Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/215766
JOURNAL FUEL SAVVY NORTH Energy policy would help solve many U.S. problems, says Jeb Bush AMERICA'S I MOST FUEL-EFFICIENT DRIVE SOLUTION. 1 Copyright ©2013 Michelin North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved. See ad at right for details. 18 13MTT7020 Text INFO to 205-289-3554 or visit www.ccjdigital.com/info 1 COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | DECEMBER 2013 f the U.S. economy were to grow at 3.5 percent per year, it would create $4 trillion by the 10th year – the equivalent of Germany's economy – and create more opportunity than government ever has accomplished and more revenue than any tax increase. Such growth – former two-term Florida Gov. Jeb Bush told attendees at the annual American Trucking Associations Management Conference & Exhibition in Orlando, Fla. – would be the answer to many U.S. economic woes. "You seldom hear anyone talk about how the U.S. could regain its footing through growth," Bush said. "It's all about economic fairness, support for people in poverty, but not about how to lift them out. We'd be a lot more optimistic if we were growing." Achieving such growth would require significant changes in policy, he said, noting that the country would have to deal with issues such as the cost of health care. "Obamacare isn't going to bend the cost curve down – probably the other way around," said Bush, who also called for personal and corporate tax reform. "If we simplified the code, it would create an unleashing of entrepreneurialism." Bush's three-pronged approach to spurring growth starts with what he calls "a patriotic energy policy" that would exploit U.S. resources. "We have 100 years of gas reserves, yet last year, $300 billion left our country without any economic benefit to us and went to other countries, some of whom hate us," he said. "The Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush discussed U.S. tax policy, great news is the U.S. is energy policy, education policy and economic growth the largest producer of at the American Trucking Associations' Management Conference & Exhibition in Orlando, Fla. oil and gas in the world today, and it could grow exponentially if we created a strategy around it." Bush called the combination of hydraulic fracking and horizontal drilling technology the "greatest innovation in America in the last generation," and said that while states such as North Dakota and Texas are creating economic opportunities around natural gas, states like California and New York are missing out. He called for approving the Keystone XL Pipeline, creating incentives for energy conservation and letting market forces decide where to invest. "Government-sponsored venture capital is an oxymoron," he said. Bush said his other two changes needed to grow the U.S. economy are immigration reform and a radical change in the education system. However, achieving the kind of growth that's possible with these initiatives requires leadership, he said, encouraging the audience to "use whatever influence you have to challenge every elected official that the broader good has to outweigh special interests." – Linda Longton