Dems Want to Make Historic Economic Failure Even Worse
Despite Widespread Economic Suffering, Dems Continue to Push New Tax Hikes that Will Make Life Harder for Working Families and Small Business
- The parade of grim economic news continues, with the Federal Reserve releasing a disappointing economic outlook and factory orders declining.
- The so-called economic “recovery” presided over by President Obama and his Democrat allies was declared the “weakest of any in the world” in more than 40 years, made all the more painful by their job-destroying policies.
- Despite these devastating realities, Democrats continue to push a failed agenda that calls for even more job-killing tax hikes.
The parade of grim economic news continues, with the Federal Reserve releasing a disappointing economic outlook and factory orders declining:
“ORDERS TO U.S. FACTORIES UNEXPECTEDLY DECLINED 0.5% IN JUNE”:(Lorraine Woellert, “Orders to U.S. Factories Unexpectedly Declined 0.5% In June,” Bloomberg, 8/2/2012)
FED: US ECONOMY HAS “DECELERATED”: (“Federal Reserve says US economy Has Decelerated in First Half of Year, Takes No New Steps,”
The Associated Press, 8/1/2012)
“GDP REPORT CONFIRMS FEARS OF ECONOMIC SLOWDOWN”: “The U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of just 1.5 percent from April through June” (GDP Report Confirms Fears Of Economic Slowdown,” Associated Press, 7/27/12)
“THE U.S. ECONOMY COULD BE AT RISK OF STALLING THREE YEARS AFTER THE RECESSION ENDED”:(Martin Crutsinger, “Unemployment could stay high as US economy slows,” Associated Press, 7/27/2012)
“US POVERTY ON TRACK TO RISE TO HIGHEST SINCE 1960s”: (Hope Yen, “US Poverty on Track to Rise to Highest Since 1960s,” Associated Press, 7/23/2012)
“FORECLOSURE CRISIS HITS OLDER AMERICANS HARD,” 1.5 MILLION HAVE ALREADY LOST THEIR HOMES: (“Foreclosure Crisis Hits Older Americans Hard,”Associated Press, 7/19/2012)
MIDDLE CLASS INCOME ON THE DECLINE: “Since median inflation-adjusted family income peaked in 2000 at $64,232, it has fallen roughly 6 percent. You won’t find another 12-year period with an income decline since the aftermath of the Depression.” (Jeff Cox, “Earnings Show Recession May Be ‘Fast Approaching,’”CNBC, 7/23/2012)
“HOME SALES DISAPPOINT TWICE”: “Sales of newly built homes fell hard in June, despite newfound optimism in the housing recovery, especially among the home builders themselves. … This is the second miss for housing in the same month. Sales of existing homes fell as well, despite expectations for a gain.” (Diana Olick, “Home Sales Disappoint Twice,” CNBC, 7/25/2012)
The so-called economic “recovery” presided over by President Obama and his Democrat allies was declared the “weakest of any in the world” in more than 40 years, made all the more painful by their job-destroying policies:
“U.S. RECOVERY WEAKEST OF ANY IN THE WORLD SINCE 1970”: “In a new research note, JPMorgan points out that since 1970, Japan, Finland and Sweden have all gone through what the U.S. is currently going through. And all three of them had recoveries stronger than America’s. The above chart compares the economic recovery — as measured by real GDP per capita — of each nation at different points after the trough of their recessions. And the U.S. is in dead last after 12 quarters from the bottom.” (James Pethokoukis, “U.S. recovery weakest of any in the world since 1970,” American Enterprise Institute, 8/2/2012)
