Enough Is Enough—Time to De-stimulate

We’ve got to get America working again. That's the message in my latest column, De-stimulate. That's right. De-stimulate. As in get rid of higher taxes, regulations, healthcare mandates, EPA mandates, spending and borrowing worries, etc, etc. This big government morass is creating so much uncertainty and confusion that even our profitable businesses are afraid to hire new workers. Why? Because government is muddying the water and making it too darn expensive.

That’s the problem.

President Obama's green jobs plan announced this past Friday? It’s an outrage. $2.3 billion dollars for 17,000 jobs? Do the math. That comes to a whopping $135,000 per job! Un-be-lieve-able. We’re going to wind up paying for this flood of ineffective stimulus spending in higher taxes down the road. Let us keep our own money thank you very much.

Here’s another outrage: Stop the EPA from its new $90 billion dollar smog regulatory plan that frankly, will be infinitesimal in whatever benefits it generates. And why haven’t we reversed the ban on oil and gas drilling, with crude at $83 and retail gas edging closer to $3 bucks a gallon? We should be embarking on an all-out drill, drill, drill campaign. Guess what? That would create jobs.

My friend Steve Moore at the WSJ has been talking about tax chaos. He’s exactly right. Why don't we just lower tax rates for individuals, businesses, and capital gains? That would be real stimulus. That's the missing link, that’s the invisible hand that has worked so well, and so often in the past. But it has been flatly rejected by Team Obama.

Look, we have enough monetary stimulus from the Fed. Plenty. We have very profitable corporations. Stocks are rising. There is an economic recovery taking place right now, but it's only half a recovery loaf if more people aren't going back to work.

That is precisely why I want to get rid of the whole loaf of these anti-jobs polices pouring out of Washington. It’s time to de-stimulate.