The country's next commander in chief will have the daunting task of unraveling the national economic "mess" created by President Barack Obama, Jeb Bush tells
Newsmax TV.
"Under 2 percent growth, we've doubled the debt in the eight years that Barack Obama will have served. He has created more debt than all of his predecessors, all 43 of his predecessors," Bush said in an interview with J.D. Hayworth airing Tuesday on "Newsmax Prime."
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"All of the exotic forms of taxation that the left now imposes … all the tax increases pale by comparison to high sustained economic growth. Four percent gross should be our aspiration."
The Republican presidential candidate and former governor of Florida — now tied for fourth place in a new poll of GOP primary voters — is proposing a plan of reforms he believes are essential to improving the nation's economy.
"[First], a dramatic reform of our tax code where we simplify the code and lower rates. That will create a dynamic explosion of investment that will create rising income for all sorts of families that right now are struggling around their kitchen table, wondering whether they can make ends meet," he said.
"Secondly, we need to deal with the mind numbing rules that right now have created a wet blanket on the most dynamic country in the face of the earth. This country is so extraordinary and yet we now are stifled by rules upon rules upon rules.
"This administration has tripled down on rule-making authority that creates so much uncertainty so much complexity and so much cost. The next president has to have the skills to unravel that mess, shifting power back to the states and repealing the rules that are really stifling our ability to rise up."
Thirdly, America must "embrace" the energy revolution, according to Bush.
"Forty percent of this type of growth and we've had in the last 6 years, this 2 percent growth, 40 percent of it has been in the energy sector. It's the great success story of America and this president and Hillary Clinton and the left want to destroy it," he said.
"They believe hydraulic fracturing is somehow some evil deed when, in fact, it's creating a revolution of massive amounts of natural gas and oil, allowing us to use it as a national security tool … and to allow consumers to get a break of lower utility prices and lower gasoline prices.
"I can't think of anything bad about this. [Have a] 10 percent reduction in carbon if that keeps you up at night. This is a success story. We could get to 4 percent growth if we reign in federal government spending and then created a climate where people can invest in their own dreams in this country."
And with the United States currently boasting zero interest rates, would Bush encourage the Fed to raise those rates.
"As president, I would appoint a Fed chairman that would move towards the traditional fed policy that was focused on containing inflation. The Federal Reserve today is actually enabling extraordinarily bad behavior in the fiscal side," Bush told Hayworth.
"Debt service today is less than it was twelve years ago, but the debt has grown by 250 percent. How could that be? Well, we've shortened all of the maturities of the debt, it's like wear borrowing on a credit card, and the debt is basically 0 percent.
"Of course debt service is lower, but imagine if we can't do this in a controlled fashion, ultimately the rest of the world is going to say that the United States is not serious of dealing with its fiscal problems and will abandon us. If that happens, you'll see huge hardships."
Bush said he wants the country's financial system to return to a "traditional interest-rate environment" where savers are rewarded.
"[And where] big government actually has to become smaller government and where large corporations will still access rich deep capital markets, but they'll have to maybe invest more in the equity side of their business and less on the debt side. That's the proper approach for a long sustained economic growth," he said.
Bush said of the Sunshine State, which he led from 1999 to 2007, "instead of taxing everything that walks and breathes, we're a small government state, a low tax state, we were one of two states to go to triple-A bond rating.
"Compare that to the sorry state of affairs where under Obama, we've lost our triple-A bond rating at the federal level."
Bush, once thought to be a shoe-in for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, is now struggling to keep his so-called "shock and awe" campaign afloat with major staff and budget reductions.
In a new
CBS/New York Times national poll of Republican primary voters, Bush is tied in fourth place with former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, with Dr. Ben Carson, Donald Trump and Marco Rubio leading the pack of GOP presidential hopefuls.
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