FLASHBACK: OBAMA ADMINISTRATION IN 2010: “WELCOME TO THE RECOVERY”: (Timothy F. Geithner op-ed, “Welcome to the Recovery,” The New York Times, 8/02/2010)
WALL STREET JOURNAL: “IT’S IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND HOW UNUSUAL THIS KIND OF WEAK RECOVERY IS”: “Deep recessions like the one from December 2007 to June 2009 are typically followed by strongerrecoveries, as there is more lost ground to make up.” (Editorial, “The 1.5% Presidency,” The Wall Street Journal, 7/27/2012)
BLOOMBERG’S MIKE MCKEE: IF THIS WERE THE OLYMPICS WE WOULD BE PERFORMING VERY POORLY. … THIS IS THE WORST RECOVERY SINCE THE MID 70’S AND YOU CAN PROBABLY GO BACK TO THE 40’S.” MCKEE: “If this were the Olympics we would be performing very poorly. Three years now on got the GDP report for the 2nd quarter. We’re three years into the recovery. Look how we’re doing. This is the worst recovery since the mid 70’s and you can probably go back to the 40s. According to Mike Feroli at JP Morgan, this recovery has been truly awful. It lags all of the rest. And not only that – we hold up Japan as the poster boy for bad recoveries, their lost decade. Well this far into the recovery for Japan we are performing even worse than they did. We are lower than Japan. Mike says we are not Japan, but one can always hope.” (Bloomberg’s “Surveillance,” 8/1/2012)
THE REAGAN RECOVERY WAS DIFFERENT: “The most recent comparable recession occurred in 1981-1982 . . . the Reagan expansion exploded with a 9.3% quarter and kept up a robust pace for years. By the 12th quarter of expansion, growth popped up to 6.4.%. At this stage of the Reagan expansion, overall GDP was 18.5% higher versus 6.7% for the Obama recovery, according to Congress’s Joint Economic Committee.” (Editorial, “The 1.5% Presidency,” The Wall Street Journal, 7/27/2012)
U.S. “RUNNING ABOUT $1.5 TRILLION OF ECONOMIC OUTPUT BEHIND WHERE IT SHOULD BE.” (Editorial, “The 1.5% Presidency,” The Wall Street Journal, 7/27/2012)
CBO: UNEMPLOYMENT HAS REMAINED ABOVE EIGHT PERCENT FOR THE LONGEST STRETCH SINCE THE GREAT DEPRESSION. “The rate of unemployment in the United States has exceeded 8 percent since February 2009, making the past three years the longest stretch of high unemployment in this country since the Great Depression.”(“Understanding And Responding To Persistently High Unemployment,” Congressional Budget Office, 2/16/12)
CBS NEWS’ SCOTT PELLEY: “THIS IS THE WORST ECONOMIC RECOVERY AMERICA HAS EVER HAD.” PELLEY: “This is worst economic recovery America has ever had. We’ve been looking for hopeful signs, but today the chairman of the Federal Reserve threw a cold splash of reality on those hopes. Ben Bernanke said any improvement in unemployment will ‘likely be frustratingly slow.’ Well, yes, to say the least.” (CBS Evening News With Scott Pelley, 7/17/2012)
DEMOCRATS’ FAILED POLICIES HAVE MADE A BAD ECONOMY WORSE:
CBO: $1 TRILLION IN OBAMACARE TAX HIKES OVER 2013-2022: (Douglas Elmendorf, “Letter to the Honorable John Boehner,” Congressional Budget Office, 7/24/2012, p.6)
NFIB STUDY: 150K SMALL BUSINESS JOBS COULD BE DESTROYED BY OBAMACARE’S HEALTH INSURANCE TAX: (“NFIB Research Foundation Study: Health Insurance Tax to Cost 125,000 to 249,000 Private-Sector Jobs,” NFIB, 11/9/2011)
