For real economic growth, fix tax code: #tellusatoday

Seven years after the financial crisis, only about a quarter of Americans have a positive view of the U.S. economy, according to a recent Paste BN/Wells Fargo survey. Facebook comments edited for clarity and grammar:

We need massive income tax and regulatory reform to get the American economy going again.

The federal tax code is thousands of pages long. Something should have been done a long time ago. A drastically simplified tax code would save hundreds of billions of dollars per year in compliance costs, freeing up resources for real economic growth.

—Raymond Chuang

The article “Americans still wary about U.S. economy” states that the reason for the decline in the middle class is “jobs shipped overseas” and “the decline of unions.” How about a business-unfriendly administration, red tape and taxes?

—John Amatruda

Of course people are wary. The economic situation hasn’t really improved unless you’re a CEO making a couple of hundred million a year. The rest of us are still sucking wind. Everything is more expensive, but I don’t see anybody making more money. There is government waste; greed is squeezing the financial lifeblood out of people.

—Fred Miller

Letter edited for clarity and grammar:

Our federal government is dysfunctional because instead of cooperating, its members are more concerned with making the opposing party look unsuccessful. Regardless of the topic — the economy, immigration, taxes, foreign treaties, judicial and administrative appointments — the Republicans refuse to cooperate with the president.

I think our government works better when the president has a majority in Congress. What the Republicans have offered is an escalated war in the Middle East, a worsened economy, increased poverty, environmental devastation and the deregulation of banks and Wall Street. A GOP government would be a disaster for America.

Austin Kuder; Seven Hills, Ohio

We asked what people thought of the economy since the Great Recession. Twitter comments edited for clarity and grammar:

Companies continue to send jobs overseas. People are underemployed. Companies are making money, but salaries are not rising.

—@TamDusek

The rich are still getting richer. Growth is coming at the expense of the worker. This is, in a word, unsustainable.

—@Beastwarking

The economy is better than in the Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan years, but far worse than in the Bill Clinton years.

—@smithmichele01

The company I work for has been doing furloughs for all six of those years. No recovery here yet.

—@bdtwoodson

For more of the conversation, follow @USATOpinion or #tellusatoday on Twitter.