Members of the Bipartisan Policy Center's National Transportation Policy Project Call for New Approach to Transportation Funding

/PRNewswire/ -- A new report released today, authored by two members of the Bipartisan Policy Center's (BPC) National Transportation Policy Project, called on the Administration and Congress to change their approach to transportation policy saying that "the nation can no longer afford to support poorly targeted investments when the needs are so great and public resources are so constrained." The report authors, Douglas Holtz-Eakin and Martin Wachs, spoke at a press conference to release the report in Washington, D.C.

"The future of transportation policy is central to economic policy. Despite what has long been argued, investments in transportation infrastructure are not guaranteed to create jobs and simultaneously grow the economy. We must ruthlessly focus on economic growth, immediately and in the future," said Dr. Holtz-Eakin. "The need for investment is clear: our roads are deteriorating and our transportation systems are not equipped to handle increasing capacity. Still, we cannot devote additional dollars, much less borrowed dollars, to transportation programs that provide an uncertain number of jobs and no lasting economic benefit."

The report, Strengthening Connections Between Transportation Investments and Economic Growth, outlines three specific policy changes the Administration and Congress can make to ensure that scarce public dollars are spent wisely and, at the same time, create employment opportunities in the short-term and contribute to the nation's economic recovery in the long-term.

First, the report recommends that no new funds be allocated to existing transportation programs if they provide questionable job-creation, unclear long-term benefits or if the programs are solely an effort to increase short-term employment. Second, investments should be directed to programs that are both "shovel-ready" and provide long-term benefits. These investments can help ease unemployment while also building the nation's economic future. Finally, federal transportation investments should not be constrained by the silos and restrictions that dominate the federal government's existing surface transportation program. "Instead of focusing on how the money is spent – that is, on whether funds go to operations versus capital or to highway versus transit – the focus must shift to the outcomes being achieved with a particular expenditure," said the report. "If the most pressing outcomes at this point in time relate to job creation and long-term economic recovery, both of those outcomes should drive decisions about how to allocate federal resources and measure progress."

"In addition to addressing long-term transportation-related objectives including safety, energy independence, and environmental sustainability, Congress should consider investments that result in higher productivity," said Dr. Wachs. "These investments will improve economic well-being by increasing connectivity and accessibility to jobs while reducing congestion. Ideally, there is an approach to transportation investment that advances both goals - enduring productivity gains and immediate job creation. To do this, there must be flexibility within the system to pursue the highest returns on spending."

The BPC's National Transportation Policy Project is a group dedicated to reforming federal surface transportation policy in a way that ensures federal investments are held accountable for demonstrating results toward the achievement of national goals. Its members include former Republican and Democratic members of Congress, local-elected officials, business and civic leaders, and transportation stakeholders and experts. The project released its blueprint for surface transportation reform, Performance Driven: A New Vision for U.S. Transportation Policy, in June 2009.

"We have repeatedly argued that not all transportation investments are equally effective, and that future transportation spending must be driven by considerations of economic merit and guided by clearly articulated federal goals, including economic growth, metropolitan accessibility, environmental protection and energy security, and safety," said JayEtta Hecker, Director of Transportation Advocacy at the BPC. "The report released today emphasizes the need for long-term returns rather than just short-term gains."

Read the full report at http://bipartisanpolicy.org/library/research/transportation-investments.

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Six-Point Economic Recovery Agenda Proposed

/PRNewswire/ -- As Congress returns next week, swing election issues such as job creation, economic recovery and acceleration of economic growth should be foremost on their agenda. The National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) and the Institute for Research on the Economics of Taxation (IRET) have proposed six pro-growth policies for immediate consideration:

* Extending the Bush tax cuts for everyone
* Allow immediate expensing of investment
* Extend the R&D tax credit and the patch for the alternative minimum tax (AMT)
* Reduce the corporate tax rate
* Eliminate individual and employer mandates to purchase insurance, and
* Repeal Medicare tax hikes.


Adopting these six policies are the most important step that Congress and the Administration can take to immediately and permanently reduce taxes on capital and labor, and therefore spur economic growth.

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A Chance at the Middle Class: President's Budget Restores Hope for Millions of Working Families

/PRNewswire/ -- With the nation in the midst of a deep economic recession, advocates working to safeguard the economic security and mobility of working Americans applaud the Administration's decision to renew funding for the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG). CSBG funds a nationwide network of community-based organizations. Their sole purpose is to stimulate a better focusing of all available local, state, private, and federal resources with the goal of enabling families and communities to achieve economic mobility.

