The state of the economy is lousy. Businesses are scaling back their workforces left and right. IBM. General Motors. Xerox. TRW.
500,000 less homes were built this year (1991) than in 1988. 2.2 million less cars were sold. 1.7 more million people are out of work.
And as for the polls? According to a Time/CNN poll conducted November 26, 1991, only 46% of Americans approve of the way George Bush is handling his job as President. A paltry 18% think Bush is doing a good job of handling the economy.
Even more sobering for those who think government can do something about this crisis is that the estimated budget deficit for 1992 is $348 billion, more than twice the $155 billion deficit our country faced when Ronald Reagan left office three years ago.
What's to be done?
One solution is to shift more of the tax burden from middle and working class taxpayers to the wealthy, who can afford a slightly larger tax bite. Businesses are saying don't increase our corporate taxes, or else we'll cut back on jobs. But it's foolish to assume a minor increase in personal taxes for wealthy business owners would cause such financial ruin that their businesses would in turn be shut down. What harms business the most is a decrease in the demand for its products and services, caused by a loss of discretionary spending power by the broader middle and working classes.