Letter to the Speaker of
the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate Transmitting the
Annual Economic Report of the President
To
the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate:
It
is with great pride in the accomplishments of the American people that I
present my eighth, and final, Economic Report of the President. When I took
office 8 years ago there was widespread doubt concerning the ability and
resolve of the
Today,
it is as if the world were born anew. Those who doubted the
resolve, and resilience, of the American people and economy doubt no more.
The tide of history, which some skeptics saw as ebbing inevitably away from
Western ideals of freedom of thought, expression, and enterprise, flows in our
direction. By strengthening our military posture and reaffirming our commitment
to the cause of freedom throughout the world, we have restored respect for
An
Historical Perspective
Barely
40 years have passed since the end of World War II, but how the world has
changed during that period. Man has walked on the Moon; products once
unimagined are now commonplace; goods once considered luxuries are now
necessities of life. Notwithstanding these enormous changes, the prime
historical reality of this period has been the rivalry between two competing
political and economic systems. One system operates by concentrating power in
the hands of the few, by limiting personal freedoms, and by centralizing
economic decisions. At its best, it is a system of state paternalism; at its
worst, one of tyranny.
The
other system believes that power emanates from the individual, not from the
state; that the function of government is to serve, not dictate to,
individuals. The great democracies recognize that political and economic freedom are indivisible; policies that threaten one of these
freedoms inevitably undermine the other. These two divergent systems have vied,
sometimes with words and sometimes with swords, for the hearts and minds of the
rest of the world.
At
the end of World War II the outcome of this competition was, to some, far from
certain. Many intellectuals, looking back upon the experience of the depression
in the interwar period, felt that the future was with communism. These people
felt that capitalism, with its emphasis on the individual and decentralized decisionmaking, could not cope with the complexity of a
modern economy. In the years that followed, some countries chose state planning
and state ownership over the alleged chaos of the marketplace, while many more
countries had this authoritarian system imposed upon them. Centralized control
was especially attractive for many newly emerging economies, which felt
themselves impoverished from, and were resentful of, their colonial experience.
These countries turned inward, to highly regulated economies that shunned open
markets and international trade as the path to prosperity, and instead sought
self-sufficiency.
Today,
few doubt which of these systems will emerge triumphant. Comparisons of
economies with common cultures and people, such as North and
Viewed
from the perspective of one who remembers well events of 40 years ago, the
prosperity that we enjoy today is extraordinary. The economic growth
experienced by countries that chose the path of economic and political freedom
is virtually unparalleled in human history. This economic success is
attributable to all nations that joined in pursuing market-oriented policies at
home and in reducing barriers to trade among nations.
Americans
can take a special pride in this postwar record. American aid to
The
Role of Government
As
I said in my first Inaugural Address, ``If we look to the answer as to why for
so many years we achieved so much, prospered as no other people on Earth, it
was because here in this land we unleashed the energy and individual genius of
man to a greater extent than has ever been done before.'' The central role of government
must be to nurture this genius, not to shackle it in a morass of regulations or
to tax away the incentives for innovation.
This
is not to deny that there are vital functions that a government must perform,
but it must always do so in the least intrusive and costly fashion. The guiding
philosophy of my Administration has been to leave to private initiative all
functions that individuals can effectively perform for themselves, and when
government action is necessary, to use the level of government closest to the
community for all the public functions it can effectively handle. Federal
Government action should be reserved only for those functions that require
national attention. In this way government will least interfere with private
incentives and will be most responsive to the wishes of the people it serves.
The
Federal Government, of necessity, must provide for the national defense. Only
through strength can we maintain peace and secure freedom and prosperity for
ourselves and all free nations. But we must ensure that our defense money is
spent wisely, not on pork-barrel projects, such as maintaining military bases
that are no longer necessary. This Administration, through its words and its
deeds, has shown its commitment to protecting the health and financial security
of our elderly. Similarly, the government must provide a safety net for the
Nation's poor, but is must do so in a way that promotes individual initiative.
Too often, government programs, created with the best of intentions, serve to
prolong, rather than eliminate, poverty.
There
are some limited circumstances in which government regulation of private
activity may be beneficial. Few would doubt that some rules are needed to
protect the Nation's water and air from pollution. However, it is imperative
that all such rules and regulations be based on sound economic principles that
minimize the intrusion on private decisions. Whether well or poorly designed,
whether aimed at worthy or dubious objectives, these rules have one thing in common:
They ``tax'' and ``spend'' billions of dollars of private funds, unconstrained
by public budget or appropriations controls.
