Good Evening,
I appreciatedthe opportunity to hear the President’s State of the Union message for thefirst time in person. It is an honor and responsibility to be part ofthis process. It is a responsibility I take very seriously.
During hisspeech, the President reiterated the need to treat economic growth and jobcreation as a top priority. It is important that those of us in theNation’s capital remain committed to that goal. It is also important forus to properly diagnose the cause of our economic weakness.
As amanufacturer for the last 31 years, I have learned to identify and attack theroot cause of a problem, not spend my time addressing meresymptoms. Huge deficits, anemic economic activity, highunemployment, and woefully inadequate job creation are severe symptoms of theproblem. They are not the root cause. The ever expandingsize, scope, and cost of government is. This is what we mustaddress. This is what I hope the President has come to realize.
Last week,President Obama talked about the harmful effect of governmentoverregulation. Highlighting this problem is long overdue. TheSmall Business Administration estimates that government regulations cost oureconomy $1.7 trillion every year. According to the IRS’s own figures, itcost taxpayers $338 billion to comply with the tax code just last year. That is a staggering amount of money, and it is money that is not available forconsumption, business investment, and job creation. That’s a problem.
Throughout histerm, and again this evening, the President spoke of making investments in oureconomy. If he means allowing taxpayers and businesses to keep more oftheir hard earned dollars, and providing them the freedom to invest where theychoose, I’m all for it. Unfortunately, I’m afraid he will propose moregovernment spending. The lesson we all should have learned from thepitiful results of the $862 billion stimulus bill, is that growing governmentdoes not grow our economy or create long term, self-sustainingjobs. Only the private sector can do that.
The lessons ofhistory will show that America achieved its success by promoting freedom,protecting the free market system, and limiting the size, scope, and cost ofgovernment. We weaken our economy and jeopardize our future when westray from these abiding principles. Americans intuitivelyunderstand this. We know that $1.3 trillion deficits, and a $14 trilliondebt that is approaching the size of our total annual economic activity issimply not sustainable. We need to reverse course now.
We need to beginlimiting government so that our private sector can once again be free toprosper and grow. Once we understand this, we can beginimplementing policies that set us on the path to true economic recovery.
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