"For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'"
(Luke 14:28-30; ESV)

Economic Facts:

1. The recovery since 2009 has been the slowest in U.S. history. IBD states that had it been "average", the economy would be $2 trillion larger ($18.5 trillion GDP for U.S. 2016).
2. GDP has averaged 2.1% per year since 2009. By comparison, growth rates often hit 6-8% under Reagan's administration.
3. Job growth has actually been anemic, as increasingly discouraged workers have dropped out of the workforce (67% participation rate in 2008 vs. 62% now). The unemployment rate would be over 9% currently had so many workers not dropped out.
4. The number of people working more than one job has hit an all-time high. 

  (source: Investor's Business Daily, 10/24/16; 10/17/16)

Points for Prayer: 

• Pray that the American public, especially Believers, would face the cold hard Truth, so that a solid path forward can be created.
• Ask the Lord to give the President and his Cabinet strategies for true economic recovery.
• Pray for American employers to know how to create more jobs.
• Intercede for American workers that we will find or create meaningful, well-paying jobs.

"For it is written in the Law of Moses: "Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain." Is it about oxen that God is concerned?"
(1 Corinthians 9:9; NIV)

Federal regulation has gone through the roof. The Federal Register, which measures the sum total of U.S. government regulations, dropped below 50,000 under Reagan, and last year hit a new high of 97,110 pages, extracting an estimated $1.89 trillion a year in compliance cost from the economy, amounting to $15,000 per household. 

These regulations stifle business creativity, greatly increase cost, discourage firms from hiring, and depress business startups. The OMB estimated 9.7 billion hours complying with federal rules and regulations. Congress passes several dozen bills a year, whereas Federal departments issue well over 3000 new rules and regulations annually, requiring tens of thousands of new pages of regulations and code, plus thousands of new regulators, and thousands of jobs in the private sector purely for regulation compliance. 

Excess regulation puts American companies and workers at a disadvantage compared to many overseas counterparts, which often have few, if any, regulations to follow. This serves as a "tax" against American workers and companies versus world markets, making our products and services more expensive than they would otherwise be.  

"She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she
plants a vineyard. She dresses herself with strength and makes her
arms strong. She perceives that her merchandise is profitable.
Her lamp does not go out at night."
(Proverbs 31:16-18; ESV)

Small businesses have always been the primary source of new jobs, and even in this anemic recovery have produced 60% of new jobs since 2009 despite entrepreneurs facing great uncertainty due to extreme regulations, skyrocketing healthcare costs, and ridiculously complicated tax codes. 

It takes courage to start a new business, as entrepreneurs risk their life savings and lifestyles (house, cars, education, etc.) starting a new business. America needs an Entrepreneurial Explosion - as business startups provide the bulk of new jobs for the future. We must empower American small businesses to be the best in the world.

"Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in
wisdom will be delivered."
(Proverbs 28:26; ESV)

Energy plays a huge role in the U.S. economy, as American oil and gas provide more than 50% of energy needs for U.S. companies and are subject to possibly the most onerous regulations of any industry. The EPA was responsible for almost half of all new regulations in recent years. 

One Wall Street Journal article highlighted the insane difficulties of putting a 682 mile natural gas pipeline from western Wyoming to Oregon, requiring 215 archeologists to ensure that "rock stacks"(which had been used as navigational markers for trails prior to maps) were undisturbed. The EPA required a 44 member environmental inspection team to ensure that 1600 migratory bird nests were not disturbed. The pure insanity of many of these rules not only unnecessarily complicate projects, but drive up costs and time, meaning reduced profitability for the firms and less efficient energy costs to consumers. 

(source: American Spectator, 4/4/16; Wall Street Journal 8/16/11)

Point for Prayer:

• That America will aggressively pursue energy independence and create additional infrastructure allowing American businesses to access cheap energy in order to grow.

"Do to others as you would like them to do to you."
(Luke 6:31; NLT)

"Tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him,
"Teacher, what should we do?" He told them,
"Collect no more than you are required to."
(Nehemiah 5:4; NET)

Tax reform is a very important part of the Trump agenda and has several components.

 
U.S. corporations have an estimated $2.5 trillion in cash parked overseas as current corporate tax policy allows them to not pay tax on profits which could be reinvested overseas. This policy is negative for U.S. corporations. Trump is proposing a one-time 10-15% repatriation tax (to be paid regardless of whether a company keeps its cash overseas or brings it back to the U.S.).

 
This is an important plank of Trumps economic policy as it destroys the incentive for U.S. corporations to keep cash parked overseas, but can also generate as much as $375 billion in tax revenue to reduce the budget deficit.
U.S. Corporate tax policy needs to be greatly simplified, and rates reduced as the top U.S. corporate rate is well above its peers, discouraging business. Labyrinthine complexity makes it much harder for U.S. businesses with tax compliance cost estimated in $316 billion per year.

"Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees, and the writers
who keep writing oppression."
(Isaiah10:1; ESV)