Cover Story
AMERICA’S ECONOMIC REBOUND A story every Republican should tell. by Douglas Holtz-Eakin In 2016, the United States had a problem. During the postwar period and up until 2007, rapid economic growth had permitted the standard of living to double roughly every 35 years – about one working career. The economic crash of 2008 changed that equation. The economy became mired in a “new normal” of slow growth that promised to double the standard of living only every 70-75 years. Instead of achieving access to the American Dream in a single working career, workers watched as their hopes seemingly disappeared over the horizon. Indeed, in 2016 itself, it was even 10
worse: the real (inflation-adjusted) growth in income for those households that worked full-time for the full year was exactly zero. A new strategy was needed when Republicans took control of the White House and Congress. It began when the House passed the American Health Care Act – the health care bill that reformed two major entitlement programs and cut taxes by $1 trillion – continued with both legislative and administrative deregulation, included the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), and culminated with the Administration’s international policy efforts – notably
RIPON FORUM February 2020
