Setting things right

The GOP needs to talk less, and do more in the new year

“Low Prices Fail to Spark Growth,” a recent headline in the Wall Street Journal said.

Economists scratch their heads wondering why the windfall of low gasoline prices has not spurred consumer spending. After all, many people are saving $100 a month when they fill up their tanks at $2 a gallon instead of the $3.50 they shelled out in August 2014.

“Many economists predicted the savings would act as a giant tax cut by jolting long-weary consumers into stronger spending and pushing up sluggish economic growth,” wrote Journal columnist Eric Morath. “Instead, the economy remains mired in the slow-growth trajectory that has marked the economic expansion over the past 6-1/2 years.”

Well, let’s see. What happened six and a half years ago? Ah, yes. Just after the stock market hit bottom, the Democrats jammed Obamacare through Congress without a single Republican vote. They also rammed through the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill, under which hundreds of small banks are collapsing all over the country.

As more of Obamacare kicks into gear, more jobs are being destroyed and middle-income consumers are being saddled with higher costs and less coverage. In many cases, people who formerly had good policies are paying another $200 to $300 more per month for “catastrophic” plans with high deductibles.

Consumers are losing more money because of Obamacare than they’re saving at the pump. That doesn’t translate into carefree spending sprees.

But it’s more complicated than that. The current, cautious mood also reflects a loss of confidence that anyone in Washington can set things right. American voters turned over the House in 2010 to Republicans, who then took the Senate in 2014 with the explicit promise that they would stop President Obama’s socialism express train.

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Source: Robert Knight, http://www.washingtontimes.com