Described by many as one of the nation's best strategies to create economic security and mobility for families and communities, the CSBG network has long been an incubator to implement and replicate innovative programs aimed at ensuring economic stability for all hard-working Americans. Both Head Start and the Weatherization Assistance Program are products of the CSBG network. In addition, the network is a major provider of the Low Income Energy Assistance Program. These programs not only support working families, they also contribute to broader economic growth through various proven outcomes such as job creation, energy savings, and long-term academic achievement.

As American as apple pie, CSBG represents democracy in action. CSBG has successfully devolved decision-making to the local level, creating an effective example of how the federal government, in partnership with states, can best attack poverty and promote economic security. All CSBG eligible entities, primarily Community Action Agencies (CAAs), are governed by community-based boards. These boards assure CAAs assess and respond to the unique causes and consequences of economic insecurity in their communities.

By renewing funding for CSBG, the President provided 7 million working families an opportunity to realize the American dream. "The Community Services Block Grant is vital to our nation's efforts to create opportunities for economic security on behalf of America's families and communities," said Vaughn Clark, Director of the Office of Community Development for the State of Oklahoma and chair of the National Association for State Community Services Programs (NASCSP). Clark praised the Administration's renewed funding of CSBG, emphasizing that it "gives America's most vulnerable citizens a ladder to the middle class."

NASCSP is a professional association whose members are state administrators of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) and the U.S. Department of Energy's Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP). NASCSP builds capacity in states to respond to poverty issues.

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Boehner Says Speaker Pelosi’s National Energy Tax & Dems’ Government Takeover of Health Care Will Make It Impossible to Create Jobs

At a news conference this morning, House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) said if Democrats want to protect and create jobs, they should scrap job-killing legislation like Speaker Pelosi’s national energy tax and their government takeover of health care. These job-killing bills, during the middle of a recession and especially since the ‘stimulus’ isn’t working, will harm our economy and undermine efforts to help families and small businesses. Following are Boehner’s remarks at the news conference:

“All of this talk about a second stimulus bill has been rather interesting. I think it is an admission on the part of the Administration that, you know, their stimulus plan is not working. And so there are conversations about how we get to, how do we grow jobs. I found it interesting over the last couple of days to hear the Vice President, Vice President Biden, and the President mention the fact that they didn’t realize how difficult of an economic circumstance we were in. Now this is the greatest fabrication I’ve seen since I’ve been in Congress. I’ve sat through those meetings at the White House with the President and the Vice President.

“Trust me, there’s not one person that sat in those rooms that didn’t know how serious our economic crisis was. We tried to explain to the President that growing government was not going to get America back to work again. And that by allowing small businesses and families to keep more of what they earn – they are the real engine of economic growth in America. If we really are serious about creating jobs, we ought to allow American families and small businesses to keep more of what they earn.

“The second thing we should do if we’re concerned about growing jobs in America is that we should not pass this national energy tax, which is going to raise the taxes on all Americans – less money for them to spend – and millions of American jobs are going to get shipped overseas as a result. And if you look at their proposal on health care, again we’re talking about a $1.5 trillion tax increase – less money for the American people to spend on themselves, less money for American businesses – and if that’s not bad enough, we’re going to ruin our health care system and we’re going to tax employers if they don’t provide health insurance.

“So we are killing jobs with every proposal we see here. The first thing we should do here is practice the Hippocratic Oath. First, do no harm. Let’s get rid of the national energy tax idea, let’s get rid of the idea of raising taxes on this big government takeover of health care that will make it impossible to create jobs and it will cost Americans millions of additional jobs.”

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Libertarian poll: What is Obama trying to distract us from?

America’s third largest party is asking Americans to vote on what they think the White House’s ongoing war with conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh is intended to distract attention from, Libertarian National Committee (LNC) Communications Director Donny Ferguson announced Wednesday.

The LNC has posted a poll at www.lp.org asking Americans to cast their vote for one of five harmful Obama policies the White House hopes their spat with Limbaugh will distract attention from.

“Every time Obama announces higher taxes on unemployment, the market tanks. Economic research shows his spending plan causes long-term economic damage. He’s keeping 50,000 troops in Iraq and breaking his promise to end earmarks,” said Ferguson. “Now, with polls showing more and more Americans oppose his agenda, Barack Obama needs a distraction. He gets it by having his operatives pick a fight with a colorful radio personality.”

