Writing a column for the Wall Street Journal Arthur Laffer, chairman of Laffer Associates and co-author of “Return to Prosperity: How America Can Regain Its Economic Superpower Status”, said…<\/p>\n
“the government should sell its stakes in public companies acquired via TARP, sell government-run enterprises that lose money (e.g., Amtrak and the Postal Service), end farm subsidies that pay people not to farm, cancel the rest of the stimulus and return all spending programs to their pre-stimulus levels. Congress should also continually examine spending in Afghanistan and Iraq. And it should return the duration of unemployment benefits to the standard 26 weeks, from the current 99 weeks.”<\/em><\/p>\n Mr. Laffer tells us that in his opinion “Employment is low because the incentives for workers to work are too small, and the incentives not to work too high. Workers’ net wages are down, so the supply of labor is limited. Meanwhile, demand for labor is also down since employers consider the costs of employing new workers\u2014wages, health care and more\u2014to be greater today than the benefits.”<\/p>\n He also adds that the Bush tax cuts should be extended – ObamaCare should be fully repealed – and “The cancellation of all spending that punishes those who produce and rewards those who don’t.”<\/p>\n