It’s easy for someone sitting in an academic ivory tower to decide that a recession is over, but try telling that to the almost 15 million Americans out of work. Personally, I won’t be convinced until I see the unemployment rate go down significantly. And I don’t believe that Americans who have been affected by the economic downturn will be convinced either. The NBER can cite all the statistics they want – but until we start sending more paychecks and less unemployment checks, the recession is on.

Families all over America are struggling to provide for their children, worrying about keeping their home and finding a job. Those Americans who haven’t been directly affected by unemployment have family members or friends or neighbors who are struggling. Each one of us has been affected in some way.

It’s time for the President to level with the American people and admit that his economic policies have failed (which may be why three of his top economic advisers have recently stepped down) and that he will develop a new plan, working with both political parties and listening to the American people.

I’m fighting to make certain I’m part of the team that will work to get our economy going and get Floridians and Americans back to work. Join our campaign team and support my efforts to be your voice in Washington.

Cross posted at Nugent for Congress.com

At last week’s news conference the President did finally admit that economic progress is “painfully slow” and that voters may blame him for the economy. But he continued to point the finger at former President Bush for the problems with the economy. In Cleveland last week the President even went so far as to blame the Bush tax cuts for the severe recession.

Perhaps it’s time to remind President Obama that Bush tax cuts led to creation of more than eight million new jobs in the first four and a half years, and that the unemployment rate dropped to 4.6 percent.

Perhaps it’s also time to remind the President that economists are pretty united in blaming the economy’s problems on the housing-bubble and credit event.

The President and his liberal allies in Washington have no successes at which to point, so they’ve decided on a strategy of “blame.” That tactic isn’t going to work with the American people. They are much too smart to fall for the blame game.

As I travel all across our District, I hear firsthand what has people so frustrated — it’s the Obama agenda of big government, out of control spending, cash for clunkers, cash for caulkers and tax credits for people who probably shouldn’t even be thinking of buying a home right now. And let’s not forget the never ending mortgage default help, government-union bailouts for the states, General Motors, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and of course, the giant in the room – Obamacare.

Americans believe that the government has wasted trillions of dollars that we don’t have – and they are right!

Cross Posted at Rich Nugent For Congress.com

There are a lot of issues that Democrats are trying to run away from as they campaign in their home districts and states.  You probably won’t hear much talk about the health care law – they know the people don’t like it and don’t want it.  You can also bet that they won’t talk much about the fact that President Obama and the Democrats have increased the deficit to three times what it was under President Bush.

But Democrats are planning an “after election surprise” for the American people.  You can be sure the Democrats won’t tell you that on January 1, 2011, your taxes are going up.  Right now, the only thing Democrats will say publicly is that they are  ”allowing the Bush tax cuts” to expire.  When those tax cuts expire, the tax rates for all Americans will go up.  If we have learned one lesson from the past, it is that raising taxes in the midst of a recession will only hinder our precarious economic recovery.

The Democrats are pretty good at spinning the issues to suit their ideology.  But there is one thing they can’t do and that is spin the facts.  The American people are paying close attention to the economy and the national debt.  Democrats can try to convince people that they have discovered a new calling – that of fiscal responsibility.  But Americans know better.  In two years, Democrats in Congress, at the urging of the Obama Administration have passed a trillion dollar stimulus that was hugely wasteful, and have added a new health care entitlement that most Americans did not want and cannot afford.

If the Bush Tax Cuts are permitted to expire, the resulting tax increase will stifle any hopes of new job growth and will crush our economic recovery.  In fact, the damage done will strongly outweigh any presumed boost in tax revenues.

American businesses are sitting on an estimated $2 trillion in cash – money that could be spent hiring more workers, funding new projects or paying out dividends to investors.  But they aren’t going to spend that money until they have a clearer picture of what the federal government plans on doing over the next five years and how that will affect their businesses.  With weak demand for goods and services, uncertainty over new regulations and mounting costs associated with the requirements of newly passed legislation; it is easy to see how the Administration’s “Recovery Summer” turned into the recovery that never happened.

Cross Posted at Nugent For Congress.com