Source: United States Senator for Florida Marco Rubio
True ‘COVID Relief’ Demands a New Economic Consensus
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL)
January 16, 2022
Real Clear Politics
The United States is experiencing an economic crisis … [, and] the pandemic is only partly to blame. The current crisis is also the result of incompetent leadership and failed economic policy.
First and foremost on working families’ minds today is the fact that inflation is through the roof. The shocks to supply and demand caused by COVID, together with literally trillions of dollars of government spending, are increasing prices at the highest rate since 1982…
This was not an accident. From the moment he assumed office, President Biden made the decision to pump free money into our economy under the pretense of “COVID relief.” … And the Federal Reserve Board, led by Biden appointee Jerome Powell, made anintentional decision to let inflation creep ever higher.
Meanwhile, the global supply chains scrambled in 2020 have yet to recover. As a result, certain manufactured materials are in short supply across the country…
This isn’t just the fault of the coronavirus, because supply chains were unnecessarily vulnerable from the beginning. … For decades, our nation’s elites have prioritized efficiency and corporate profits above all else. … [Their] gains have been at the cost of millions of American manufacturing jobs, as well as the resilience of our economy.
…
What can we do to avert the ongoing crisis?
The first step toward halting inflation is to stop doing the very thing that’s causing it. … The president and the Federal Reserve need to stop flooding the market with free money and restrict government spending to targeted programs that actually help businesses stay open and become more productive.
To address our supply chain problems, we need to bring production closer to home…
The government can directly incentivize innovation and development in key industries, too. Operation Warp Speed is proof that properly targeted government incentives can pay dividends for our nation. … We should take a similarly aggressive approach to promote development in rare-earth minerals, advanced robotics, artificial intelligence, and other key industries that the Chinese Communist Party seeks to dominate.
…Turning the corner from this crisis will mean changing course — adopting a new fiscal policy and placing far more value on domestic industry.
This won’t be easy, but when it comes to building up our nation’s resilience, we have significant ground to make up — which means we cannot get started soon enough.
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