Byron Dorgan: “The year before the last recession, 35 of the 40 leading economists in this country said next year will be a year of…”

“The year before the last recession, 35 of the 40 leading economists in this country said next year will be a year of economic growth. The point is the same point the Senator from Illinois made. We don't know what is going to happen in the future. The field of economics is a little psychology pumped up with a lot of helium. I say that having taught economics. We don't know what is going to happen in the future. Alan Greenspan, who is canonized in a book, couldn't tell 7 months in advance what was going to happen to this economy. So we don't know what is going to happen in the future, and we would be very wise to be cautious. There is room to provide a tax cut, and we should do that. At the same time, we ought to be cautious enough to understand that while we provide a tax cut, and one that is fair to working families in this country, we ought not lock ourselves into a situation that could cut off economic growth and opportunity in the future. How would we cut it off? By sinking right back into the same deficit ditch we were in before. What will happen if we do that? We will see higher interest rates, economic growth slowing, fewer opportunities, and fewer jobs. In the last 8 years, we have had over 22 million new jobs created. The 4 years previous to that, when we had growing deficits, higher interest rates, and economic trouble all around us, we saw one of the worst periods of job growth in history. This is a very important economic decision we are making.”