National Economy

By Mike Martini

The Administration's Stimulus Plan is the wrong package at the wrong time. Our best long-term economic policy is to invest in solid and sustained improvement of our education system.

Federal government fiscal policy dramatically impacts long-term economic cycles. But, here, the biggest impact is the deficit and the Federal debt. Accordingly, I believe we must postpone the balance of the tax cut package that was passed last year but has not yet gone into effect. We must not let the Federal budget return to deficit spending. The result of that is, among other negatives, a higher interest rate. And those higher rates quickly negate any supposed stimulus, which the Administration is seeking.

2) We must shift to a much stronger long-term support of Research and Development than we have been doing over the past administrations. Federal R&D investment has dropped significantly, and we must reverse that policy. Better technology in all fields is the key to steady productivity increases, which, in turn is the key to long-term economic health. It is also the key to a more responsible relationship to our environment.

3) Our best long-term economic policy is to invest in solid and sustained improvement of our education system. We must educate an ever-higher percentage of our population to ever-higher levels and deeper understanding. This will require substantially more money than we are now spending. However, we receive a many-fold return on investment in education. Pat Brown proved that in California decades ago. It's time we applied that lesson at the national level.