THIER VIEW:  

By The Honorable Brian Wahby 

Speaker Didn’t Get Memo: Obama’s Economic Achievements 

Speaker of the House of Representatives, John Boehner, took to the airwaves yesterday and had the audacity to call Barack Obama’s economic policies “un-American.” If Speaker Boehner had his way, our country would return to the same supply-side economic theories that led to record deficits and caused the Great Recession.

Speaker Boehner and Republican front-runner Mitt Romney refuse to admit that the President’s economic policies are working. This election is will be a referendum on President Obama and his economic record and it is a record that the President and his administration should be proud of.

 
The President and his team took control of the White House as the economy was spiraling out of control. In 2008, banks were gambling with other people’s money. They had reckless policies that allowed banks to give mortgages to people who could not afford or understand them. The end result was the loss of more than 8 million American jobs and the worst economic catastrophe since the Great Depression.

Now, three years later, thanks to President Obama, the economy is growing again and the American businesses have created over 3.2 million jobs in the last 22 months. In his State of the Union address, President Obama told the American people that American manufacturers are creating jobs for the first time since the 1990s and the American auto industry is growing again.

The President also reminded Americans that his administration has passed historic Wall Street reform legislation that will hold banks and Wall Street accountable and prevent another economic crisis like we saw in 2008. In his speech, the President also proposed ambitious reforms to our tax code that will ensure that every American plays by the same set of rules and pays their fair share to keep our country prosperous.

 
The President wants to make the tax code simpler and fairer for middle class families and also make sure those millionaires and billionaires are paying at least 30 percent of their income in taxes.

 
Additionally, the President wants to remove corporate tax deductions for outsourcing American jobs and also make companies pay a minimum tax for profits and jobs overseas and reward companies for bringing jobs back to America. Comprehensive corporate tax reform that closes loopholes and incentives employing people right here in America will make our economy stronger in the long run.

Ultra wealthy Republicans like Mitt Romney the President’s plans. They prefer the status quo—a tax system that favors the rich and allows wealthy Americans to shield their assets in Cayman Island bank accounts. Our country has come too far and we’ve made too much progress to turn back now and give the keys back to the conservative supply siders.

 
We cannot go back to an economy based on outsourcing, over leveraging bad debt and phony financial profits. We need an economy where playing by the rules and working hard is rewarded. In the words of President Obama, we need and economy “built to last.”
 

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Editor’s Note: Brian Wahby is Chairman of the St. Louis City Democrats and Missouri’s At-Large Member of the Democratic National Committee. He is also a frequent contributor to the St. Louis Metro Evening Whirl, and his opinions are not necessarily those of this publication.