Friday, April 16, 2004
|
Friday, April 16, 2004 |
|
Economic guru offers advice to businessmenBy JOHN THOMPSON One of the nation’s top economists told some of Fayette and Coweta’s business leaders Thursday that the nation’s economy has “turned the corner.” Larry Lindsey, who served as President Bush’s chief economic adviser, appeared at the Fayette County Chamber of Commerce’s monthly breakfast to offer his perspective on a variety of issues. Lindsey, who now runs his own consulting business, said the Bush administration’s policies have gone a long way in repairing the broken economy. “The ‘90s felt great, but it was a bubble that burst, just like Japan’s economy in the ‘80s and America’s in the ‘20s,” he said. As he addressed the business leaders on tax day, Lindsey said there was good news about taxes. He explained that tax freedom day was now April 11. That’s the date workers start working for themselves, instead of the government, he said. “Under the ‘old guys’, it was May 2,” he said. Lindsey also told the group what it was like to be in the White House Sept.11. Lindsey, along with Congressional candidate Dylan Glenn, watched the first plane hit the World Trade Center, and thought it was an accident. But after the second plane hit, they heard a chilling request. “We heard the Secret Service men yell, ‘Run, run, there’s an incoming plane,’” he said. After the terrorist attacks, Lindsey said he was one of the advisers pressing President Bush for a “bailout” of the airlines. “Some people were arguing that this was a free-market economy, but I just didn’t see how you could have an economy without the airline industry,” he said. Terrorism is an economic issue, and Linsey applauds the President’s actions in Iraq because the country was consorting with Al-Qaeda. On the issue of taxes, Lindsey favors a far simpler tax code, and one that is more fair. After Lindsey’s speech, he chatted with some of the business owners and emphasized that Bush’s tax cuts were one of the main reasons the economy had finally turned the corner.
| ||