Gingrich Campaign Press Release - While Romney Ignores the Fed, Gingrich Offers Bold Reforms
Weak growth, large deficits and reckless monetary policy at the Federal Reserve have substantially weakened every dollar in our pockets. Over the last decade, the Fed has printed new money at breakneck speed, so now a dollar in 2011 only buys what 76 cents did in 2000. Additionally, the Fed's secret bailouts, artificially low interest rates, and attempts to manipulate the economy through printing money have devastated the housing market and distorted business decision-making, only prolonging our employment crisis.
The remedy for this is robust economic growth, balanced budgets, and an end to the irresponsible and opaque policies of Ben Bernanke's Federal Reserve.
Newt Gingrich's Jobs and Prosperity Plan, released in May, and Gingrich's plan to reform the Federal Reserve, released in June, propose bold reforms that will empower job-creators, balance the budget, and dramatically limit the role of the Federal Reserve. These plans are now both part of the 21st Century Contract with America.
Additionally, Gingrich will demand a full audit and more transparency at the Fed, to ensure that the Fed can never again repeat the mistakes of 2008 and make thousands of secret loans to banks and other large institutions for reasons that are not entirely clear.
Mitt Romney's 160-page plan for the economy only proposes tentative tax reform, and does not make a single mention of what he would do to improve transparency and responsibility at the Fed – if he would do anything at all.
| Gingrich | Romney | Verdict: Gingrich Plan Better |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's Performance |
Replace Bernanke immediately |
Unclear |
Gingrich believes that Bernanke's policies of picking winners and losers in secret bailouts, and shrinking the value of the dollar through artificially low interest rates have been disastrous for our economy; Bernanke would be replaced immediately. The Romney economic plan makes no mention of the Federal Reserve. Gov. Romney applauded Bernanke in April, saying, "I think Ben Bernanke is a student of monetary policy. He's doing as good a job as he thinks he can do in the Federal Reserve." He then said in September that he "wouldn't keep Bernanke in office." |
| Oversight of the Federal Reserve | Conduct a thorough and comprehensive audit | Unclear |
The Gingrich plan will increase transparency of monetary policy, and does not settle for a partial audit of the Federal Reserve. It will seek a thorough and comprehensive understanding of the decisions made between 2007 and 2010, why the Fed decided to print hundreds of billions more dollars, and why some institutions received massive bailouts and others did not. The Romney economic plan makes no mention of the Federal Reserve. |
| The Federal Reserve's "Dual Mandate" | Return to a single mandate of price stability |
Unclear |
The Gingrich plan will remove the Fed's dual mandate: maximum employment and stable prices. These two goals are incompatible, as the same policies that the Fed uses to try to force job and economic growth are also the mechanisms that most dangerously weaken the value of the dollar by promoting inflation. The Gingrich Federal Reserve will only be responsible for promoting a stable dollar, and will leave economic policy to elected officials. The Romney economic plan makes no mention of the Federal Reserve. |
| Restoring Robust American Exports | A comprehensive plan of tax cuts and regulatory changes to empower American manufacturers | Incremental reforms |
We can have both a strong dollar while also rebuilding our manufacturing sector. The Gingrich plan advances a bold new vision of limited government that frees American businesses to produce, export and create jobs: Cutting the corporate income tax by 2/3, ending capital gains taxes for job-creators, and replacing the EPA.
The Romney Plan moves in incremental steps, and will still leave American job-creators with some of the highest income and capital gains tax burdens in the developed world. |
| Trade with China | Economic growth at home is the key to restoring a balanced trade relationship |
High tariffs on goods that Americans buy |
The Gingrich plan understands that the key to restoring a balanced trade relationship with China is improving our business climate at home.
The Romney plan will obstruct free trade with China, which will ultimately suppress our exports and also make products more expensive for Americans. |
Click here for a side-by-side comparison of Gingrich and Romney's tax plans.
Click here for a side-by-side comparison of Gingrich and Romney's manufacturing plans.
Newt Gingrich, Gingrich Campaign Press Release - While Romney Ignores the Fed, Gingrich Offers Bold Reforms Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/298603