Tom Harkin: “That's because the economic assumptions made by both sides are faulty. The Congressional Budget Office forecast is for…”

“That's because the economic assumptions made by both sides are faulty. The Congressional Budget Office forecast is for 2.3 percent annual growth for the seven-year period; the administration's is for 2.5 percent annual growth. Both forecasts are undoubtedly wrong. That is not their greatest sin, however, because all forecasts are wrong, especially when they go beyond next year. Their greatest sin is to accept, and implicitly condemn, the United States to our present growth rate. Let me repeat that. What Mr. Rohatyn said is that to forecast and to set our policies based upon 2.3 percent or 2.5 percent growth for several years, that is not the greatest sin, he says, he stated the greatest sin is to accept and implicitly condemn the United States to our present growth rate. Despite Wall Street's love affair with slow growth, the vast majority of the business community believes this to be far short of the economy's real capacity for noninflationary growth, as well as being inadequate to meet the Nation's private and public investment needs.”