UICR Editorial: Job creation
Beginning today, the Daily Iowan will run a twice-monthly University of Iowa Democrat/Republican exchange in which both sides will answer one prompt, due to the editor on the same day.
President Obama is scheduled to speak before a joint session of Congress tonight to present his long-awaited jobs plan (Spoiler Alert: It hinges on spending $300,000,000,000 more we don’t have). With unemployment over 9 percent in August, the administration’s NO. 1 priority should be to get Americans back to work. The following criteria must be met to ensure an economic climate that promotes growth and innovation for years to come.
First, we must recognize the role of government in our economy. The role of the federal government is not to create a job for every American; our government’s responsibility is to create an environment that fosters private-sector job creation. Not one public job can be created without raiding private-sector resources.
To do this, we need a tax system that facilitates this goal. During slow economic recovery, it is verifiably wrong to increase taxes and decrease certainty. To ensure we don’t damage an already weak job climate, we must permanently extend our current tax rates, which are set to expire in 2013.
We need to understand that we are operating in a new, globally intricate marketplace. Look no further than Ford’s announcement earlier this week of a $1 billion plant to be opened in India. The president must include discussion of free and fair trade in his address tonight. Removing our self-imposed trade barriers that cause outsourcing away from America will create an atmosphere conducive to positive growth. By eliminating the capital-gains tax, we can allow American entrepreneurs to be competitive with other countries and bring money earned in a global market back into America.
Tonight, we hope the president speaks on repealing the Dodd-Frank Law, which he signed with nearly unanimous Republican opposition. This law kills loans to small businesses and weakens home sales. We hope the president speaks on creating a new American energy policy. By removing barriers in responsible energy advancements, we will create American jobs and lessen our dependence on foreign countries. We hope the president speaks on repealing Obamacare, and replaces it with a bill that allows patients and doctors to be in charge of health-care decisions, not the bureaucrats. For once, we hope the president puts together a policy that is pro-jobs.
A 550-word editorial is barely enough room to draft this robust collection of Republican ideas for the economy, but it seems Obama would only need two: more spending. Obama’s previous spending efforts and burdensome regulatory efforts have done enough to damage our fragile economy and we hope for a change of course.
For nearly three years, President Obama has failed to be a leader in America’s trying economic times. If we continue down this path, the path of promulgating an Orwellian nanny state, our current rate of unacceptable unemployment will become the new normal. One day soon, we will all graduate and leave the isolated bubble we know as Iowa City. We must demand common-sense solutions from our elected leaders now, so we can ensure a healthy economic climate for future Iowa graduates.
Political grandstanding and partisan bickering will not solve the problems before us; only the resolve of an educated American people can do that. These issues, and many more, are discussed every week at College Republican meetings. Challenge your beliefs, practice self-education, and get involved in your government.
— University of Iowa College Republicans
Originally published in the Daily Iowan on September 8th, 2011.