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Health & Fitness

Yes, Democrats Really Do Oppose Pro-Growth Policies

I was shocked to see people question the statement that some in the base of the Democratic party oppose economic growth. I really thought that was obvious.

As I read comments on my blogs it makes me more confident in my positions with the poor arguments made by the opposition. But I was a little surprised at demanding proof that many on the left, oppose economic growth. I really thought that was understood by all.

The environmental wing of the left clearly opposes economic growth. For example Global warming alarmist’s push for ideas that would crush economic growth, like Cap & Trade.  But the Democratic party pushes many ideas that kill economic growth beyond what the extreme environmentalists demand, some in the name of “Fairness” others to support special interest groups like unions.

As far as any one politician such as President Obama we cannot know for sure why they support anti-growth policies only that they do support them. President Obama likes to blame Bush for the economy, forget for moment that many Democrats like him played a large role in creating the mess they complain about, but the reality is financial crash set him up for what should have been an economy that was easy to improve. Instead President Obama pushed the perfect agenda, to prevent a real recovery that would have a growth rate above 4%, as we would expect after the panic cleared.

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If I were to design a policy to prevent a recovery here is what I would do. First in world facing economic crisis because of worries over government debt, I would keep spending at the extreme elevated level  it was in fiscal 2009 due to the TARP bailout, like Obama has done.

Next I would pass as much regulation as I could like the Healthcare law and Dodd-Frank financial reform. Also in the healthcare law I would include as many incentives to not hire more than a certain number of employees.  

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Also the laws would leave so much uncertainty that no one would be sure just how fast and how bad the impact would be. While doing this I would use federal agencies like the EPA to shut down domestic energy like coal.

I would minimize oil production where I could control it. I would try to empower Unions by harassing companies like Boeing for expanding jobs in states with right to work laws. I would try to implement Card Check to increase harassment of those that do not want a union. I would structure the bailout of the Auto companies to bail out the unions rather than the company. I would have a tax policy that is voted on every other year to keep it uncertain. I would threaten tax increases on job creators and capital. I would demonize profits. I would refuse to deal with the coming bankruptcy of Medicare or Social Security. In short if someone wanted an anti-growth fiscal policy they would do exactly what president Obama has done.

The left may argue the reason for all these things as being more “fair”, or on other merits, but all were job killing policies. Any way you slice it, we have followed an extreme anti-growth policy. Democrats can say it is just incompetence and not a plan, but either way Obama and Democrats have us on the wrong path.

If we had done the right thing in 2010 it would have been easy to make things better and would have helped lessen the European crisis. Now it is much more difficult to fix. Obama and the Democratic Party leaves us with no hope of fixing anything unless, we get rid of him and end the 6 year run of Democratic control of the U.S. Senate. I guess just be thankful that in 2010 the GOP took control of the house to prevent some of the insanity.

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