August 7th, 2011
by Herman Cain
Immediately following the debt ceiling debacle, the White House announced that the president will take a three-day bus tour through the Midwest to hear people’s concerns about the economy, and talk about measures to boost economic growth and job creation.
Is President Obama that out of touch?
Our national debt has now surpassed the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), because the national debt has grown faster than the anemic GDP growth rate. The unemployment rate was just reported for the month of July at 9 percent, which is the 30th consecutive month exceeding the promised-to-not-exceed 8 percent rate. The agonizing debt ceiling deal did not prevent the S&P rating agency from downgrading our nation’s credit rating. Businesses are going bust, and some families are broke.
This is beyond concern. These are crises screaming for solutions.
After the president’s tour, we will get another speech. He will once again promise his laser-like focus on economic growth and job creation. We have heard this speech many times before only to get the same results. More talk, talk, talk.
I have been traveling the country and listening to people for the last year, and I can tell you their concerns and fears. Namely, the economy is stuck in neutral and the president’s policies of spend, spend, spend are not working. Since the president has not put forth any new ideas to boost economic growth and job creation, people also know that nothing is going to change simply because he is going to do another tour and give some more speeches.
Mr. President, speeches do not fuel the economic engine of this economy, which is the business sector. And speeches are not going to reduce the latest unemployment rate of 9.1 percent, nor will they ease the pain of the nearly 15 million people who can’t find jobs because your administration wants to raise taxes and continue your regulatory onslaught on American businesses.
Mr. President, your failure to listen to the right people is not only weakening our economy, it’s personal. I am out of patience paying rent and buying tires for friends and family because this economy is underperforming when it does not have to do so. This economy has plenty of pent-up economic growth if taxes and regulations would just get out of the way, and the uncertainty that’s holding this economy down is removed. You have the power to do that. We don’t.
A few weeks ago I shared in these commentaries my Economic Vision for America, parts 1, 2 and 3, if I were president. You do not have enough time left in your presidency to implement all of it, but you could get some of it passed by Congress to at least have an economic legacy of having tried to do the right thing.
The stock market will survive last week’s big decline. It’s resilient, and millions of people are not going to go without food and shelter because of the decline. The downgrading of the nation’s debt rating by one of the major rating agencies is not good, but we can survive.
But people cannot survive without a job. Businesses will not grow under a cloud of tax and regulatory uncertainty. And another speech is not going to change that.
Mr. President, respectfully, you need some different policies and you need to listen to some different advisors. A declining stock market, a U.S. credit downgrade following a questionable debt ceiling deal, and a persistently high unemployment rate are clear evidence of the need to do so.
It is also very clear that we need new leadership in the White House.
It pains me to say so, but the best days of this presidency are behind us.
