Beyond the Rhetoric: Why Are Times Getting Better – Thank God!

by Harry C. Alford 10/19/2018

I attended an Economic Summit at the White House two weeks ago. It was an uncommonly joyous event. We were all there to celebrate the actual changes that were going on in our great country. It was summed up by saying, “Deregulation and Tax Reduction.” Those are the reasons for our economy to start turning upwards. Like it or not, this nation is economically growing suddenly, or at least during the last two years. It is clear – the numbers don’t lie.

We worked feverishly during the last ten years to bring a halt to a landslide of regulation and taxation. I chair the Government Oversight, Regulatory and Consumer Affairs Committee at the US Chamber of Commerce. It has been one of the most rewarding activities of my life. It recently cumulated into the passage of the Regulatory Accountability Act. This is essential to growth, it makes it easier to perform business without costly regulations and permitting to adhere to.

Equally important was Tax Reform. This will go down as one of the best pieces of legislation ever passed. Wages are increasing, investment is increasing, jobs are expanding by the thousands. We now have our lowest unemployment figures in more than forty years. It is most notably detected amongst Blacks and Hispanics. It is historical and undeniable. The stock markets support that charge with all-time high breaking records. We were told by the previous Administration that some jobs weren’t coming back. Guess what? They are coming through the “door” like never.

Our steel industry has been on a decline for many decades. However, it is bouncing back with a vengeance. Remember when they used to call Gary, Indiana “Steel City”? That moniker may be returning. US Steel just announced that it is putting an investment of over $750 million to refurbish previously “mothballed” facilities. In fact, steel plants all over the nation are being refurbished and that is a sure sign of increased manufacturing for our nation equating to exponential increase in high paying jobs.

Our past rigid high taxation caused investors to put trillions of dollars off shore. Those trillions of dollars are starting to come back in terms of investment and job creation. Good times are sure to come in the following years. As the old saying goes, “Cotton is high, the fish are biting, and the bosses are paying!”

A next determinant has been a sudden change in our international trade balances. America has been on the losing end in trade. In fact, we have been bullied by China and the nations of the European Union. That has all changed now. The fact is the strongest economy in the world is the United States. However, we have been acting as a weakling. No more! We are dealing eye to eye and settling for nothing less than “fair ball” when acting with our trading partners. The international rip-offs are over.

China has more than 2 billion persons to feed. That is a permanent problem for them as we have a little more than 300 million and have proven to manage that challenge quite well with a Gross Domestic Product that is the greatest in the world. Russia has a decreasing population, a depressed population and a Gross Domestic Product that doesn’t rival that of the state of Florida. All other nations, even the united groups of nations called the European Union, are miniscule to our economic might. Thus, we are finally acting like it and resisting any attempt to bully us on international trade.

Times are great! Look at your IRA’s, or stock investments and you cannot deny that growth is here like never. You must go back decades since good times from an economical point of view were being blessed on the United States.

If you reflect on the past decades, the liberal point of view has not been beneficial to our nation. The conservative approach is yielding dividends like never. This is reason for the progressives to be upset with our progress. Let them cry as we march on with economic growth. Let them protest, resist, obstruct like going south with a bullet. America is being blessed for standing by its capitalistic principles and following our U.S. Constitution. It works! Why try and fight against it?

For some strange reason, political discussion is quite “dicey”. My people, we are turning things around for the good. The economy is growing like never. We are the envy of the world – free and un-free. There is no need to fight it! It is a good thing.

Our resurgence is historical. Oddly, there is a certain segment of our population that is incensed about that. They need to take a “chill pill” and look around. Things are looking good and getting better.

Mr. Alford is the Co-Founder, President and CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce®. Website: www.nationalbcc.orgEmail: [email protected]