[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 301]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            TODAY'S ECONOMY

  (Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, while home for Christmas, I 
reflected on the economic challenges America faces and the parallels 
today's economy has with the one Ronald Reagan inherited from Jimmy 
Carter in 1981. Both were characterized by high unemployment and low 
labor-force participation.
  I will paraphrase some of what President Reagan said in first 
Inaugural address:

       Idle industries have cast workers into unemployment, 
     causing human misery and personal indignity. Those who do 
     work are denied a fair return for their labor by a tax system 
     which penalizes successful achievement and keeps us from 
     maintaining full productivity.
       For decades, we have piled deficit upon deficit, mortgaging 
     our future and our children's future for the temporary 
     convenience of present.

  By the end of Ronald Reagan's Presidency, America's unemployment rate 
was 5.4 percent and our economy was the envy of the world. It is time 
we learn from history. As President Reagan said, Government is the 
problem. Individuals, free from the heavy hand of Big Government to 
pursue their dreams, they create prosperity. It is time we revisit the 
simple, sacred truth.

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