c Numerous other weaknesses plague our economy. Housing is in a depression. Consumers are taking on more debt. Retail sales are tepid. The White House has all but killed the hope of opening up new job-creating export trade markets anytime soon, giving union bosses veto power over their approval. Corporations are sitting on trillions in capital for fear of a second-dip recession.
The economy’s troubles call for a bold change in fiscal policy on the spending side - we spend too much - and on the tax side - taxes are suffocating this economy and killing job creation.
Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty delivered an uplifting speech at the University of Chicago on Tuesday that declared, “Markets work. Barack Obama’s central planning doesn’t.” He laid out a plan to cut what he calls Washington’s “out-of-control spending” and make the federal tax code simpler, fairer and flatter.
He would cut the corporate tax from 35 percent to 15 percent, reduce the individual tax rates, plus eliminate taxes on all capital gains, interest and dividends to boost savings, investment, jobs and economic expansion. Let the debate begin.
Donald Lambro is a syndicated columnist and former chief political correspondent for The Washington Times.
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By John Solomon
How the government's punishing of the exposure of official wrongdoing can linger for years
