Mayor Bloomberg says that Americans may be seeing the beginning of a massive economic slide.
In his weekly appearance on WOR radio this morning, Bloomberg said the federal government must balance the budget and restore confidence in order to avoid a downhill slide.
If it doesn’t, he said, “This could be the start of the decline of the greatest superpower, the greatest economic engine ever created.”
Bloomberg gave a speech in Washington earlier this week calling on Congress and the president to allow George W. Bush’s tax cuts to expire at the end of 2012.
He asked them to agree to spending cuts, including entitlement reform.
Bloomberg, who’s also a billionaire businessman, said that a tax hike could slow job creation. He also said that’s less important than restoring public confidence in order to get the economy growing again.
At Tuesday’s speech at the Center for American Progress in Washington, DC, Bloomberg said, “The international business community is beginning to whisper comparisons about the US Congress and the Greek Parliament, and if the Supercommittee falls victim to the same kind of partisan paralysis that increasingly defines Washington, those whispers will grow louder.”
He added, “Companies are expressing a vote of no confidence in Washington because of the lack of certainty they face …. [and] we see the effects in the lack of job growth and investment.”
With AP