Good morning,
This weekend, the Obama Administration struggled to explain their failed economic policies, flatly declaring that, “it is not a jobless recovery.” However in May, the economy only added 38,000 jobs and the unemployment rate jumped to 9.1%. Over 6 million Americans – or 45 percent of all unemployed workers – have been jobless for more than six months - a higher percentage than during the Great Depression. And with high gas and commodity prices and bad news in the housing market, it is clear that the American economy is in need of a growth spurt.
Yet instead, the Democrats policies continue to stifle growth. As economic strategists continue to point out, ObamaCare, Dodd-Frank financial reform law, and threats of tax increases “are retardants to growth.” In contrast, House Republicans have put forward a plan to grow our economy and create private-sector jobs. America faces a choice of more government spending and higher taxes, or more growth and more jobs and more economic certainty. It’s time to move away from the government stimulus spending spree and transition into growth-mode, creating an environment for America’s businessmen and women to succeed and creating jobs for people who need them.
Today In History: In 1933, eager motorists park their automobiles on the grounds of Park-In Theaters, the first-ever drive-in movie theater, located on Crescent Boulevard in Camden, New Jersey.
Birthdays: Majority Leader Cantor, Rep. Marsha Blackburn, Bjorn Borg, and Bill Dickey Yesterday: Kenny G and Dr. Jill Biden
Here is what’s in today’s Ledger ...
Debt Limit Debate: Coalescing Around TRILLIONS In Spending Cuts?
Leader Cantor: Spending Cuts Must Be Equal, If Not Greater, To The Amount The Debt Ceiling In Raised. "It is necessary that the increase in the debt ceiling be commensurate with the kinds of cuts that we can accomplish. And we're looking for more. In our budget we've projected $6.2 trillion of savings over 10 years. The president's budget has over $4 trillion. We can accomplish those numbers. I think the nation's going to be better off," Cantor said. "We can set ourselves on a trajectory that the fiscal house can look a lot better and we can get back to the discussion of how we're gonna once again be a leader in terms of economic growth and job creation." ABC News
State Of Play: The Private Sector Needs A Growth Injection
Leader Cantor: Democrats Have Failed To Put Forward What Small Business Needs, A Credible Plan To Grow The Economy. "When I go around my district as well as other parts of the country, what I hear from small businesses is Washington's in the way, and when are we finally going to get folks in Washington who understand how to make sure that they're able to grow their business. We don't want any more bigger government. Government regulation has gotten extreme in terms of the ability to help people form their own businesses and grow," he said. "We're trying to change that. We're trying to make it so that people can actually grow their business. Working people and the middle class can get back to work and have some optimism," he added. "You look at the administration and you look at the Senate. They have been unwilling to embrace our pro-growth strategy and agenda. We're trying to bring them along." ... “The Democrats haven't even put forward a credible plan to get the fiscal house in order much less trying to grow this economy, and what the American people want to see is they want to see growth again." ABC News
Why The Nation Needs A Pro-Growth Agenda - Over 6 Million Americans Have Been Out Of Work Over 6 Months. About 6.2 million Americans, 45.1 percent of all unemployed workers in this country, have been jobless for more than six months - a higher percentage than during the Great Depression. CBS News
Passing Free Trade Agreements With South Korea, Panama and Columbia Would Lead To More American Jobs. Second, the agreements are likely to prove a net plus for the U.S. economy when jobs are in short supply. And, third, if the United States fails to forge closer trade ties with these countries, competitors in Europe, Asia and the Americas will gladly take up the slack. The Washington Post
The Road Ahead: Democrats Reopen Their Failed Stimulus Playbook
The Sharp Pencil Test - A Simple Cost Benefit Analysis Shows The Stimulus Was A Massive Failure. The Stimulus Government policies to “stimulate” growth have not done so. Everyone except flacks for the White House knows that the 2009 stimulus package failed miserably to produce the promised results. But even if you buy the White House’s argument that the $800 billion package created 3 million jobs, that works out to $266,000 per job. Taxing or borrowing $266,000 from the private sector to create a single job is simply not a cost effective way of putting America back to work. The long-term debt burden of that $266,000 swamps any benefit that the single job created might provide. This is an example of a program failing the Sharp Pencil Test. If you sit down and do a back of the envelope calculation of the program’s costs and benefits, there is no way to conjure up numbers that allow it to make sense. But the stimulus bill is hardly alone. What we need to do is take a sharp pencil to all of our programs—and to our tax code—and redesign them in a way that brings maximum benefit at minimum cost. The Weekly Standard
Energy Outlook: Still No Energy Plan From Democrats As High Energy Prices Stifle Economic Growth
Concerns Over Rising Energy Costs Cause Optimism To Drop Among U.S. Investors. U.S. investor optimism declined in May, as the Wells Fargo/Gallup Investor and Retirement Optimism Index fell to 33 from 42 in February. The index's decline was driven by nonretirees, whose score fell to 24 in May from February's 35. ... The Wells Fargo/Gallup Investor and Retirement Optimism Index is a broad measure of investor perceptions that tends to be a precursor of future economic activity and is consistent with a future decline in the overall U.S. economy. ... When asked to evaluate the impact of 15 factors on the U.S. investment climate, investors rate the price of energy, including gas and oil, as their top worry, with 79% saying it is hurting the U.S. economy a lot, up from the 60% who held this view in February. Energy price worries jumped ahead of the next two top concerns -- the federal budget deficit and the unemployment rate. Gallup
Economists: High Gas Prices Erase Benefits From Tax Deal. Want an easy explanation for why the economy and hiring have slowed again? Try this: High gas prices have erased the stimulative effects of the tax-cut deal President Obama and Republicans cut at the end of 2010. That’s the view from researchers at Morgan Stanley, who along with a lot of other Wall Street analysts, have cut their forecasts for 2011 growth substantially in the last few weeks. The predictions now sound a lot like what analysts were saying late last year, before Obama and the GOP agreed to a package of temporary tax cuts including an extension of Bush-era rates. Morgan Stanley economists wrote Friday that their latest revision, from 3.6 percent growth down to 3.3 percent growth for the year, “puts us back to where we were in early December—before policymakers enacted a package of tax cuts aimed at stimulating the economy. “The logic behind this round trip in the forecast is fairly straightforward,” they wrote, adding: “The move in gasoline [prices] just about fully offsets the impact of the payroll tax reduction” that was the largest stimulative piece of the tax-cut deal. National Journal
Off The Beaten Path
Doctors Claim To Have "Functional Cure" For HIV – CBS News
Campground closed in 2009 illegally reopened – The Mining Journal
Bears and Dogs ... They Don’t Fight Like Cats and Dogs – NY Post
