Welcome to the Hardcore Husky Forums. Folks who are well-known in Cyberland and not that dumb.
Send this guy an invite
GrundleStiltzkin
Member Posts: 61,499 
https://www.wsj.com/articles/go-for-growth-fellow-dems-1530226177
We Democrats assumed a Trump presidency would be disastrous for the economy. But despite a disorderly administration and confusion in Washington, the economy is on a roll and the stock market has soared. Whether we view President Trump as a nightmare to be endured or a foe to be battled, Democrats should hear a wake-up call.
Economic growth, hourly wages, consumer confidence and personal spending are accelerating. Unemployment is the lowest in two decades. For the first time, job openings exceed the number of unemployed. Some of the current expansion is built on the foundation laid by the Obama administration. And although Mr. Trump’s lack of fiscal discipline risks ballooning deficits, Democrats cannot dismiss the critical importance of new policies that have helped propel the economy.
Many Trump voters—high-school-educated Americans battered by globalization—are our natural constituents. We need to win them back. If Democrats are going to return to power, we need a strong pro-prosperity platform that includes pragmatic and economically inclusive policies that drive growth.
Let’s look at regulation. The attitude that regulation is fundamentally good—and any attempt to reduce it bad—is far too prevalent among Democrats. In 2012 and again in 2016 the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that landowners could sue to challenge Environmental Protection Agency decisions to protect wetlands. No one at the EPA seems to have asked if its regulations were actually the best way to preserve wetlands. Regulation of the wrong sort hurts economic growth and diminishes U.S. competitiveness.
The new tax bill is also instructive. Let me state something that is heresy with some Democrats: Cutting the corporate tax rate was good for the economy. It levels the playing field with other countries, keeps thousands of jobs at home, and makes billions of dollars available for reinvestment, especially in smaller companies with limited access to capital markets.
A recent Morgan Stanley survey showed that companies expect to reinvest the bulk of the tax savings in higher wages, increased capital expenditures and research and development. The companies surveyed anticipated passing only a quarter to shareholders in dividends and buybacks. That squares with the plans of the companies our firm has invested in, and is corroborated by the significant jump in capital expenditures—24%—by S&P 500 companies last quarter.
Many think corporate tax reform was not the appropriate national priority. It certainly didn’t do enough to help struggling Americans, and the personal tax cuts were insufficiently progressive. But heated rhetoric from Democrats often dismisses tax reform altogether. From the results, it appears that these policies have given the economy a significant boost. As Democrats, what blinded us? Did our overriding disdain of all things Trump mean we failed to recognize that some of his policies make economic sense?
It is time we built a closer partnership with business, and prioritize ideas over criticisms. One example is infrastructure. Investment in infrastructure would provide fiscal stimulus, create high-paying jobs, improve safety, and increase productivity. Over the longer term, fixing aging infrastructure can add 0.5% to annual economic growth.
Another driver of economic expansion is growth in our labor force. That means we need immigrants—skilled and unskilled. Tech businesses struggle with the deficit of workers trained in science, technology, engineering and math. Agriculture suffers from a lack of seasonal workers. A more accommodating immigration policy would be embraced by business, unleashing further economic growth and expanding the tax rolls.
Addressing trade inequities would also help U.S. producers protect jobs at home. The U.S. has effective tariffs of 9%; China, 27%. Beyond tariffs, China also appears to have benefited disproportionately from current trading rules and has not taken sufficient steps to open its own economy. The result for the U.S. is a trade deficit of $375 billion a year.
Contrary to the prevailing views of most corporate executives, economic evidence shows that a higher minimum wage would benefit business because the added demand more than offsets the added cost. It doesn’t help anyone to have consumers at the poverty line. By engaging constructively with business leaders, Democrats should be able to build consensus on this issue.
There are other areas where Democrats’ priorities and business goals should align: What business executive wouldn’t favor more-efficient health care for everyone, an effective retirement system, better education for more talented employees, and federal support for technological innovation?
Embracing business doesn’t mean turning a blind eye to its flaws. Sensible regulation is vital to a vibrant market economy. More fundamentally, Americans have to feel that the economic system is fair and can work for everyone.
