The Morning Call on Sunday ran a point/counterpoint article on the economy. The three candidates for the 15th Congressional District were asked to comment on the president’s economic efforts.
Charlie Dent, the GOP incumbent, said “The president began a public relations effort to promote his economic policies right here in the Lehigh Valley. Our region was appropriate because we have emerged from difficult periods with a stronger, more vibrant and increasingly diverse economy.”
As he said in his own economic summit the day of the Obama visit, Dent blamed Washington for “impeding, not promoting, job creation.” He repeated his theme of the day that the stimulus spends too much, borrows too much and creates too few jobs.
On cap and trade, Dent said “that will cost thousands of jobs in Pennsylvania and increase energy costs.”
He blasted Obamalosi health care as “a 5.4 percent surtax on income and an employer mandate with an 8 percent penalty will mean job losses.”
He was also critical of card check.
On the budget, Dent wrote “Ignoring record deficits, Congress has pushed through a budget that doubles the national debt in five years and triples it in 10. And Congress has passed appropriations bills increasing domestic discretionary spending more than 11 percent.”
He continued opposition to a second stimulus and as he did in his Dec. 4 summit, Dent called for a small business tax deduction, removal of barriers to domestic energy production and a cut in the two lowest tax brackets.
Dent would use extra TARP funds for deficit reduction rather than new spending.
Jake Towne attacked “the two-headed, one-party political system is ruining Main Street” and the stimulus bill, which “awarded over $7 million to local universities for research on topics like hot lava and Ice Age climate shifts.”
“Some projects may even have some utility, like new roads or bridges,” Towne said. “
He continued “However, what is typically NOT SEEN is local hardware stores failing -- the businesses that didn't make the government's gravy train list. What is NOT SEEN is firms that never start due to government interventions. What is NEVER SEEN is the employment these businesses would be providing and what is CERTAINLY NOT SEEN is what would happen if people were not plundered by government in the first place, either via payroll taxes or the insidious hidden tax of inflation.”
Towne warns “America's sails are set on a hazardous course.” His path is simple:
· restore individual liberties.
restore the rule of law per the Constitution.
balance budgets
· have low taxes
· have a strong national defense while avoiding undeclared wars, military bases on foreign soil and nation-building missions.
· separate the economy and state
John Callahan emerged from his political cave to respond as well. His was far less specific far far more "Kumbaya."
He said “Over the last six years, Bethlehem has undergone a tremendous economic revitalization. We have shown what rolling up our sleeves and working together can produce for a city. Now we need Washington to do the same for this country.”
So, Callahan admits he’d like to do for Washington what he had done for Bethlehem. As the Dent campaign tells us several times a week, that has been spend more, tax more and done make good on promised casino tax rebates. Maybe a national skate park is in the cards.
“It is not the role of government to create jobs. But by creating the right environment, government can be a catalyst for private sector job creation,” he says. So he and Dent at least agree, up to the “but.” Democrats admit that government doesn’
After saying government doesn’t create jobs, Callahan goes on to say how government giveaways in Bethlehem created “$2 billion in economic development and 5,000 new jobs. By making government investments in environmental remediation and infrastructure, a barren steel mill is now a new industrial park. Its shovel-ready sites are attracting new developments that are creating jobs to replace those once provided by Bethlehem Steel.” What he doesn’t say is how many jobs were lost in the taxation that raised the money spent on that revitalization.
Government doesn’t create jobs but Callahan then says “[government] programs are needed nationally to jump-start our job market and get people back to work.”
I have referred to John Callahan as Don Cunningham-lite. Callahan goes on to say “As mayor I've always believed in the saying that there is no Democratic or Republican way to fix a pothole -- you either do it or you don't. The same can be said for turning our economy around and creating jobs.”
- I have heard Don Cunningham say the exact same thing about nursing homes. Calahan is truly Cunningha-lite.
- The three candidates do offer vastly different ways of fixing things. There is a Democratic way and a Republican way. I think it is fair to say that Towne would have no or a very limited government role in fixing the economy, Dent would remove some tax and other barriers and let businesses create jobs as a result and Callahan would pursue “programs” to make government a “catalyst” for growth. The choice is pretty clear. There is a difference Mayor Callahan. This isn’t pothole fixing (a core government function). It is job creation (a core private sector function.
Comments
Dear Ken -
Nice piece, although I want to point out that the GOP incumbent and Democrat's positions are pretty similar while I am clearly differentiated. Obviously, the incumbent now needs to sound like Ronald Reagan or go home. "Reading the reeds" is a sign of an unprincipled career politician, not a statesman.
FACT Dent voted and CO-SPONSORED the TARP Banker Bailout and supported the Republican stimulus of $600 billion.
FACT Callahan is on record with US Mayors as supporting the Obama stimulus.
Meanwhile, I am emphatically against bailouts and spending/stimulus packages, please see towneforcongress.com/platform-issues/bailouts-and-corporatism
For any interested, at the end of this piece I provide in detail 10 actions the government should take to assist the economic fallout - the quickest and most significant of which is removing the income tax, preferably forever, but even a 1-year holiday would work.
towneforcongress.com/economy/the-governments-war-on-main-stre
When Keyes was asked if he'd seen anything like the Great Depression, he said, "Yes and it lasted for 500 years. It was called the Dark Ages."
Yep, get that government out of the economy so we can return to the good old days.
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