AT LEAST 14,500 JOBS OR AS MANY AS 47,000 JOBS COULD BE DESTROYED BY OBAMACARE’S HEART ATTACK TAX: (Michael Ramlet, Robert Book and Han Zhong, “The Economic Impact of the Medical Device Tax,” American Action Forum, 6/4/2012)
13,303 SMALL- TO MEDIUM-SIZE MEDICAL DEVICE FIRMS IN U.S., OR 91% OF ALL MEDICAL DEVICE COMPANIES COULD BE AFFECTED: (Michael Ramlet, Robert Book and Han Zhong, “The Economic Impact of the Medical Device Tax,” American Action Forum, 6/4/2012)
INTERNATIONAL FRANCHISE ASSOCIATION: “3.2 MILLION JOBS AT FRANCHISE BUSINESSES CONTINUE TO BE PUT AT RISK”:(“High Court Ruling Puts Jobs at Franchise Businesses at Risk,” International Franchise Association, 6/28/2012)
CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE: OBAMACARE TO DESTROY 800,000 JOBS:QUESTION: “…that means that in your estimation, the health care law would reduce employment by 800,000 in 2021; is that correct?” DOUGLAS ELMENDORF, CBO Director: “Yes.” (Remarks from Douglas Elmendorf, House Budget Committee Hearing, 2/10/2011)
Despite these devastating realities, Democrats continue to push a failed agenda that calls for even more job-killing tax hikes:
89% OF DEMOCRATS VOTED AGAINST PREVENTING TAX HIKES(Roll Call 545,Clerk of the U.S. House, 8/1/2012)
JOINT COMMITTEE ON TAXATION: 940,000 SMALL BUSINESSES TO GET HIT BY DEMOCRATS’ LATEST TAX HIKE: “Congress’s Joint Tax Committee—not a conservative outfit—estimates that in 2013 about 940,000 taxpayers will have enough business income to meet Mr. Obama’s tax increase threshold.”(Editorial, “Off the Tax Cliff He Goes,” The Wall Street Journal, 7/10/2012)
710,000 JOBS COULD BE DESTROYED BY DEMOCRATS’ TAX HIKE PLAN: (Robert Carroll and Gerald Prante, “Long-Run Macroeconomic Impact of Increasing Tax Rates on High-Income Taxpayers in 2013,” Ernst & Young, July 2012, Appendix C)
1.8% DROP IN WAGES: “Real after-tax wages would fall by 1.8%, reflecting a decline in workers’ living standards relative to what would have occurred otherwise.” (Robert Carroll and Gerald Prante, “Long-Run Macroeconomic Impact of Increasing Tax Rates on High-Income Taxpayers in 2013,” Ernst & Young, July 2012)
MORE THAN HALF OF NET BUSINESS INCOME WILL BE HIT BY HIGHER TAX RATES UNDER OBAMA PROPOSAL: “And of the roughly $1.3 trillion in net business income, about 53% will get hit with the higher tax rates. This is because millions of businesses report their income as sole proprietors and subchapter S corporations that file under the individual tax code.” (Editorial, “Off the Tax Cliff He Goes,” The Wall Street Journal, 7/10/2012)
OBAMA’S NEW TAX HIKE WOULD HAVE SOME SMALL BUSINESSES PAYING HIGHER TAX RATES THAN GENERAL ELECTRIC AND J.P. MORGAN: “So Mr. Obama wants these businesses to pay higher tax rates than the giant likes of General Electric or J.P. Morgan. Does that qualify as ‘tax fairness’?” (Editorial, “Off the Tax Cliff He Goes,” The Wall Street Journal, 7/10/2012)
OBAMA BREAKS HIS WORD ON TAX INCREASES IN A BAD ECONOMY:
OBAMA IN NOV. 2010: “IF WE ALLOW THESE TAXES TO GO UP… THE ECONOMY WOULD GROW LESS”: “If we allow these taxes to go up, the result would be that a lot of people most likely would spend less, and that means that the economy would grow less.” (“Remarks by the President and Vice President to Chrysler Plant Workers in Kokomo, Indiana,” The White House, 11/23/10)
ANOTHER BROKEN OBAMA PROMISE: “YOU DON’T RAISE TAXES IN A RECESSION.”(“Obama: We Must ‘Help Elkhart Reinvent Itself,’” MSNBC, 8/5/09)