“Instead of solving our economic problems by reducing spending during a recession and granting tax relief to job creators, Obama has instead chosen to kick mud at a radio entertainer,” said Ferguson. “That’s not change or hope. It’s a tired old political trick pulled out when you’re making problems worse.”

“Libertarians may not always agree with Limbaugh, but you don’t have to agree with him to see the White House is latching onto his celebrity hoping Americans will pay attention to that and not the economic damage Obama is causing,” said Ferguson.

“While the White House is busying whining about an entertainer and Republicans are busy inserting their wasteful earmarks into the budget, Libertarians are busy cutting spending and creating jobs in their private businesses. It’s clear the Libertarian Party is the only party with an agenda for renewal, not waste or petty spats,” said Ferguson.

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Senator Collins to Oppose Treasury Secretary Nominee's Confirmation

/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- U.S. Senator Susan Collins today announced that she will oppose the confirmation of Timothy Geithner, who was nominated to be U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. The Senate is expected to vote on the confirmation tonight circa 6:00 p.m.

Senator Collins placed this statement in the Senate Record:

Mr. President, I rise today to state my opposition to the confirmation of Timothy Geithner to be Treasury Secretary.

Our current economic crisis is, in part, a crisis of confidence. If we are to return to prosperity, the American people must have confidence in those who would chart our course. Mr. Gauthier's professional background and experience should inspire that confidence. They are overshadowed, however, by the personal issues regarding his own tax returns.

When these issues first arose, they were cited as examples of the baffling complexity of our tax code and of the need for reform. They were described by the nominee himself as "careless mistakes." As more details have emerged, it has become clear to me that this is not merely a matter of complexity leading to mistakes, but of inexcusable negligence.

Mr. Geithner failed to pay self-employment taxes while working for the International Monetary Fund. He failed to make these tax payments despite the fact that the IMF repeatedly reminded him of this obligation. He signed paperwork acknowledging this obligation. He received extra compensation that he acknowledged at the time was for the purpose of paying this obligation. Yet when he filed tax returns for the years he was employed at the IMF, he did not pay self-employment taxes.

After working for the IMF for three years, Mr. Geithner was audited by the Internal Revenue Service in 2006, which discovered that he had failed to pay his self employment taxes. Mr. Geithner was ordered to correct his tax returns for 2003 and 2004, and he paid the amount that he owed for those years.

But Mr. Geithner had made the same omission in 2001 and 2002, years that were outside the scope of the audit. Yet having been informed by the IRS of his omission for 2003 and 2004, Mr. Geithner took no action to correct the deficiency from 2001 and 2002 -- years for which the statute of limitations had already run. In fact, Mr. Geithner chose not to make the payments until he was being considered for this position at the end of 2008.

A similar failure to correct omissions when informed of them occurred when the accountant who prepared Mr. Geithner's tax returns in 2006 informed him that certain deductions Mr. Geithner had taken for three earlier years were not allowed. These deductions involved writing-off overnight camps as child care expenses. Mr. Geithner did not attempt to claim the deduction for 2006, but did not correct his returns for the previous years. And again, this deficiency was not addressed until late last year, when Mr. Geithner was being considered for this Cabinet position.

Mr. President, throughout the State of Maine and indeed throughout the nation, millions of hard-working Americans pay their taxes on time and in full. Our taxation system is essentially an honor system that depends on self-assessment and honesty. When taxpayers make mistakes, they are expected to correct them promptly and completely. How can we tell the taxpayers that they are expected to comply fully with our tax laws, when these laws have been treated so cavalierly by the person who would lead the Treasury Department and, ultimately, the Internal Revenue Service, when he was applying them to himself?

Therefore, Mr. President, I must oppose this nomination.

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Pelosi Statement Following House Introduction of SCHIP Legislation

/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today after House Members introduced bipartisan legislation to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to cover 11 million children. Similar bipartisan legislation was vetoed twice by President Bush in 2007. For more information about the bill, click here http://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/legislation?id=0270:

"Today, the House took the first step to achieve one of the top health care priorities for the new Congress: providing health care to 11 million children from working families. This legislation preserves the health coverage of 7 million children and extends it to 4 million uninsured children who are currently eligible for, but not enrolled in, SCHIP and Medicaid.

"At a time of economic crisis, nothing could be more essential than ensuring that the children of hardworking families receive the quality care they deserve. With more than 2.6 million jobs lost last year alone, Americans are seeing the health care they and their children depend on disappear. By helping working families find affordable health care coverage, this bipartisan legislation will ensure that 11 million of America's children grow up healthy, strong, and ready to learn.

