We have all seen the Got Milk? promotions over the years touting strong bones, healthy teeth, and big muscles. In that same vein, what our economy...
We have all seen the Got Milk? promotions over the years touting strong bones, healthy teeth, and big muscles. In that same vein, what our economy needs is a big glass of economic growth in order to provide higher employment, lower debt, and more production. Turn on the TV or surf the economic blogosphere, and you will find one common economic theme — doom and gloom. But, at the Bush Institute, we have taken a more optimistic view and approach in addressing today’s current economic troubles. Instead of milk-mustachioed celebrities, we convene the world’s greatest economic thinkers, business leaders, and policy makers to answer the question: Got Growth? The Bush Institute’s goal is simple: Why settle for our current 2% growth projections? America is the world’s flag-bearer for free-market economics, and we should aim higher. Bush Institute Founding Executive Director James K. Glassman describes this goal in his introductory chapter of the new Bush Institute book, "The 4% Solution: Unleashing the Economic Growth America Needs." He juxtaposes the successes of the past growth with the dismal current projections for future growth. Glassman shows that the U.S. economy has grown at over 4% real GDP in 23 of the past 60 years (and averaged 3.3% growth since World War II), and then asks why we should be satisfied with, much less happy about, long-run GDP growth of 2.3 to 2.5%. "The 4% Solution" is not a single, “silver-bullet” answer to the problems facing the U.S. and world economies. However, it is a compilation of answers and policy proposals to achieve a higher, sustained rate of growth — even 4%. Written by a collection of great economic minds, including five Nobel Prize winners, "The 4% Solution" covers a wide array of topics including taxes, entitlements, energy, and immigration. As Brendan Miniter, Bush Institute Senior Editorial Director, points out in his chapter, “Why We Grow,” economic uncertainty and fear are causing the private sector to “sit” on $2 trillion in cash instead of researching, developing, producing, and hiring new workers. Only sound, long-term, free-market economic policies can belie these fears and produce the sort of private sector “stimulus” this country so desperately needs. In conjunction with its signature economic program, The 4% Growth Project, the Bush Institute hopes that "The 4% Solution" will inspire political discussion and debate as the country sits at an economic crossroads. We are mere months from an election that could be a referendum on the current state of the US economy. The ideas offered in this book can change our economic future and improve the lives of all Americans. “Prosperity brings with it material gains, but it also strengthens communities and allows all of us to reach our greatest potential.” So, the question remains … Got Growth?
