Issues

MURPHY’S ECONOMIC LAWS

• American workers must keep more of what they earn.

• American businesses must be viewed by our government as customers to be sought after and retained, not pawns to be vilified every election, taxed and regulated out of the country, and litigated to death by trial attorneys. The information age demands this type of relationship between government and citizens/businesses.

• All governments should be required by law to balance their budgets and live within their means.

• The American economy should implement a flat income tax of 10 - 15%.

• America needs to develop domestic supplies of energy to include renewable sources.

• American workers need Private Retirement Savings accounts, along with privately owned Medical Savings Accounts.

• America needs to abolish the AMT, and all estate and death taxes. When God calls you home from this life, the IRS does not need to follow you.

• Before American workers reach retirement age, they should be entitled, one time in their working adult lives, to work one calendar year tax free from federal income taxes.

  Many Americans today are feeling insecure in regard to our economy. The sub-prime mortgage problem, a cyclical adjustment in the housing industry, high oil prices, and a slowing economic growth rate are contributing to Americans feeling a bit gloomy.

  As this campaign for New Jersey’s 3rd Congressional District progresses, I want the voter to know a few things about me:

  • Throughout my working adult life, I have experienced income interruption on a regular basis. Being involved in small business for over 16-years has its rewards, but it also has very difficult times financially. I know firsthand the stress, debt, headaches, and struggles middle-class America faces every day. I understand fully how a mountain of debt, with no income, affects you. These circumstances make life miserable, and soon thereafter, your disposition and outlook on life follow suit. I believe it is important that the Republican Party nominate someone who can understand, based on experience, the economic concerns Americans have today. I can easily identify with the middle-class concerned about economic security.

  • I am 42 years old and it is 2008. The last time I had health insurance was 20 years ago in 1988, with the exception of New Jersey’s auto insurance requirement of PIP coverage. I have worked most of my adult life without health insurance (please do not confuse health insurance with health care; they are two very different things).

  • I am 42 years old, and I have not purchased a home yet. I left home at the age of 17 to enlist in the U.S. Navy, and I have rented ever since.

  My general point here is that my democrat opponent would be denied from saying that I was a ‘rich republican’ out of touch with middle-class America. Nominating me would remove this weapon from the democrat arsenal in November. With the economy on the minds of so many Americans, nominating me gives us a candidate who easily connects with middle-class voters. With this as a pretext, I offer you the following:

  Our economy, whether or not we are experiencing a period of contraction, or growth, is the most successful economy in the history of human existence. Despite this fact, I know as well as any one, that many Americans go through tough times. I am one of you; the struggling middle-class. If elected to Congress, I will advocate pro-growth economic policies so each of us has a bigger piece of America’s economic pie. Specifically:

  • Development of our own domestic energy supplies. We can add trillions of dollars to our national economy, create tens-of-thousands of high paying union blue collar jobs, and end our dependence on foreign sources of energy if we develop our own sources right here at home. In shale deposits in America’s west, we have three times the amount of proven oil reserves than is located in Saudi Arabia. This is a stunning statistic. We are choking our middle-class economically by not developing these resources. We are sending over $100 a barrel of oil overseas to countries that train and harbor terrorists. This madness must stop, and it must stop now. We can easily say to future generations of Americans that there are high-paying blue-collar jobs for you, but only if we change the direction Washington is headed.

  • Scrap the current tax code and replace it with a flat tax of 15% sliding down to 10% after a few years implementing the new system. The reason we are the most successful civilization in human history is that we allow people to innovate, create, develop new technologies, and keep what they rightfully earn. I will be a Congressman who promotes policies that reward the above, not punishes them. This will allow America to remain competitive in the 21st century global economy. It is vitally important that our tax and fiscal policies promote entrepreneurship, technological advancement, and economic growth predicated on empowerment of the individual, not the centralized national government. Simplifying our tax code will allow our economy to grow, attract capital and businesses, and therefore provide the economic opportunity all Americans deserve, the economic security our middle-class deserves, and the social mobility our working poor deserve.

  • To put Washington’s fiscal house in order, we need to create a Grace Commission, structured like the successful BRAC, to identify and remove the waste, fraud, and abuse that pervades so many federal agencies and budgets. The American taxpayer has seen billions upon billions of their hard earned tax dollars wasted by the federal government. This is nothing less than a crime. I want to go to Washington to protect the taxpayer from further abuse. The BRAC successfully streamlined the Department of Defense’s budget, and actual size. We need to apply this proven model for reducing government expenditures ASAP. The taxpayer has waited long enough for responsible government. This will be a priority of mine as your Congressman.

  • Allow every American to start a private savings account for their retirement. We can do this by allowing American workers to take a small portion, maybe 1% or 2% of their payroll tax, and invest it in safe and secure government bonds, low-risk stocks, etc. This would allow working families across America to participate and receive the benefits of our stock market. If ExxonMobil earns billions of dollars in profits, I believe American citizens should be able to also benefit by owning ExxonMobil stock. This plan would allow millions of middle class Americans to enjoy the benefits of an ever-growing stock market. Retirements would become more financially secure. These wealth instruments could be left to heirs, thereby creating and transferring wealth to family members. The “third world country” of Chile, privatized their entire pension system. The results were an outstanding success: Their national savings rate increased, standards of living increased, retirements were more financially secure than before. My plan only contemplates privatizing a small portion of the payroll tax. There is no risk with allowing American workers to take a small portion OF THEIR HARD EARNED MONEY and invest it in Microsoft stock for their retirement. Not only would we realize the same benefits as Chile, but we would empower individuals to control their own economic destiny. What younger generations are being deprived of is criminal. We need to structurally change our outlook on retirement income for Americans, and retirement Savings Accounts is the answer.

  • A balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Deficit spending is permissible only in a time of national emergency where our national security is threatened. Government must live within its means.

    We have to be cautious when developing policies to solve America’s economic problems. I believe Congress should focus on long term strategies for economic growth and competitiveness. We must avoid the call by liberal vote seeking politicians to socialize our lives by giving more and more control of our lives to the federal government. If we have the right people in Congress, ones that understand how the information age is affecting the world we live in, we can continue to call the American economy the most successful economy in the history of human civilization. I like this title, and want to keep it for future generations of Americans.