On the recordJuly 21, 2010
Yes. Well, if you recall, in 2001, the Republicans inherited a recession. So they had to do something about it. As President Bush was running for office the first time, he said, what we've got to do is cut taxes and cut spending. So what they did was we cut taxes three different times in different ways. Those taxes, because of the way the Senate worked, they were going to go along until 2011, so it was a 10-year tax cut. At 2011, the taxes were going to revert back to the way they were at 2001 when we were in the middle of a big recession. So we did those tax cuts, particularly a tax cut in 2003 or so, and that was dividends and capital gains. What that did by cutting those things, we allowed those businessmen to invest in their own business. And we saw employment jump up. We saw the economy jump up. And ironically by cutting taxes, the Federal Government raised more money than they had when the taxes were higher. And that worked fine. So now with the economy in the pits, what we're going to do is raise these taxes, which is just plain crazy. I don't know how long we have to stand on the floor and say, look, the idea of continuing to spend and tax is not what's going to create jobs.
