Message from the Chairman:

"It's Still the Economy, Stupid"

According to recent polling data, Americans are becoming increasingly more frustrated with their government and the direction of the country.  It is not hard to understand why.   By an overwhelming margin, Americans identify the economy as their top priority.  When asked what the most important issue facing the country right now, 46% picked the economy, twice the number that chose health care.  To borrow an expression made famous by the 1992 Clinton campaign, "It's the economy, stupid." 

Yet on the day that the Department of Labor announced the worst unemployment number in more than a generation, the President was in Denmark lobbying unsuccessfully for locating the 2016 Olympics in Chicago.

Doubts about the Obama Administration's grasp of economics continue to grow.   Before their Stimulus Package was passed eight months ago, the Administration promised that if passed, it would prevent the unemployment rate from exceeding 8%. That number was passed months ago.  Millions more jobs have been lost since first sightings of the "green shoots of recovery" last spring.

The Obama Administration or Congressional Democrats show no signs that they have begun  reassessing any of their policies, despite their economic projections going so completely awry.  The President now acknowledges that the unemployment rate is likely to go over 10% this year, and next year may exceed levels not seen since the Depression. 

The 2003 tax bill was signed into law by President Bush in May 2003, after Vice President Cheney broke a deadlock between an evenly divided Senate.  The bill reduced tax rates on long-term capital gains and dividends of 15% and the top marginal income tax rate to 35%. It also accelerated many of the provisions in 2001 tax bill, which were supposed to be phased in more gradually. Finally, it increased tax deductions for small businesses and families.  

The 2003 tax cuts helped the economy out of recession by putting more dollars into the pockets of consumers, small businesses and investors.   Unemployment peaked within just two months after signing the cuts into law at 6.3%, before beginning a steady decline to 4.4% in 2007.  Largely because of the increased economic growth, the Bush tax cuts did not substantially reduce tax revenues.  Revenues in fact were not far from the 2000 pre-tax cut baseline and over the 2003 pre-tax cut baseline in 2006.[1]  In part this is because, despite the rate reductions, taxes paid by millionaire households more than doubled from $136 billion in 2003 to $274 billion in 2006.[2] 

Certainly, we face far different economic conditions in 2009 than in 2003.  Many believe that the country's economic recovery now depends on spending restraint and debt reduction.  According to polls, 16% voters rank the Budget Deficit as the third top issue facing the country.  That is eight times the 2% that pick Global Warming.

Yet the Administration does not share the public's sense of urgency on the deficit issue.  Instead they have ramped up spending to unprecedented levels.  Earlier this year the President told his Cabinet to come up with budget cuts.  Their collective effort resulted in the $267 million savings.  That is "m" for million, not "b" for billion. 

Despite the worst economic conditions in several decades, Congress and Obama are making job creation a lower priority than the American people wish.  Instead of encouraging job generation, they are "taking advantage of the crisis" to push a variety of policies - health care, cap & trade, card check, more regulation, higher taxes - that will result in fewer, not more jobs.

Perhaps President Obama should ask the Clintons for the "It's the Economy" sign that hung their 1992 campaign.  That might help remind him to bring more focus to his Administration about what Americans really care about.

Montgomery County Republican Warns the County Board of Elections to Follow the Law in Choosing Early Voting Sites

• Bauer Community Recreation Center, Rockville
• Germantown Recreation Center (substitute for Blackrock, which declined use)
• Marilyn Praisner Community Recreation Center, Burtonsville
• County Executive Office Building, Rockville
• Silver Spring Civic Building
  

• Long Branch Recreation Center, Silver Spring
• Mid-County Community Center, Silver Spring
• Upper County Community Center, Gaithersburg