Why does the path to economic ruin run though Washington?
Glenn Hubbard: Our problems in the U.S. are not going to be fixed by quick fixes. And the policies that both parties have pursued toward the short term have made our problems worse.

What do we need to do to jump-start manufacturing in the U.S.?
GH: We need to stop tying our hands behind our backs. We need to change tax policy that penalizes manufacturing. We need to promote research and development and innovation. We also have a very litigious society that discourages manufacturing.

What does the President need to do about tax policy?
GH: It's really pretty simple. It's saying, "Let's extend the Bush tax cuts until we have the next Presidential election so that we can have a real debate on the size of government and how we're going to pay for it." That would clear up an awful lot of uncertainty.

Defend the plutocrats' arguments against the President.
GH: About half of the people in the top 1 percent of income are business owners, so they're the people who create jobs. It is not us vs. them.

Is stimulus working?
GH: We had a package that the Congressional Budget Office costs out at $814 billion. That's equivalent to giving almost $100,000 to every newly unemployed person. We know it didn't have a very significant effect.

Read the interview by Tom Keene in print or online at BloombergBusiness.com

In the first of several conversations on whether Bush-era tax cuts should be extended, Gwen Ifill speaks with Columbia University's business school Dean Glenn Hubbard, who helped craft the cuts when he served as an economic adviser to President George W. Bush.

 

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