"This bipartisan, fully-paid-for children's health insurance bill represents the New Direction many Members fought for in the last Congress, and it is only the beginning of the change we will achieve with our new President. We look forward to this legislation being among the first bills President Obama will sign into law."

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Libertarians: We're Not Going to Spend Our Way to Economic Recovery

American's largest third party is calling plans by the incoming Obama administration a "multibillion-dollar boondoggle."

"We're not going to spend our way to economic recovery," says Andrew Davis, a spokesperson for the Libertarian Party. "You can't even call Obama's economic plans a gamble because the results are written in stone. We've tried this Keynesian experiment many times in the past, with no proven success. It's nothing but a multibillion-dollar boondoggle."

The Libertarian Party says that Obama's spending proposals, which include funding the largest public works program since the 1950s, will take too long to implement and don't pass a cost/benefit test.

"The best plan for economic recovery would be giving more money back to taxpayers in the form of tax cuts, which can increase consumer spending and increase job creation," says Davis. "It will also avoid the corruption and wastefulness of government spending—something that must be addressed at once if we expect to remain a free and prosperous nation."

"Public works projects, like those proposed by the Obama administration, will take too long to implement and many will cost far more than their economic benefit," Davis explains. "So, not only will the government be spending taxpayer money on wasteful projects, it be spending money during a time when economic relief is not needed. Conversely, tax cuts are always in season."

The Libertarian Party also warns that adding close to a trillion dollars in additional government spending to the budget will push the United States closer to financial ruin.

"Elected officials don't like to talk about the reality of government spending because it's not an issue that gets them reelected, especially when they will be long-gone before it comes time to pay the piper." says Davis. "However, we've reached an event horizon in spending that if government doesn't immediately begin to cut its programs, the only option will be massive tax increases unlike Americans have ever seen."

Davis says the government's focus should be on permanent and significant tax cuts. "However, any tax cuts absolutely have to be offset by a reduction in government spending, or else we're merely asking for higher taxes in the future," Davis explains. "We must not make the same mistakes of the Bush administration, which cut taxes, but also dramatically increased government spending."

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Without Large-Scale Recovery Package, Economy Could Shut Down, Economists Tell Lawmakers

/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A large scale economic recovery package is needed to create jobs quickly, provide relief for workers and families, help states facing severe budget shortfalls, and invest in innovation and emerging industries, a bipartisan panel of economic experts and scientists told lawmakers on Capitol Hill January 7. Economists warned that, unless comprehensive action is taken, the economy will shed another 3 million jobs in 2009, real Gross Domestic Product could drop by $750 billion, and the unemployment rate will top 10 percent.

The Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, along with House committee chairs, convened the forum in the first days of the 111th Congress to brief lawmakers on the latest economic outlook and components that should be included in the upcoming economic recovery package.

"We must pass an economic recovery and jobs package no later than mid-February, in my view," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). "This forum will demonstrate to the American public the need for this job and economic recovery package. We look forward working in the days ahead with our President-elect so we have legislation before we observe President's Day this year."

"Economists across the board agree that innovative strategies to create jobs and invest in our future are the only way to revive and grow our economy - and that workers and families can't afford to wait," said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the co-chair of the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee and the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. "If we act swiftly and make wise decisions, we can tackle many challenges at once: rebuilding our economy and the middle class, improving our infrastructure and energy-independence, and regaining the competitive edge that will fuel discovery and opportunity for generations to come."

"We are holding this extraordinary hearing because of extraordinary times; indeed, we are convening as the economy falls deeper into crisis. We are shedding jobs at a staggering rate, retirement accounts are draining, the housing market has collapsed, the financial market is in turmoil, and the credit markets are nearly frozen. A crisis requires more than the band-aid of past efforts, but rather, we must act boldly to get our economy back to sustained job and income growth," said Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-3), the co-chair of the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee. "This forum today brought together a broad spectrum of economists and scientists who agree that we need to move quickly with a significant economic recovery package."

"This economy is shutting down," said Dr. Mark M. Zandi, the chief economist and cofounder of Moody's Economy.com, who predicted that the economy stands to lose 500,000 jobs a month for the foreseeable future. While both spending and tax cuts should be including in a package, spending provides a higher rate of return than tax cuts. Each dollar spent yields a return of $1.50 in economic growth; while each dollar in tax cuts yields $1 return.

