and generate stronger economic growth. Odd for an administration supposedly laser-focused on jobs.

The Hispanic Leadership Network (HLN) completed its “Inspiring Action” conference in Miami, Florida last week.  Certainly, one of the highlights of the conference was the spirited debate between all four of the remaining candidates for the GOP nomination for President that was co-sponsored by the HLN.

The United States faces dual problems of subpar economic growth and unsustainably high federal debt.  At the same time, numerous commissions and studies have documented its backlog of valuable infrastructure investment.  In this context, economic policy should preserve infrastructure spending, along with other core functions of government; enhance the efficiency of government spending; reduce current and projected transfer payments; and undertake pro-growth tax reform.  TRIP bonds are a valuable piece of such a policy strategy. 

In Martin Luther King, Jr., America had its national conscience.  A voice for the poor, the oppressed, the repressed, the disadvantaged, the discriminated and the hopeless. 

Throughout my lifetime, as a younger man, and now, as the father of two children who are about the same age as I was during the time that King walked the Earth, I still find his wisdom as enduring today, as I did then.