Romney Will Spur Confidence To Boost The Economy

Editorial
Bucks County Courier Times

President Barack Obama inherited a mess — a huge and frightening mess. The American economy was on the verge of collapse when he came into office nearly four years ago. The dramatic action he took to stave off the failures of entire industries not only averted a total economic collapse, it started the economy on a slow march to recovery.

Problem is, the recovery has stalled. Unemployment, while it ticked up a few percentage points last month, remains at a cripplingly high level. Part of the problem, if not a big part, is the business sector’s lack of confidence that the economy will improve to levels necessary to sustain investment. The frustrating result is that businesses large and small are not expanding their work forces or growing their enterprises in significant ways.

Also driving the fear and uncertainty is a huge unknown: the impact of health care reform. The president’s ill-timed Affordable Health Care Act will have significant impact on businesses and industries all across the nation. How significant haunts CEOs, their directors and investors across the nation. Those worries continue to have a chilling effect on the economy, and the president has been unable to allay those fears or spur any kind of confidence that his policies and plans will restore the nation’s economic vitality. Indeed, it is unclear what the president’s plans are for the next four years should he be re-elected.

And so we are mired in a vast economic malaise. Home foreclosures dot the landscape. So do shuttered businesses. Folks who are working, labor for lower pay and fewer, yet more costly, benefits. The future looks bleak.

Social Security is on the cusp of insolvency, while the cost of Medicare, Medicaid and other entitlement programs that millions of Americans depend on spirals beyond the government’s ability to provide funding. We grow deeper and deeper in debt. The numbers are almost beyond comprehension. And yet these vexing and potentially calamitous issues are not being addressed in an effective way.

Yes, Congress shares the blame. So do the Republican Party’s powerful members, who seem more interested in this Democratic president’s failure than the nation’s success. Still, President Obama has not facilitated bipartisanship. And he has not pursued a collegial relationship with congressional leaders — much to his administration’s detriment and the nation’s loss.

In contrast, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has a record of bipartisan success. During his tenure as governor of Massachusetts, with Democrats firmly in control of the state Legislature, Romney produced landmark health care reform that earned bipartisan support and stands as a model for the nation. Bringing that mindset to Washington and breaking the stalemate there could go a long way toward resolving critical issues that threaten our nation’s future.

Likewise, Romney’s success in private business and the plan he has put forward to turn the economy around, most members of our editorial board agree, could spur the confidence that’s needed to get business and industry to invest and expand.

As one of our board members stated, “My vote for Romney is a vote against Obama and the Democratic Party, which controlled Congress since January 3, 2007 through January 3, 2011. During that time, not one budget was passed, not one plan was put forward to tell us how the Democrats will deal with the skyrocketing deficit. This demonstrates a total lack of leadership on the most important issue of our country’s future. Former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, Adm. Mike Mullen said it best when he called the deficit: ‘the biggest single threat to national security.’ ”

For those reasons a majority of our editorial board endorses Mitt Romney for president.

Read more: http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/local/courier_times_news/opinion/editorials/romney-will-spur-confidence-to-boost-the-economy/article_dba969cd-8a5f-5810-ae86-41f65c2ccae4.html