"In my view, the goals of the economic recovery plan should be to strengthen traditional safety nets; increase purchasing power, especially among the bottom half; create as many new jobs as quickly as possible; get the long-term unemployed and the poor into many of those jobs," said Robert B. Reich, a Secretary of Labor under the Clinton administration and a professor at the University of California at Berkeley, who estimated that a stimulus of at least $900 billion over two years is needed. "The danger is not that the federal government will do too much but, rather, that it will do too little."

"While fixing the credit markets is necessary for sustained economic growth, it will not bring the economy back to full employment," explained Martin Feldstein, a professor of economics at Harvard University and the chief economic advisor to former President Ronald Reagan. "Because monetary policy is not effective, reviving the economy requires a major fiscal stimulus from tax cuts and increased government spending."

The panelists agreed that both immediate and long-term strategies are needed to jump-start the economy and spur long-term growth.

"We need to secure our overall competitiveness, otherwise we could create new jobs now only to lose them to foreign competition later," said Norman R. Augustine, the chair of National Academies' Rising Above the Gathering Storm report committee.

"What are most needed are elements that create real, sustained growth in the economy. We need to bolster existing high-growth innovation areas, and we will need to create new areas," said Maria T. Zuber, a professor of geophysics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "One path ahead is clear: the country is at the cusp of a revolution in energy science and technology."

Overall, the panel's recommendations included:

-- Providing aid to states and local governments to maintain jobs and
vital aid programs;
-- Expanding unemployment insurance and extending jobless benefits;
-- Investing in existing, shovel-ready infrastructure projects, including
highways, roads, bridges, schools, levees, water and sewage systems,
and the electricity grid to get Americans back to work quickly and
effectively;
-- Investing in science, technology and other emerging industries to
support research and drive innovation and sustainable growth;
-- Creating a green economy by investing in energy-independence and
building a "green" jobs corps;
-- Providing tax cuts for lower- and middle-income families to increase
purchasing power;
-- Improving job training programs and support for unemployed and lower-
workers; and
-- Ensuring that economic recovery package is transparent and accountable
to the American public.


The forum built on committee hearings held during the 110th Congress to examine the need for an economic stimulus plan. The chairs of those committees, including the chairmen of the Science and Technology, Budget, Energy and Commerce, Ways and Means, Education and Labor, Appropriations and Transportation and Infrastructure Committees, all participated in today's forum.

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President Bush Discusses Administration's Plan to Assist Automakers

9:01 A.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. For years, America's automakers have faced serious challenges -- burdensome costs, a shrinking share of the market, and declining profits. In recent months, the global financial crisis has made these challenges even more severe. Now some U.S. auto executives say that their companies are nearing collapse -- and that the only way they can buy time to restructure is with help from the federal government.

This is a difficult situation that involves fundamental questions about the proper role of government. On the one hand, government has a responsibility not to undermine the private enterprise system. On the other hand, government has a responsibility to safeguard the broader health and stability of our economy.

Addressing the challenges in the auto industry requires us to balance these two responsibilities. If we were to allow the free market to take its course now, it would almost certainly lead to disorderly bankruptcy and liquidation for the automakers. Under ordinary economic circumstances, I would say this is the price that failed companies must pay -- and I would not favor intervening to prevent the automakers from going out of business.

But these are not ordinary circumstances. In the midst of a financial crisis and a recession, allowing the U.S. auto industry to collapse is not a responsible course of action. The question is how we can best give it a chance to succeed. Some argue the wisest path is to allow the auto companies to reorganize through Chapter 11 provisions of our bankruptcy laws -- and provide federal loans to keep them operating while they try to restructure under the supervision of a bankruptcy court. But given the current state of the auto industry and the economy, Chapter 11 is unlikely to work for American automakers at this time.

American consumers understand why: If you hear that a car company is suddenly going into bankruptcy, you worry that parts and servicing will not be available, and you question the value of your warranty. And with consumers hesitant to buy new cars from struggling automakers, it would be more difficult for auto companies to recover.

Additionally, the financial crisis brought the auto companies to the brink of bankruptcy much faster than they could have anticipated -- and they have not made the legal and financial preparations necessary to carry out an orderly bankruptcy proceeding that could lead to a successful restructuring.

The convergence of these factors means there's too great a risk that bankruptcy now would lead to a disorderly liquidation of American auto companies. My economic advisors believe that such a collapse would deal an unacceptably painful blow to hardworking Americans far beyond the auto industry. It would worsen a weak job market and exacerbate the financial crisis. It could send our suffering economy into a deeper and longer recession. And it would leave the next President to confront the demise of a major American industry in his first days of office.

