OPINION:
In May, as widely reported, the unemployment rate fell from 14.7% to 13.3%, as the economy created 2.5 million new jobs in that one month, instead of the 8.3 million job loss economists predicted. That was a swing of well over 10 million jobs that one month. Good morning V-shaped recovery.
No wonder the stock markets rejoiced and rebounded. The Tax Reform and Jobs Act of 2017 is producing bountifully for our nation once again, and it will continue to do so, unless we turn the nation over to Joe Biden and company, who promise to repeal the Tax Reform and Jobs Act if given the opportunity.
Mr. Biden is proposing the biggest tax increase in history, raising tax rates for corporations, small businesses and workers. Democrats cannot understand that cutting taxes for American corporations from the highest in the world back down to average is where all the jobs came from, setting record low unemployment and record high middle-class wages and incomes.
Mr. Biden is running now on the biggest tax increase in American history. What happened the last time Democrats ran for president vowing a tax increase? Are the American people as wise today as in 1984, when Walter Mondale took only one state running against the reelection of Ronald Reagan? Or as wise as in 1968, when riots in the streets led to the election of Richard Nixon for two terms.
One component of our work force which did not recover in May, but remained at 16.8%: Black unemployment, which was at a record low 6.2% a year ago. But as more “blue states” with Democratic governors return to work, the Black job rate is likely to increase. And that’s what matters — everyone benefitting from Tax Reform again.
Then came the George Floyd protests, fed by continuing questionable police conduct in various cities, leading to heretofore unheard of responses, such as the Seattle City Council’s withdrawal of police authority in one of its major neighborhoods.
What was the natural response of the business owners in that area? Close up the businesses, board up the buildings to keep the looters out, end any economic activity on the streets, and send the employees home permanently. Whose businesses and employees? Blacks and other minorities, who predominate in inner city areas. When they face a break in or an attack in that area, who do the businesses call?
The police have evacuated and do not respond. Since when is this better for America? When will we restore order and common sense?
As Jason Riley wrote in the The Wall Street Journal last Wednesday, “Most black people know that George Floyd is no more representative of blacks than Derek Chauvin is of police officers. They know that the frequency of black encounters with law enforcement has far more to do with black crime rates than with racially biased policing. They know that young black men have far more to fear from their peers than from the cops. And they know that rioters are opportunists, not revolutionaries.”
Meanwhile, as the Tax Reform and Jobs Act begins to restore the America we were enjoying as recently as last January — before COVID-19 — what about the restoration of Black jobs and businesses?
It’s time for the funders of BLM, Antifa and other groups that are seeking to undermine our nation to be identified, held accountable and stopped dead in their tracks from corrupting our America. These are truly alien forces at work in our nation.
A recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll confirmed that 80% of Americans think our nation is out of control. We must go back to civility and common sense.
Restoring order, police protection (with appropriate reform of officer conduct and accountability) and business as usual (with coronavirus precautions) must be our nation’s focus. That will assure our economic revival will be shared more equally with Black employees and business owners, as well as other minorities.
As Mr. Riley concluded in The Wall Street Journal, “Unsafe neighborhoods retard upward mobility, and poorly policed neighborhoods are less safe. A conversation that doesn’t acknowledge that reality is hardly worth having.”
• Lewis K. Uhler is founder and chairman of the National Tax Limitation Committee and Foundation. Peter J. Ferrara is a senior policy adviser for the foundation and teaches economics at Kings College in New York.
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