- The economy
- Jobs
- Federal spending
- Corruption in government
- Health care
- Terrorism
- Immigration
- Afghanistan
- The environment
As the November elections approach, I want to take a look at these issues and the difference between the two parties. First, the economy.
When President Obama took office, the economy was in tatters. We were losing hundreds of thousands of jobs each month, the banking system was on the brink of failure, American automobile companies were on the verge of bankruptcy, and people were asking very real questions about whether we were at the start of the next Great Depression. The Dow Jones average was near 8,000 and dipped down near 7,000 in Obama's first couple of months.
Democratic leadership responded in many ways -- bailing out some financial institiutions (especially AIG), rescuing GM and Chrysler, cutting middle-class taxes, passing the stimulus package and financial regulation reforms. Although the economy is recovering very slowly, it is better in almost every way than when Obama took office. Unemployment is up, and the jobs have not come back, but now unemployment has levelled out, and the stimulus saved millions of jobs (between 1.4 million and 3.3 million jobs according to the non-partisan CBO.) We are no longer talking about the financial system collapsing or the next depression. The automobile companies have recovered, and the government is planning to sell its stake. The Dow Jones is over 10,000.
And Republicans? For starters, they were in charge when this disaster started. Then they voted virtually as one block against any measures to make things better. They voted in lock-step against the stimulus and claimed it didn't create any jobs, even while many of them were taking credit for jobs it created in their districts. They complained about the bailouts and about rescuing the auto industry. They nearly all voted against financial reforms, even though it was clear that lack of financial regulations was part of the cause of the financial crisis.
The Republican solution going forward? Kill the stimulus and extend the Bush tax cuts. That would be the same tax cuts that were in effect when the financial crisis hit. Economists generally agree that tax cuts do not create jobs dollar-for-dollar at anywhere near the rate that direct spending does, but Republicans have a one-size-fits-all answer for every economic situation. Cut taxes and everything will be alright. How will they pay for this? By running enormous deficits as far as the eye can see. That's what they did for eight years when they were in power, and that's their only plan.
So on the economy, Democrats win hands down. If you're concerned about the economy, you have to vote for Democrats.
