====== FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ======
America First Party
1630 A 30th Street #111
Boulder, Colorado 80301
http://www.AmericaFirstParty.org
Wednesday, January 29, 2003
Economic Prescriptions: Band-aids, Not Cures
Boulder, CO -- Following the State of the Union Address, America First Party
National Chairman, Dan Charles, issued the following statement:
"In his State of the Union address last night, President Bush presented a
hazy economic plan to bring this country out of its current doldrums.
Although both the Republicans and the Democrats have plans intended to
revitalize our nation's economy, both plans are deeply flawed because they
ignore the true nature of our economic slow-down.
"President Bush said that he would not pass on to future
presidents, to future Congresses, and to future generations the problems of
today. But that is exactly what he is planning to do by proposing an orgy
of federal spending and an economic plan that focuses on short-term
solutions to the wrong problems. His plan fails to correct the policies that
continue to harm our nation and our people. The same is true of the
Democrat's plan.
"Both the Democrat and Republican plans focus on consumer spending--although
this is not the cause of our present recession. Our present setback is
caused by the slow-down in capital spending by businesses. If there is a
problem with consumer spending, it is caused by wage deflation as much as by
over taxation. By providing short-term, debt-ridden solutions to the wrong
problems, the President and the Democrats are using the same tactics to grow
the economy that the robber barons of Enron, WorldCom, and Tyco used to grow
their companies.
"Part of the capital spending slow-down is rooted in the overcapacity of tech
infrastructure that occurred in the late 1990's. Nobody should be surprised
that there is a lull after such an unprecedented boom. But the sad truth is
that the policies of both Democrats and Republicans have encouraged
companies to close factories and ship American jobs overseas, rather than
build new factories and create new good paying jobs here. NAFTA and GATT
create unfair markets and harm both our national security and economy.
"President Bush's tax plan is wholly inadequate and fails to address the
problems. Like all socialist solutions, President Bush's plan merely
fiddles around the edges and attempts to use the tax code as a
sledgehammer--coercing of corporations, investors, and individuals to act as
government wants them to act, and making fewer Americans pay a larger share of the
costs of our common burden. He had an opportunity to promote a system that
is simple, fair, and constitutional. He failed.
"The best way to put money into consumer's hands is to end government
sponsored wage deflation. NAFTA and GATT, H-1B and other Guest Worker
programs, and out of control immigration all put downward pressure on wages
by placing American workers in direct competition with workers who are paid
far less.
"If we want to attack the true cause of this recession, the government
should stop promoting policies and entering into agreements such as NAFTA
and GATT. These treaties disguised as agreements reward companies for
shutting down American factories and hiring workers in China for 25 cents
per day. It is time our economic policy put the American worker and
American businesses first. Democrats and Republicans put them last."
Contacts:
Dan Charles, National Chairman, 1-866-SOS-USA1, ext. 4
Romelle Winters, Press Secretary, 1-866-SOS-USA1, ext. 2
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