[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 7 (Thursday, January 17, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H297-H298]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       ECONOMIC FORECAST CLOUDY?

  (Mr. POE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. POE. Madam Speaker, economic forecasters are similar to the 
weather forecasters: they are the only people who can consistently be 
wrong about their predictions and keep their jobs, and we listen to 
them anyway.
  The doom-and-gloom economic nay-sayers have predicted for years that 
the economy is in trouble, but the last years of economic growth have 
proved them wrong. Now this year, they say we are headed for a fearful 
recession. Well, we shall see.

[[Page H298]]

  In any event, some of these pseudoeconomic forecasters say we need to 
increase taxes to stimulate the economy. Well, that makes no sense. In 
fact, we ought to do just the opposite. We need to make the tax cuts 
permanent because tax cuts historically prove they work. They work to 
stimulate the economy. They did so under Presidents Kennedy, Reagan, 
and Bush. Americans need to keep more of their own money, and the 
economy will prosper. And who benefits from tax cuts? Anybody that pays 
taxes benefits from tax cuts. Americans who don't pay taxes are not 
affected.
  Cut the fraud and abuse in the Federal bureaucracies, cut wasteful 
spending, and cut taxes to bring a sunny forecast to our economy.
  And that's just the way it is.

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