I just got this out of my inbox and thought you all might want some new food for thought.. A
Disturbing Look At a Very Near Future:
Tax Cuts Vs More Spending at the
Special Session
By Newt Gingrich
We have a choice between two futures.
For the first, fast forward 23
days. It's November 17. Congress convenes for a special session with a
veto-proof Democratic majority Senate, an expanded Democrat majority in the
House and a Democrat in the White House.
The sole item on their agenda
is to pass the $300 billion government spending package promised by House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi back in October.
There is no mistaking what is
coming. Even before Democrats won sweeping, one-party control of Washington,
they had made their intentions to increase taxes and spending clear.
Originally pegged at $150 billion, Pelosi's spending package ballooned
as time went on.
With 11 days to go before the election, House Financial Services Committee
Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) fleshed out some details of the massive spending
package. Frank called for a 25 percent cut in defense spending and conceded that
Democrats will raise taxes to pay for new government spending. If they couldn't
get the votes in November, Frank was confident that they would have them in
January.
And long before the election, President-elect Barack Obama had
expressed his preference for wealth redistribution over wealth creation both on
the
campaign trail and in a startling radio
interview in 2001, in which he claims the Warren Court was not
radical enough. (Bill Whittle does an excellent job of dissecting this interview
at
National Review Online.)
"You
Can't Say We Weren't Warned"
The newly empowered Democratic
majority passes the massive spending bill, confident that even a veto by
President Bush can and will be overridden by their new Senate majority in
January.
Before President-elect Barack Obama even takes office,
government spending increases by $300 billion, bringing the grand total for the
last six months of 2008 to $1.45 trillion.
And all center-right Americans
can do is shake their heads and think, "You can't say we weren't warned."
There is a Different Future: Make the Election About
Big Spending Vs Big Economic GrowthFor candidates, campaign
managers, and consultants who are disturbed at this look at the very near
future, there is another way.
But that way begins now. Today.
To
avoid defeat on November 4 and avoid an out-of-control spending spree in the new
Congress, the voters have to be given a real choice on Election Day.
•
A choice between robust government spending and robust economic growth;
•
A choice between higher spending and lower taxes;
• A choice between
spreading the wealth around and increasing it through rapid economic
recovery.
Because when Americans are asked to make these choices, our
answers are clear and unequivocal.
We trust the private sector to grow
the economy more than government. We favor keeping our money over giving it to
Washington. We favor creating more wealth over redistributing the wealth we’ve
worked for and saved.
We just have to be given the choice.
Three Times More Americans Believe In Tax Cuts Over More
Government SpendingNewly released polling data show just how out
of touch with Americans the REPO Team (Reid-Pelosi-Obama) pre-Christmas spending
spree is.
By 60%-20%, Americans believe lower taxes, not higher
government spending, will best ensure economic recovery, according to a new
Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll.
By 86%-9%, Americans believe
government should focus on jobs and economic growth over income
redistribution, according to a New Models/Winston Group survey.
By
71%-25%, Americans believe that if you cut taxes on small business it will
create new jobs, according to the New Models/Winston Group
poll.
So What Are We Waiting
For?So what are we waiting for? To counter the Reid-Pelosi-Obama
massive $300 billion government spending spree, Republicans should offer a $300
billion tax cut package.
House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) has
proposed a rapid economic recovery program that should be the centerpiece of the
campaign going forward. Instead of marrying new deficit spending with liberal
special interests like the Reid-Pelosi-Obama plan does, the Boehner plan marries
sound economics with the small government, free market values of the American
people.
Here are some of the reforms in the Boehner rapid economic
recovery plan:
•
Energy Independence: Creating jobs and
reducing energy and food costs by enacting an “all of the above” energy plan.
For more information, watch my new movie “We Have the Power” (watch the
new trailer
here and buy the
movie here ) and read my new book
Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less .
•
Creating
Jobs: Bringing American jobs back home by lowering the tax rate on profits
that companies bring back to the United States.
•
Restoring Home
Values: Encouraging home purchases by easing capital gains rules for homes
purchased in the next 18 months and held for at least five years.
•
Spurring Economic Growth: Immediately suspend the capital gains tax on
individuals and businesses for equities purchased during the next two years.
•
Encouraging American Companies to Assist in Recovery: Lower the
tax rate on business income so American companies have an incentive to invest in
distressed assets.
•
Protecting Retirement: Suspend rules that
require individuals at age 70½ to begin withdrawing from their Individual
Retirement Accounts. This would spare investors from being forced to sell their
stocks at just the time when the market is hurting the most.
I will have
more to say about what we can do now to avert this impending massive government
spending spree at an event this Friday at the American Enterprise Institute
entitled “Energy, the Economy, and the Special Session of Congress.” For more
details, go to
www.aei.org.
In the meantime, there is no time to
waste. Republicans and center-right independents and Democrats can give the
voters a real choice in the election, or we can lose our choice in the
congressional special session to come.
Either way, you can’t say we
weren’t warned.
Your friend,