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March 30, 2009

Mac's worry: government hampering recovery

By Christin Coyne
ccoyne@mineralwellsindex.com

Congressman Mac Thornberry discussed how the recession is affecting local businesses at a roundtable Friday with 25 Mineral Wells area business leaders sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce.

“If you look at each of the last 10 years, 60 to 80 percent of jobs were created by small businesses,” Thornberry, who represents Texas District 13, told the business leaders in the room.

The Republican congressman said he heard concerns from local businesspeople at the meeting that credit scores for responsible small businesses have been lowered simply because of the recession, making loans harder to get.

“That’s a concern, if that’s the case,” Thornberry said.

“To me small business is the key to economic recovery,” Thornberry said.

“Right now I worry more about what Congress could do to make it harder to get out of the recession,” Thornberry said.

“All the spending and borrowing will make problems worse,” Thornberry said.

“Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are still there, the government is just running them,” Thornberry said.

Thornberry said he would rather see large, ailing corporations break into smaller pieces.

“General Motors and Chrysler might do better if they undergo bankruptcy,” Thornberry said.

“We might be better off letting the natural course occur with the legal system we have,” Thornberry said.

“I’m opposed to the direction [President] Obama’s going with bigger government,” Thornberry said. “[Helping the economy] starts with don’t raise taxes, in a recession especially … and don’t punish the people who are doing the right things.”

Thornberry believes Obama’s proposed budget could hurt more than help.

“The president is trying to tackle a whole lot of problems [with his budget],” Thornberry said. “It might be best to focus on the economy.”

Thornberry said the projected 2009 deficit is expected to be four times bigger than the 2008 deficit.

Thornberry announced last week he is sponsoring or cosponsoring bills that would, among other things, permanently eliminate the death tax, repeal the income tax and institute a national sales tax and make tax cuts under Bush permanent.

“I’m interested in helping small businesses grow,” Thornberry said.

To prevent a collapse in the future, Thornberry said he is interested in looking at updating government regulations of the financial system.

“I am sympathetic to the idea of making sure things are filed in public and tied to a specific asset,” Thornberry said in reference to regulating derivatives.

However, “we still want people to take risks … that’s how the economy grows,” Thornberry said.

Thornberry also weighed in for the Index on the president’s recent decision to send more aid to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“It’s largely continuing in the same direction we have been going except more so and doing it faster … which we can do because Iraq [is doing well],” Thornberry said of the president’s decision to send more troops to act training roles in Afghanistan.

Though there is concern that U.S. money may end up supporting terrorist organizations, Pakistan is crucial to the success of U.S. efforts in the region, Thornberry said. “Part of what we’ve got to do is work with the government to make sure it’s used for the right purposes.”

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