The
main role of government is to provide a stable economic environment that allows
each individual to reach his or her full potential. Individuals and businesses
must be able to make long-run plans confident that the government will not
change the rules halfway through the game. Government's drain on the economy,
both through its use of resources that could be used more productively by the
private sector and through taxes that destroy individual incentives, must be
minimized. This Administration's long-term view of fiscal policy, which
abandoned the outmoded emphasis on fine-tuning the economy, has set the basis
for the record peacetime expansion we currently enjoy. This policy, in
conjunction with responsible monetary policy, has led to a sizable decrease in
both unemployment rates and inflation over the past 8 years. I am pleased to
say that my Administration is the first in more than a generation that can lay
claim to this accomplishment.
The
government's economic role in the international sphere should be similarly
circumspect. It is the primary responsibility of governments to promote sound
and stable financial markets that encourage international commerce and to
reduce barriers to trade at home and abroad. Reducing these barriers will allow
markets, not governments, to determine the goods that society produces. Too
often policies designed to preserve jobs in one industry reduce competitiveness
and employment in other industries. A creative, competitive
The
Record of the Past 8 Years
In
my first Inaugural Address I stated, ``The economic
ills we suffer have come upon us over several decades. They will not go away in
days, weeks, or months, but they will go away.'' After a shaky start,
necessitated by the sorry state of the economy in 1980, we now have a peacetime
economy entering an unprecedented 7th year of expansion. The length, strength,
and resilience of this expansion are ample testimony to the wisdom of the
policies that we have pursued.
During
this expansion, real GNP has risen by more than 4 percent a year, nearly double
the growth rate of the previous 8 years. The growth in employment and jobs has
been phenomenal; nearly 19 million nonagricultural jobs have been created
during this period, with nearly 3.5 million new jobs created in the first 11
months of 1988. Furthermore, this remarkable expansion has benefited all
segments of the population. While civilian employment has increased by more
than 17 percent, Hispanic employment has grown by more than 45 percent, black
employment by nearly 30 percent, and female employment by more than 20 percent.
The decline in unemployment rates is equally dramatic -- the overall
unemployment rate has been cut in half, down to levels not seen in 14 years.
And, assertions to the contrary, the jobs created are good ones; over 90
percent of the new jobs are full-time, and over 85 percent of these full-time
jobs are in occupations in which average annual salaries exceed $20,000.
Unlike
previous experiences, this expansion has been accomplished without
simultaneously fueling inflation. The average inflation rate during this
period, as measured by the GNP deflator, has been barely one-third the rate of
inflation that prevailed in 1980. The scourge of inflation, which served as a
hidden tax on the American people and diverted productive resources to
unproductive uses, has been brought under control here and in our major trading
partners. This, in turn, has led to a dramatic decline in interest rates,
which, while still high by historic standards, are far lower than they were in
January 1981. In short, we have achieved the objectives that eluded us during
the 1970s -- rapid economic growth and declining inflation rates.
This
record has been achieved not through alchemy, but by using that good
old-fashioned recipe of reducing the role of government. Too often the
government has sought to solve problems best left to the private sector; and
too often these solutions have had devastating side effects. We have at least
learned that more government is not the solution to our problem; often it is
the problem.
Our
New Beginning has restored personal incentives through a series of tax reforms
and tax cuts. These reforms have reduced the top Federal marginal income tax
rate to less than one-half the level that prevailed when we took office and
decreased tax liabilities at all income levels. The Tax Reform Act of 1986
improved efficiency by eliminating many tax preferences that distort private
decision-making. By reducing tax rates and tax loopholes, we have encouraged
people to make money the old-fashioned way -- by producing goods and services that people want, not by finding new ways to avoid
taxes. The tax reforms have increased equity as well, as an estimated 4 million
low-income individuals and families have been removed from the income tax rolls
by 1988. If imitation is the sincerest form of praise, then the fact that many
other major industrial powers have also cut their tax rates is praise indeed.
