How to Get Back to Growth

Yes. Congress and lobbyists ARE the problem. Reason must prevail. They appear to have no Vision of what the Nation's future will look like if they continue on this path of irresponsbility and favoritism. Let's have some plans presented that gives us a balanced budget in six to eight years and then include, in each succeeding budget, a line item for debt reduction. Imagine the impact globally , as well as Nationally, if this were a part of the "plan." Thank you.

Oil prices are high because of the following factors..with America's waning clout middle easterners don't want to sell so cheap anymore. Republicans want to give the big oil the green signal to look for resources locally and democrats want to screw Republicans. Republicans (and probabaly later Obama) will give a leeveway for American comapanies by giving big tax breaks for finding new oil and improving infrastructure. We are poor spectators. Nothing is going to change till the dust settle down.

drill,nucluer power,bio fuels,coal gasification and increase supply. lets have the other states that are addicts(california and florida) who do not contribute to energy supplies do something like drilling or even wind.

drill,nuclear power,coal gasification and more drilling. time for the rest of the states to pull there respective share of the power comsumption curve. you use it you produce it hear me Californians and Floirdians

More prattle about government fixes. Government is an agency that has a specific delimited function and it does not include monkeying up the economy. Production is a function of the private sector as is trade. Keep trying to insert government methods into free markets and watch the free markets disappear. Watch demand outstrip supply and watch automobiles be available only to the politicos. Put your faith in the phony promisees of vote beggars and enjoy the pain of incompetence. This is the reward for looking to Washington for solutions.

I am really tired of the discussion of immigration in bulk. We have immigration advocates that want to admit everybody and immigration adversaries that want to keep everybody out. I am glad that the writer stated the obvious. and said that skilled immigrants are good for the economy although he forgot to say that the door should be shut close on unskilled immigrants (due to our broken educational system we have a lot of unskilled people here without having to import them). Saying clearly that we want skilled people and refuse to take unskilled ones would be politiically incorrect but most common sense reasoning is. not politically correct.

I knew he would mention India somewhere. He always does.

Zakaria is one of those fools who thinks we can't have enough immigrants; never mind what they and their family's cost the taxpayer.

This article is totally worthless for serious economic policy debates. He made general statements rephrasing sentences from other newspaper articles. The author has no depth and training on writing on economic issues- He should read Paul Krugman's articles on economic issues.

This article is worthless from policy debate perspectives. The article--having no specificites and statistics-- is replete with general statements--mostly rephrased from available sources, should not have been published.
The author may benefit by reading Paul Krugman's articles on economic issues. He should concentrate on international isues.

This article is totally worthless for serious economic policy debates. He made general statements rephrasing sentences from other newspaper articles. The author has no depth and training on writing on economic issues- He should read Paul Krugman's articles on economic issues.

There is a nearly universal belief among those who do not study history for a living that yesterday was better than today, that it was simpler, more just, or that people were more self-sacrificing. History teaches us the opposite, that things improve over long periods of time--even though human societies may regress for short periods. However, we must not allow the general "progress" of human history to foster an unrealistic optimism. Any economic problems we now face as a nation can be solved by a simple return to basics, fiscal responsibility, an equitable tax policy, and the curbing of excessive consumer appetites. Simply lowering taxes or threatening our enemies with annihilation will not solve our problems; but, an overly enthusiatic faith in federal programs may also be unwarranted. We are not doomed but we may be in for some pain.

barbara boxer told us the other day that raising our taxes gives us hope....the messiah, barack, says that raising taxes is the change we've been waiting for.....and idiots like the first commenter don't understand that the middle class OWN the big corporations, through their investment funds...we're doomed.

It is misleading to refer to 15 year trends in the economy. There are really 2 seperate periods, the '92 through '00 period and the last 7 years. In the first period, productivity, jobs, profits and personal income (somewhat) grew strongly. In the last 7 years, only corporate profits have grown. The claim above is that, on average, 157,000 jobs were created each month, but since Bush took office, not even 10,000 per month were created. It if shockingly clear that cutting taxes on the very wealthy does not create jobs, it does not drive enough economic growth to raise government revenue, and it causes consolidation of wealth in the hands of the very rich. The most presing reform needed is to move the tax burden from the middle class and their children to the wealthy and large corporations.

"There are fnow ewer workers in the American economy". I find that hard to believe that we have fewer workers than 15 years ago (the time frame he is using. Couldn't he back that claim with some statistics?

A point on Growth, America and Immigration(AKA response to the nonsense spewed by Lou Dobbs)

Simply put, America is not the nation it once was. The forces which shaped the conscious of this nation at its birth have slowly disappeared. Sometimes ???Great Qualities??? in a society are rent by the fabric of that society. I believe the notion that ???all men are created equal??? was inspired and confirmed as much by the experience of America as by inspired thought.

One need only look at the issue of immigration (legal or illegal) to appreciate the fundamental change in America. In a growing society with vast unsettled lands, open ranges and sparse population, immigrants were welcomes additions. Immigration in the 18th and 19th century was the backbone of this country???s growth and no one resented the extra help. Immigrants were welcome and become part of the great melting pot that was the United States. Unfortunately, in the current closed society, with much less room to grow, the perception (rightly or wrongly), is vastly different. Now immigrants are viewed as competitors that diminish what is left to be divided. This fundamental change cannot be waived away by rhetoric or good intentions. No matter what we say or do a crowding America will only worsen this sentiment.

This isn???t the only symptom of this fundamental change in America. You see, there is also a purpose in growth which touches us all and binds us together in ways which help overcome our differences. When growth stops and society closes, its individual members turn inward and concentrate more on their individual purpose. Special interests grow and common interests wane and we are left with a very divided society. A great leader can inspire us for a time, but rhetoric and good intentions can not overcome the lack of a common purpose. Today even so called common purpose issues deal principally with what government can do for individual citizens not what we as a country are going to do together to build a future.

It's time for a flat tax!! Many countries including Russia already have one and their economies are exploding. Instead, Obama's gonna drive businesses out of the country by raising taxes and cause another depression. He just doesn't get it.

It's time for a flat tax. So many countries including Russia already have one and their economies have been exploding. By increasing taxes, Obama's gonna drive more business out of the country and make things worse. Don't understand why Democrats just don't get it.