Joining “Neal Asbury’s Truth for America” for his first appearance was Benjamin Zycher PhD, a senior fellow at the Pacific Research Institute, which since its founding in 1979, has remained steadfast to the vision of a free and civil society where individuals can achieve their full potential.

Dr. Zycher suggested that a set of policy changes is required to “foster more confidence in hiring. This out of control spending will have to be paid for. Nobody thinks this can happen without raising taxes to pay it back. Add the healthcare bill to the mix, and small businesses won’t hire until they know how much they will have to pay in new taxes, especially the mandatory coverage provisions.”

Dr. Zycher is alarmed that President Obama’s ultimate goal is expanding the size of government. “This will make people more dependent on the federal government, not less,” predicted Dr. Zycher, who also is the President of Benjamin Zycher Economics Associates, and an adjunct Professor of Economics and Business at the Martin V. Smith School of Business and Economics at California State University.
Dr. Zycher thinks that while the President enjoys strong support from trade unions, it is unclear whether strong union support will help or hinder the Administration’s ability to attract voters from strong Midwest industrial states. He does not think that strong unions are the magnets they once were for independent voters. “Unions are a big part of Obama’s support so he will be loath to anger them when he seeks reelection,” added Dr. Zycher.

Dr. Zycher highlighted the main issues likely to hold weight for the midterm elections in November.

1) Obamacare. The GOP must make the case for repealing or reforming the healthcare bill. “It was unpopular when it was proposed and it is still unpopular,” said Dr. Zycher. “While defunding Obamacare is a favorite GOP strategy, it might cause the healthcare system to collapse, resulting in a government takeover of the entire system. The Supreme Court could play a role in this by hearing the individual mandate argument; this does not guarantee that this would be enough to overturn Obamacare.”
2) Deregulation of the tax burden agenda
3) Put America back to work
4) Cap and Trade (Cap and Tax), which is largely perceived as an excuse to impose higher taxes on business. “This bill has been unpopular from the start and is losing support even from middle-of-the-road Democrats. No legislator is going to risk his or her electability by coming out in favor of this bill. Most people think this is nothing more than a ploy to transfer wealth from red states to blue states,” said Dr. Zycher.

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