Post by Rick Warder on Dec 10, 2005 7:21:29 GMT -5
Kurtzner: The economy and budget are on track
NEW YORK, NY - Treasury Secretary Dr. Phil Kurtzner hosted a discussion with financial and media groups at the Big Board on Wall Street, addressing corporate America's concerns respecting the elimination of all corporate tax breaks and exemptions and the Warder Administration's budget policy.
"Thank you for coming, ladies and gentlemen," Dr. Kurtzner began. "To start, I want corporate America to know that President Warder has not by any means 'gone native'. In fact, the president holds that numerous other initiatives bringing more market into the economy, such as Medicare privatization, such as the curtailment of agricultural subsidies, such as upcoming highway subsidy reforms, will provide an injection of energy into Wall Street. The president is reducing the size of government, getting the free market involved in our society and tightening up fiscal policy, all of which is good for business."
In what followed, Dr. Kurtzner also drew attention to the massive $80 bln personal business and investment tax credit initiative which is part of the FY 09 budget: "These initiatives will be a boon to start-ups, and absent a repeal of the Bankruptcy Reform Act, which remains a top priority of Administration policy, President Warder is proud to encourage entrepreneurialism, hard work and personal initiative. After all, every major corporation in America started out as a small company. Mr. Bill Gates launched MicroSoft in his garage; Wal-Mart was a tiny retailer in Bentonville until it grew bigger than any of us would have imagined or perhaps even liked."
Next, Dr. Kurtzner began a Power Point presentation on the Fed's two year forecast for economic growth, which estimates that gross domestic product will increase by anywhere from 2.2-3.6% per year. "Rising unemployment, now at 6.2%, is a concern for the Administration, but President Warder believes that in the next four years, the benefits of his doubling of education funding will raise the qualifications of the American workforce and make the nation more competitive, giving Americans the skills to get great jobs at great wages, no matter their background. We are not idly watching as Americans seek opportunity: we are getting involved and actively assisting."
To conclude, Dr. Kurtzner came out strong in favor of fiscal discipline: "The value of the dollar must be preserved, for the sake of our businesses trading abroad and to benefit Americans who have saved their money over the years. We have been spared inflationary pressure for over a decade, but there is always a risk of a resurgence. A ballooning deficit is the surest way for that risk to become reality."
OOC: Feel free to pose questions to Dr. Kurtzner.
NEW YORK, NY - Treasury Secretary Dr. Phil Kurtzner hosted a discussion with financial and media groups at the Big Board on Wall Street, addressing corporate America's concerns respecting the elimination of all corporate tax breaks and exemptions and the Warder Administration's budget policy.
"Thank you for coming, ladies and gentlemen," Dr. Kurtzner began. "To start, I want corporate America to know that President Warder has not by any means 'gone native'. In fact, the president holds that numerous other initiatives bringing more market into the economy, such as Medicare privatization, such as the curtailment of agricultural subsidies, such as upcoming highway subsidy reforms, will provide an injection of energy into Wall Street. The president is reducing the size of government, getting the free market involved in our society and tightening up fiscal policy, all of which is good for business."
In what followed, Dr. Kurtzner also drew attention to the massive $80 bln personal business and investment tax credit initiative which is part of the FY 09 budget: "These initiatives will be a boon to start-ups, and absent a repeal of the Bankruptcy Reform Act, which remains a top priority of Administration policy, President Warder is proud to encourage entrepreneurialism, hard work and personal initiative. After all, every major corporation in America started out as a small company. Mr. Bill Gates launched MicroSoft in his garage; Wal-Mart was a tiny retailer in Bentonville until it grew bigger than any of us would have imagined or perhaps even liked."
Next, Dr. Kurtzner began a Power Point presentation on the Fed's two year forecast for economic growth, which estimates that gross domestic product will increase by anywhere from 2.2-3.6% per year. "Rising unemployment, now at 6.2%, is a concern for the Administration, but President Warder believes that in the next four years, the benefits of his doubling of education funding will raise the qualifications of the American workforce and make the nation more competitive, giving Americans the skills to get great jobs at great wages, no matter their background. We are not idly watching as Americans seek opportunity: we are getting involved and actively assisting."
To conclude, Dr. Kurtzner came out strong in favor of fiscal discipline: "The value of the dollar must be preserved, for the sake of our businesses trading abroad and to benefit Americans who have saved their money over the years. We have been spared inflationary pressure for over a decade, but there is always a risk of a resurgence. A ballooning deficit is the surest way for that risk to become reality."
OOC: Feel free to pose questions to Dr. Kurtzner.
