Talk Back

These are the personal views of Peter Morici, a professor at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business and former chief economist at the U.S. International Trade Commission:

Scott Brown’s Massachusetts victory serves notice that Americans don’t want big government policies championed by liberal Democrats.

It is not a mandate for Republican tax cuts and deregulation. Rather, from health care to the economy, Democrats should stop accusing critics of deceiving the public and ask what voters would embrace.

To cover the uninsured, Americans would support reforms that made Medicaid and similar programs less expensive and lowered health insurance premiums for the middle class.

Real reform would reduce drug and administrative costs to those in other advanced countries, like Germany or Holland, and end waste imposed by malpractice suits those countries don’t endure.

Reform should not impose higher taxes but rather lower costs–the president should apply that yardstick, not budget neutrality.

Regarding unemployment, the $789 billion stimulus package will not deliver the 4 million jobs promised. Fanciful dreams of creating million jobs in green industries are just that–fanciful dreams.

Continue reading…

These are the personal views of Peter Morici, a professor at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business and former chief economist at the U.S. International Trade Commission:

Whoever is declared the winner, the outcome of the Massachusetts senatorial election is neither a mandate for President Obama’s liberal agenda nor a license for a return to status quo ante of George Bush.

The fact that a conservative put Ted Kennedy’s seat at play is a repudiation of Democrats recent partisan governing style, and an agenda that is simply out of step with the real change Americans want.

From health care to jobs to the banks, it’s time for Democrats to stop accusing critics of deceiving the public and to step back ask what voters will accept. Continue reading…