But if we want voters to hand us back the reins of government, we must be able to help the economy grow. That means establishing a constructive partnership with private business. As Democrats, we have already conceded faith, family and freedom to the Republican Party. We need to be the party of inclusive prosperity. Let’s not also concede that to the Republicans.
Mr. James is executive vice chairman of Blackstone and author of “Rescuing Retirement.”
Economic growth, hourly wages, consumer confidence and personal spending are accelerating. Unemployment is the lowest in two decades. For the first time, job openings exceed the number of unemployed. Some of the current expansion is built on the foundation laid by the Obama administration. And although Mr. Trump’s lack of fiscal discipline risks ballooning deficits, Democrats cannot dismiss the critical importance of new policies that have helped propel the economy.
Many Trump voters—high-school-educated Americans battered by globalization—are our natural constituents. We need to win them back. If Democrats are going to return to power, we need a strong pro-prosperity platform that includes pragmatic and economically inclusive policies that drive growth.
Let’s look at regulation. The attitude that regulation is fundamentally good—and any attempt to reduce it bad—is far too prevalent among Democrats. In 2012 and again in 2016 the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that landowners could sue to challenge Environmental Protection Agency decisions to protect wetlands. No one at the EPA seems to have asked if its regulations were actually the best way to preserve wetlands. Regulation of the wrong sort hurts economic growth and diminishes U.S. competitiveness.
The new tax bill is also instructive. Let me state something that is heresy with some Democrats: Cutting the corporate tax rate was good for the economy. It levels the playing field with other countries, keeps thousands of jobs at home, and makes billions of dollars available for reinvestment, especially in smaller companies with limited access to capital markets.
A recent Morgan Stanley survey showed that companies expect to reinvest the bulk of the tax savings in higher wages, increased capital expenditures and research and development. The companies surveyed anticipated passing only a quarter to shareholders in dividends and buybacks. That squares with the plans of the companies our firm has invested in, and is corroborated by the significant jump in capital expenditures—24%—by S&P 500 companies last quarter.
Many think corporate tax reform was not the appropriate national priority. It certainly didn’t do enough to help struggling Americans, and the personal tax cuts were insufficiently progressive. But heated rhetoric from Democrats often dismisses tax reform altogether. From the results, it appears that these policies have given the economy a significant boost. As Democrats, what blinded us? Did our overriding disdain of all things Trump mean we failed to recognize that some of his policies make economic sense?
It is time we built a closer partnership with business, and prioritize ideas over criticisms. One example is infrastructure. Investment in infrastructure would provide fiscal stimulus, create high-paying jobs, improve safety, and increase productivity. Over the longer term, fixing aging infrastructure can add 0.5% to annual economic growth.
Another driver of economic expansion is growth in our labor force. That means we need immigrants—skilled and unskilled. Tech businesses struggle with the deficit of workers trained in science, technology, engineering and math. Agriculture suffers from a lack of seasonal workers. A more accommodating immigration policy would be embraced by business, unleashing further economic growth and expanding the tax rolls.
Addressing trade inequities would also help U.S. producers protect jobs at home. The U.S. has effective tariffs of 9%; China, 27%. Beyond tariffs, China also appears to have benefited disproportionately from current trading rules and has not taken sufficient steps to open its own economy. The result for the U.S. is a trade deficit of $375 billion a year.
Contrary to the prevailing views of most corporate executives, economic evidence shows that a higher minimum wage would benefit business because the added demand more than offsets the added cost. It doesn’t help anyone to have consumers at the poverty line. By engaging constructively with business leaders, Democrats should be able to build consensus on this issue.
There are other areas where Democrats’ priorities and business goals should align: What business executive wouldn’t favor more-efficient health care for everyone, an effective retirement system, better education for more talented employees, and federal support for technological innovation?
Embracing business doesn’t mean turning a blind eye to its flaws. Sensible regulation is vital to a vibrant market economy. More fundamentally, Americans have to feel that the economic system is fair and can work for everyone.
But if we want voters to hand us back the reins of government, we must be able to help the economy grow. That means establishing a constructive partnership with private business. As Democrats, we have already conceded faith, family and freedom to the Republican Party. We need to be the party of inclusive prosperity. Let’s not also concede that to the Republicans.
Mr. James is executive vice chairman of Blackstone and author of “Rescuing Retirement.”
Comments