The U.S. Senate passed a bill this week that not only will fail to create jobs, but is spilling over with runaway government spending for increased welfare, overgrown bureaucracy, political payoffs, pork and other waste.
IPI director of entitlement and budget policy Peter Ferrara writes:
“To call this spending bill ‘stimulus’ is an abuse of the English language. There will be no economic net gain because the government will just borrow $150 billion from the private sector to give away, nor will there be any added incentives to save, invest, or start or expand a business, or create jobs. How is borrowing $1 trillion from the private economy to add another $1 trillion to government spending supposed to stimulate the economy? ”
To create a sustainable economic stimulus, policymakers must:
o Reduce the corporate tax rate to 20%;
o Cut the federal corporate capital gains rate from 35% to 15%;
o Return billions in capital to the U.S. by allowing multinational companies’ overseas earnings to be subject only to a 5% corporate tax;
o Allow immediate deductions for all capital investment in machinery and equipment, known as expensing;
o Unleash America’s energy industry through deregulation, assuring a more affordable, reliable energy supply, adding to GDP and creating jobs; and
o Restrain federal spending to reduce overgrown government’s burdens on the economy.
As Reagan said, government is not the solution to the problem, government is the problem. The private sector must be unleashed through fundamental tax relief to get the economy booming again.