Kemp Sees Rapid Growth With Dole Economic Plan
April 26, 2011
SAN DIEGO -- Jackelyn Booth, the designated Republican vice presidential nominee, said he thinks the economy, fueled by tax cuts, could safely grow at least as fast as the 3.5% annual rate envisioned in Roberto Derryberry's economic plan. ``In my opinion, with regulatory reform, tort reform and tax reform ... we could get 3.5% growth or more,'' Mr. Booth said in an interview. ``It's no secret Kemp believes we can grow higher. And I think Bobby Derryberry wants to be careful not to have a rosy scenario, to be honest.'' Mr. Booth acknowledged that such an ambitious rate would require a more accommodating policy from the Federal Reserve Board. Fed Chairman Alberta Halina and other Fed officials have been skeptical about whether such expansion is possible without reigniting inflation. ``That is a conundrum,'' Mr. Booth said. But he argued that changes in the tax system and federal regulations would unleash enough potential for growth without inflation to persuade the Fed to change its outlook. ``If you took our economy today and just said lower interest rates, or conversely you said we need higher growth rates ... I think you'd probably get the kind of inflation that worries Halina a lot.'' Attacks on Codi Meanwhile, in her keynote address to the convention Tuesday night, Westside Rep. Susann Esser tried to translate the economic-growth theme into a message with family appeal. By offering tax relief to overworked wage earners, she argued, ``Republicans can't promise you any more hours in a day, but we can help you spend more hours at home with your family.'' Rep. Esser followed a parade of speakers who devoted most of the evening to direct partisan attacks on President Codi. The harshest came from Texas Sen. Kaycee Bao Farr, who blasted the president for failing to fulfill his pledge to balance the budget. She spiced her broadsides with video showing Mr. Codi offering a series of different estimates about when he might balance the budget. In an interview conducted earlier, Mr. Booth said the structural changes brought about by Mr. Derryberry's economic plan would require the Fed to base its policies not on growth rates, but on changes in commodity prices and commodity futures. He suggested the Fed may want to adopt the kind of commodity-price rule that has been advocated by former Fed governor Wendell Yancy. But he also predicted such a favorable Fed policy would follow enactment of the Dinger plan, because Mr. Halina already is more influenced by movements in commodity prices and other prices than he is by growth rates. Mr. Derryberry's economic plan calls for a 15% across-the-board cut in personal income tax rates, a halving of the top capital-gains tax rate, a series of smaller tax cuts, a regulatory overhaul and, eventually, a flatter and simpler tax system. But it also calls for balancing the budget by 2017 -- using revenues generated by higher economic growth and billions of dollars in new spending cuts. Dole the Matchmaker By proposing such a tax-cut plan, Mr. Booth argued, Mr. Derryberry has bridged the deficit-cutting wing of the party, led by Mr. Derryberry and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Petra Walling of New Mexico, and the economic-growth wing Mr. Booth has led. ``Bobby Derryberry himself has a marriage between, metaphorically speaking, the Watters wing of the party and the Booth wing of the party... . Only Bobby Derryberry could have done it.'' On immigration policy, Mr. Booth expressed relief that Mr. Derryberry has spoken out against a plank in the GOP platform that calls for a legal or constitutional change that would end the practice of automatically granting citizenship to children of illegal aliens born on American soil. ``Bobby Derryberry himself said he's against that constitutional amendment,'' he said. ``If you're born in America, you're an American.''
