Statement by Newt Gingrich on August Zero Job Growth

Class Warfare and Bureaucratic Socialism Fail Again

Zero jobs created in August. No relief for the 25 million who are unemployed, underemployed or who have given up looking for work.

And the president thinks he's "frustrated?"

As we mark Labor Day, this bad news is especially poignant, but it's also not surprising.

Stagnant economic growth is the inevitable result of President Obama's commitment to class warfare and bureaucratic socialism.

The president routinely demonizes successful Americans, arguing they need to be punished with higher taxes. Is it any wonder that entrepreneurs are hesitant to invest, create new wealth and jobs?

This administration has issued one job killing regulation after another. Laws like Obamacare and Dodd-Frank are so complex and confusing that businesses can't predict their costs for the coming years. With so much uncertainty, is it any wonder businesses aren't hiring?

There is a better way – a proven way.

As a junior congressman, I worked with Jack Kemp and Ronald Reagan to develop and then pass the Kemp-Roth tax cuts. And rather than casting successful Americans as the enemy of working Americans, Ronald Reagan praised the American entrepreneur as the cornerstone of our country's success. The result was an unprecedented economic boom that created 25 million new jobs.

To put the difference between the Reagan Recovery and the continued Obama Depression in visual terms, here is a chart comparing the results of Reagan's Kemp-Roth tax cuts and Obama's big government stimulus:



Real leadership doesn't inherit a bad economy. It fixes it.

As Speaker of the House, remembering the success of Ronald Reagan's policies, I led a bipartisan coalition that cut taxes, reduced regulations and reformed government. The result was a drop in the unemployment rate to 4.2% from 5.4%. We also balanced the federal budget for the first time in twenty years.

Today, my Jobs and Prosperity Plan, introduced during the first week of my candidacy, is modeled after the same Reagan/Contract with America playbook: lower taxes, deregulation, and more American energy.

Read my Jobs and Prosperity Plan at Newt.org.

On Thursday, we will get to hear the president's plan to get us out of the mess he helped create. We will find out whether he has learned from history and given up his commitment to class warfare and bureaucratic socialism in favor of liberating American entrepreneurs to do what they do best – create jobs.

Either way, I want you to know that I will continue offering leadership now, advocating for the right policies now for job creation now. That is my commitment to America. And I want to thank you for standing with me.

Your friend,

Newt