Jerry Moran: “This is a wealthy country. Corporate profits are at record highs. By the end of last year, the private sector was…”

“This is a wealthy country. Corporate profits are at record highs. By the end of last year, the private sector was expanding at a healthy 4.5 percent annualized pace. But why, then, wasn't economic growth in the most recent quarter even better than the 2.8 percent that the Commerce Department reported last week? As David Leonhardt of The New York Times explains, the answer is because the economy is the combination of the private and public sectors. The public sector has been shrinking for the last 1\1/2\ years because of cuts in State and local governments and some Federal cuts, especially to the military. In the fourth-quarter government shrank at an annual rate of 4.5 percent. Over the last 2 years, the private sector grew at an average annual rate of 3.2 percent while the government shrank at an annual rate of 1.4, and the combined result was that economic growth was 2.3%. That's a lot of numbers. But the fact is economic growth and employment growth would have been significantly stronger over the last 2 years without those government cuts. And that's why we shouldn't be continuing to discourage Federal employment by continuing to freeze their pay, as the majority wants to do today. And it's why we shouldn't be letting unemployment benefits expire for 6 million people. It's why we should let the Bush tax cuts expire. It's a far better alternative than cutting trillions of dollars more in public spending. ____________________”