These
tax reforms, combined with regulatory reforms that will result in billions of
dollars of saving over this decade, have helped spur productivity growth. Since
1981, manufacturing productivity has grown at an average annual rate exceeding
4 percent, triple the rate for the preceding 8 years
and nearly 50 percent faster than that for the period 1948 - 73. This
productivity growth, combined with exchange-rate changes, has led to a surge in
We
have also made progress in reining in government expenditures, but much still
needs to be done. We have reduced the rate of growth of Federal spending, and
over the past 5 years government spending as a percent of GNP has fallen from
25.1 to 23.2 percent. Significant progress has also been made in reducing the
budget deficit, both in absolute terms and as a percent of GNP, but further
progress can be made only by reducing government spending. Tax increases would
only threaten the enormous progress that has been made so far.
Our
successes extend to the international sphere as well. The strong
The
Rather
than succumbing to protectionist pressures at home, we have vigorously combatted unfair trade barriers abroad. This was the first
Administration to seek, on its own initiative, changes in foreign trade
practices that harmed American business. These policies have helped reduce
foreign trade barriers and given American companies a chance to compete on equal
terms.
The
Challenges Ahead
As
proud as I am of these and many other accomplishments, I will be the first to
admit that the agenda is not yet completed. First, and foremost, is a need to
reform the budget process and to bring Federal spending under control. The large budget deficit that this Nation faces is
not a result of too few taxes, but too much spending. Strong economic growth
and the base-broadening effect of tax reform have led to sizable increases in
Federal receipts. According to current projections, these receipts will have
increased by over $375 billion between fiscal years 1981 and 1989, but spending
will have increased more rapidly -- by more than $450 billion over this 8-year
period. Projections indicate that Federal revenue will grow by more than $80
billion during the next fiscal year. All that is required to reduce the deficit
is to halt, or moderate, the increase in expenditures.
Gramm-Rudman-Hollings
is a first step toward bringing the deficit under control. However, further
progress toward reform of the budget process is needed. Under current practice,
funding for special-interest groups is combined with vital appropriations,
leaving the President the choice between vetoing the entire package or
accepting some funding that he knows is not in the national interest. To
prevent this waste of taxpayers' money, the President needs what governors
already have -- a line-item veto and enhanced rescission authority.
Moreover,
the current budget process places no real restraint on congressional
appropriations, because expanded spending on one program does not require
reduced spending on other programs. Too often the temptation is to raise taxes,
not lower spending. A law that requires a super majority of the Congress to
approve waivers of spending limits or tax limits would help ensure that
taxpayers' hard-earned dollars are spent wisely, and that the temptation to
increase tax burdens is resisted. Furthermore, reform of government credit
operations is required to limit new subsidies and to guarantee that the true
costs of these measures are not hidden from public scrutiny. These
reforms, together with the balanced budget amendment that I have repeatedly
endorsed, would guarantee the fiscal prudence that is needed to sustain the
dramatic expansion of the past 6 years. Limiting government expenditures
would also help stimulate the private investment that is required to ensure
that the next generation of Americans can look forward to the same increase in
living standards that previous generations have enjoyed.
Despite
the enormous progress we have already made in bringing down inflation, there is
still work to be done. Inflation is a hidden, insidious way of taxing the
American people. Price stability, not merely lowered inflation, is the key to
maintaining the vigor of the American economy and the strong international role
of the dollar. Stable, predictable monetary policy can provide the type of
price stability that benefits not only our own economy, but also provides
significant benefits to those developing countries that are so dependent upon
us.
Perhaps
most importantly, the challenge for the future is to maintain and expand upon
the progress we have made in taking economic decisions away from the government
and returning them to the private sector, where they properly belong.
Governments are notoriously bad at identifying ``industries of the future,''
and efforts to have the government formulate and implement industrial policy
must be strongly resisted. For decades, government policies throughout the
world have distorted agricultural production and trade. Adoption of our bold
proposal to phase out these policies in the
Conclusion
In
8 short years, we have reversed a 50-year trend of turning to the government
for solutions. We have relearned what our Founding Fathers knew long ago -- it
is the people, not the government, who provide the vitality and creativity that
make a great nation. Just as the first American Revolution, which began with
the shot heard 'round the world, inspired people everywhere who dreamed of
freedom, so has this second American revolution
inspired changes throughout the world. The message that we brought to
I
leave office secure in the knowledge that these policies have worked, and
confident that this great Nation will continue to lead the way toward freedom
and prosperity for all mankind.
Ronald
Reagan
The
White House,
Note: Identical letters
were sent to Jim Wright, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and George
Bush, President of the Senate.