A more responsible option is to give the auto companies an incentive to restructure outside of bankruptcy -- and a brief window in which to do it. And that is why my administration worked with Congress on a bill to provide automakers with loans to stave off bankruptcy while they develop plans for viability. This legislation earned bipartisan support from majorities in both houses of Congress.

Unfortunately, despite extensive debate and agreement that we should prevent disorderly bankruptcies in the American auto industry, Congress was unable to get a bill to my desk before adjourning this year.

This means the only way to avoid a collapse of the U.S. auto industry is for the executive branch to step in. The American people want the auto companies to succeed, and so do I. So today, I'm announcing that the federal government will grant loans to auto companies under conditions similar to those Congress considered last week.

These loans will provide help in two ways. First, they will give automakers three months to put in place plans to restructure into viable companies -- which we believe they are capable of doing. Second, if restructuring cannot be accomplished outside of bankruptcy, the loans will provide time for companies to make the legal and financial preparations necessary for an orderly Chapter 11 process that offers a better prospect of long-term success -- and gives consumers confidence that they can continue to buy American cars.

Because Congress failed to make funds available for these loans, the plan I'm announcing today will be drawn from the financial rescue package Congress approved earlier this fall. The terms of the loans will require auto companies to demonstrate how they would become viable. They must pay back all their loans to the government, and show that their firms can earn a profit and achieve a positive net worth. This restructuring will require meaningful concessions from all involved in the auto industry -- management, labor unions, creditors, bondholders, dealers, and suppliers.

In particular, automakers must meet conditions that experts agree are necessary for long-term viability -- including putting their retirement plans on a sustainable footing, persuading bondholders to convert their debt into capital the companies need to address immediate financial shortfalls, and making their compensation competitive with foreign automakers who have major operations in the United States. If a company fails to come up with a viable plan by March 31st, it will be required to repay its federal loans.

The automakers and unions must understand what is at stake, and make hard decisions necessary to reform, These conditions send a clear message to everyone involved in the future of American automakers: The time to make the hard decisions to become viable is now -- or the only option will be bankruptcy.

The actions I'm announcing today represent a step that we wish were not necessary. But given the situation, it is the most effective and responsible way to address this challenge facing our nation. By giving the auto companies a chance to restructure, we will shield the American people from a harsh economic blow at a vulnerable time. And we will give American workers an opportunity to show the world once again they can meet challenges with ingenuity and determination, and bounce back from tough times, and emerge stronger than before.

Thank you.

END 9:08 A.M. EST

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Government Programs Die Hard

America's largest third party is warning against the institution of new government programs in the wake of the current economic crisis. "Government programs tend to linger with disastrous economic consequences," says Libertarian Party spokesperson Andrew Davis.

"Congress needs to exercise extreme caution when considering any new government programs that are intended to act as a remedy for economic decline," says Davis. "The New Deal taught us that government programs die hard, and we're still suffering from the leftovers of FDR's administration."

"Government got us here, and more government will not get us out," observes Davis.

The Libertarian Party blames the current economic crisis on government's intervention in the economy, and worries about the economic impact of exploding government expenditures.

"Out of every four dollars of economic activity, one of those is from government spending," Davis notes. "Not since World War II have we seen the federal share of the economy at this level. This will have severe economic consequences down the road if we don’t look for options to this economic crisis other than more government spending."

According to an article published on Dec. 10, 2008 in USA Today, the federal share of the economy was at its highest in 1943 and 1944, at 44 percent.

"Trying to solve this economic crisis by risking another one in the future is not sound, sensible, responsible policy," says Davis. "There are several other options for economic relief that don't involve increasing government, such as tax cuts, deregulation and an avoidance of anything resembling a bailout."

The Libertarian Party has recently focused on the spending plans of the incoming Obama administration, which includes plans for the largest public works project since the 1950s. The cost is projected to reach more than $500 billion dollars.

"It's understandable that in these hard economic times that people are looking for answers and solutions," Davis explains. "However, history has taught us that government solutions only worsen problems, and do nothing to expedite recovery. The federal government has already put taxpayers at an incredible risk for trillions of dollars with the last bailout. Any further action will just dig that hole even deeper."

"It's absolutely immoral to strap future generations of taxpayers with this level of debt," says Davis.

The platform of the Libertarian Party states "a free and competitive market allocates resources in the most efficient manner," adding that the only role of government in the economy is to "protect property rights, adjudicate disputes, and provide a legal framework in which voluntary trade is protected."

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