Domestic energy production and tax cuts key for Republican candidates.

By Bill McCarthy
bmccarthy@wyomingnews.com

CHEYENNE -- Michael Holland would fight to do away with the Federal Reserve if he is elected as Wyoming's lone representative in U.S. House.

The 55-year-old Republican Party primary candidate from Green River said that would be a start to improving the U.S. economy: putting it back in the control of the American people through a central bank.

The Fed allows foreign bankers to control U.S. currency and threatens the nation's sovereignty, he said.

"Ultimately all roads lead back to more money flowing to a cartel of bankers and politicians," he said.

The other three Republican candidates are not so radical in suggesting a cure for the current downturn in the U.S. economy.

Candidate Cynthia Lummis, 53, of Cheyenne said Congress "should reduce debt, balance the budget, keep taxes low and produce domestic energy."

Candidate Mark Gordon, 51, of Buffalo said Congress needs to revisit truth-in-lending legislation to create common disclosures. It also needs to simplify projections on loans so consumers can make good choices since at least part of the problem is due to problems with foreclosures in the housing mortgage industry.

"As a nation we have to stop the culture that privatizes rewards and socializes the risk," Gordon said.

He was referring to decisions to prop up what should be private businesses with federal tax dollars, such as saving Bear Stearns, Fannie May and Freddie Mac even though those institutions made bad decisions.

Along with encouraging the production of domestic energy, Gordon said the government needs to get back to prudent spending policies. It also must stop nurturing speculative bubbles with irresponsible legislation, he added.

Bill Winney, 58 of Bondurant said the rising cost of "energy is a tremendous drag on the economy."

The first thing Congress needs to do is create domestic access to energy to bring down those prices, he said.

Tax cuts

Lummis said, "I support the Bush tax cuts and making them permanent."

The capital gains tax should stay at 15 percent to encourage investment and because people in the Intermountain West have most of their wealth tied up in real property, such a real estate and their homes, she added.

Winney and Gordon agreed the Bush tax cuts should be permanent.

Instead of the one-shot stimulus package to jump-start the economy, tax cuts would make a longer-term difference, Winney said.

Gordon adds the estate tax needs to be done away with as should earmarks.

Deficits still need to be addressed, he said, with Congress adhering to a pay-as-you-go transparent philosophy.

The alternative minimum tax is starting to hit the middle class, Gordon said, and it needs to killed.

Holland said the federal government does not have jurisdiction to impose income taxes but the courts have been enforcing it illegally.

Most federal taxes are drags on the economy, Holland said, adding that he favors a return to a system of tariffs to fund the federal government.

Trade treaties

Trade treaties such as the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Central American Free Trade Agreement, need to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, Lummis said.

"I support fair trade, but that is not necessarily free trade," Lummis said.

U.S. producers should not be disadvantaged by foreign standards for products and labor, she added.

Said Winney, "In general, I like the idea of free trade. But (the treaties) have to be carefully crafted" to protect the U.S. worker and economy.

Gordon said NAFTA has had a lot of problems. Goods and labor standards from overseas should track with domestic standards, he added.

Holland said, "Free trade is really a socialist scheme."

The United States has paid dearly in lost jobs and industries, national security and trade imbalances while a few corporations benefit from the treaties.

The pacts must be repealed, he said.