We Have Been Cheated by the Stimulus

President Obama’s chief economic advisor, Larry Summers, recently admitted what a number of us have been saying for some time now: The $787 billion Obama economic stimulus plan is not doing anything to create jobs in the private sector, particularly among small businesses where most new jobs are created. In a Financial Times article, Professor Summers "argued that the stimulus was never expected to create many jobs at this stage."

That was not what Americans were told prior to the passage of this massive spending program. At the time, supporters of the stimulus plan claimed it would create jobs and lower unemployment. Instead, unemployment has risen to 9.5% nationally and 7.5% in Texas. About the only jobs being created these days are government jobs.

I have warned of the flaws in the Obama stimulus plan for many months now. My warnings are incuded in an article I wrote entitled "Are We Setting Ourselves Up For A Jobless Recovery".

I also have advocated in speeches and articles the replacement of our onerous, 35% business tax with an 8% border-adjusted consumption tax. I spell out the problems of getting Americans back to work under our current tax system and the advantages of an alternative approach to encourage job creation and economic growth in a speech I recently gave at our Texas Business Conference in Amarillo, Texas.

I hope that you will take a few minutes to read this speech entitled "An Economic Policy to Put America Back to Work" and let me know your thoughts on the most important economic issue facing our nation today: How do we get our economy moving again and get Americans back to work?