WQOW:Senator Johnson makes a stop in the Chippewa Valley
By Trent Artus
The economy is the focus of a visit from a Wisconsin lawmaker.
Senator Ron Johnson was in Chippewa County for a luncheon with Chamber of Commerce members. With legislators on break, Sen. Johnson is spending some time traveling around the state to talk about ways, he believes, will get the economy back on track.
"I hope this economy starts moving, but it's not looking very good," says Sen. Ron Johnson, (R) Wisconsin.
Sen. Johnson says if the U.S. economy doesn't make bigger strides, the country's deficit will continue to grow.
"This administration and the CBO have estimated three to four percent growth rates, but if it's only 2.5 percent, you need to add $5 trillion to our deficit over the next ten years and if we're at European-type style growth rates, the one to two percent range, add about $9 trillion," says Johnson.
To encourage businesses to hire, Sen. Johnson introduced a bill to put a moratorium on regulations until unemployment levels drop below the level when President Obama took office.
"Large corporations do have extra cash and they're not investing because of the high level of uncertainty and lack of confidence they have in terms of demand from the market place and all the regulations this administration is burdening our economy with," says Johnson.
Sen. Johnson says some of those same regulations are also preventing small businesses from getting capital they need to expand. Besides limiting regulation, there's growing support in Washington, D.C. for changes to the tax code.
"I think there's pretty universal appeal to eliminating real special deal loopholes and lowering the top marginal rates to make them more economically competitive," says Johnson.
President Obama is expected to make a jobs announcement of his own when he comes back from vacation, but Sen. Johnson is skeptical.
"We've tried his ideology, we've spent $4 trillion in an experiment to create jobs and we're down 2.1 million jobs since he's taken office, President Obama has to understand his agenda failed miserably, he needs to reverse course rapidly," says Johnson.
Lawmakers will be back in session after Labor Day.
As for the economy, consumer spending rebounded in July increasing point-eight percent. That followed a decline in June. The June decline was the first in 20 months.
