A Pro-Growth Plan for America’s Comeback

The Loudoun Times-Mirror

By George Allen

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

    
When the $800 billion stimulus plan passed Gov. Tim Kaine said it “would jump start the economy” and it was “what’s needed to put Americans back to work.”

That was when unemployment was at 7.8 percent. Now two and half years later, unemployment is stuck above 9 percent, 1.7 million jobs have been lost, and the national debt has soared to well over $14 trillion. It’s painfully clear to families that the first stimulus was a failure.

Yet it took my opponent over two years as Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, five months as a U.S. Senate candidate and zero jobs created in August to finally realize we need a job creation strategy.”

That’s been apparent to many Virginia families for far too long.

In spring we released my comprehensive pro-growth plan – The Blueprint for America’s Comeback that will restart America’s economic engines, help us achieve energy freedom, and rein in Washington’s out of control spending and reach.

First, take the shackles off job creators. In 2008, we were number 1 in the World Economic Forum’s list of most competitive nations. Today we’ve dropped to fifth. Some of the world’s highest taxes are found right here in America, and they’re killing jobs. Reducing the tax on job creators from 35-percent ranking among the highest in the world down to a competitive 20-percent would cause the beneficial creation of 500,000 jobs per year.

Our nation can again be the most competitive in the world, but only if we allow American businesses and entrepreneurs to compete in the world market, rein in stifling, excessive regulations, make the tax code more fair and simple, and strengthen education and training.

Second, unleash America’s energy and creativity. The world’s most plentiful energy resources are right here in America, but they’re kept out of reach by counterproductive policies that raise costs, punish families and small businesses, slow our economy, and make our nation vulnerable to outside forces. Unleashing American energy will fuel a job-creating boom with over a million new good paying jobs and an addition of over a trillion dollars to government revenue without raising taxes, reduce costs for American families. It can improve our quality of life, strengthen our nation’s security, and keep money in the U.S.A.

Third, ensure that government serves the people and not the other way around. Most of the challenges we face today are directly linked to the excesses of our government. Simply put, it borrows taxes, regulates and spends too much. The time has come to finally pass a Balanced Budget Amendment that includes Line-Item Veto and enforceable spending caps.
As Chairman of the Democratic National Committee in Washington, Tim Kaine strongly advocated for much of the failed policies that have driven up our national debt making annual trillion dollar deficits the norm even as unemployment remained at unacceptably high levels.

He has supported repeated calls for tax increases to cover the surge in Washington spending. And he is now applauding the call for a second stimulus which includes higher taxes and more spending that will impose additional burdens on struggling lower and middle income working families and job creating small business owners. 

During his tenure as Virginia Governor we saw the same approach and got the same results. He repeatedly called for tax increases – $4 billion in total, while Virginians lost over 100,000 private sector jobs.

That philosophy didn’t work then in Richmond, hasn’t worked in Washington during the last three years, and won’t help put people to work going forward.

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