America's Lost Oomph

http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21607809-countrys-potential-growth-rate-barely-half-what-it-was-two-decades-ago-heres-how-raise

In the article, "America's Lost Oomph," the author begins by introducing some potential growth rate determinants, such as the supply of workers and rises in productivity. In the mid-1990's, when America's potential growth rate was considered to be 3% or 3.5%, these factors were much stronger than they are now. In fact, the supply of workers has not grown and the level of productivity per worker has even fallen in the past year. The author then describes some of the detrimental effects that having a lower economic growth speed can have, such as a slower rise in living standards, lower tax revenue, and today's debts being more of a burden in our futures. He further states that this problem is one that is self-inflicted, with the depressed supply of workers being caused by some of the current immigration policies, a lack of job training to get disabled or unemployed American's back into the workforce, Obamacare making it easier to receive health coverage without being employed, and high taxes toward businesses. The solutions to these problems that the author proposes include lowering taxes for businesses, immigration, disability, and welfare reforms, and investments in infrastructure. The author believes that by implementing some of these solutions, America's growth rate will rise.

After reading this article, I did question some of the proposed solutions to the lackluster growth rate currently being experienced in the United States. I hope that in continuing my education in economics I can better understand some of the issues in economics today, and whether some of these proposed solutions actually hold water. The biggest issue that I took from reading this article was that the author strongly criticized the taxes that corporations pay, calling them "sky high". When many corporations are earning high profits (such as JP Morgan, which earned 18 billion in 2013, or Walmart, with 17 million in earnings), by what measure can these companies not afford the taxes they are paying? And what evidence is there to suggest that a reduction in taxes would lead to more hiring? Isn't there already enough room in those high profits to hire more workers or invest in more capital? I would be interested in seeing more statistics and data along with proposed solutions, particularly in this sort of polarizing article so that everyone can get behind solutions that could be beneficial.