Forget what Obama says, our economy needs an injection of growth steroids
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Obama bashed Republicans in Congress today for the rut the economy is in.
But the Obama agenda for reviving the economy is simply a replay of what we've already tried and what obviously failed.
Back in Obama's first term we had minimum wage hikes, stimulus plans, shovel ready projects, $1.5 trillion deficits, tax increases on the rich and so on. None of it worked and Republicans are right to reject it.
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The U.S. Economy is stuck in quick sand. Every new statistic documents what American voters keep saying: they are sick of slow growth, flat wages, runaway debt, and the gains going only to the top 10 percent.
So here are the latest indicators of big trouble ahead.
* The GDP in 4th quarter grew by 0.8 percent and without government growth the private economy hardly grew at all.
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* The stock market had one of its worst January's ever!
* Jobs slumped to 150,000 in January, and the real unemployment rate taking account of the long term unemployed is close to 10 percent.
* Business spending and investment is falling.
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* A majority of Americans have less than $50,000 in savings.
* Wages are flat. Real take home pay hasn't made gains in at least a decade.
* Two of three Americans say the American Dream is dead. They don't believe their children will be better off.
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* The deficit is rising again and headed back to $1 trillion.
These disappointing numbers mean the growth gap between the Reagan and Obama recoveries is $3 trillion. In other words, if the economy had grown as fast under Obama since the recovery began than it did under Reagan's recovery, we would have $3 trillion more output over the last 12 months.
We would also have 6 to 8 million more jobs. The jobs lost from anemic growth are roughly the size of the entire labor force of Ohio.
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The Census Bureau reports that since Obama took office seven years ago, median family income is DOWN by more than $1,000. For over half of Americans, this is no recovery at all and a recession that never ended.
Republicans should start talking about growth. Arthur Laffer and I have proposed a 15 percent corporate tax now to bring companies back home. We need a real stimulus to put America back to work. And by the way, a $10 a barrel oil tax will only strangle the economy further as will the Hillary Clinton call for higher income taxes.
It's no wonder investors and employers are nervous.