Monday items: Benko rebuts growth skeptics; Goldman sees continued malaise; The WSJ emphasizes growth.

From Forbes, Ralph Benko rebuts high-growth skeptics.

At Asia Times, David Goldman offers evidence that the economy is on a long-term slow growth trajectory.

From last week on The Kudlow Report, Stephen Moore discusses proposed tax rate hikes:




In The Weekly Standard, conservative Keynesian Irwin Stelzer suggests the dollar’s reserve status is declining.

From last week, The WSJ emphasizes growth in its analysis of the New York congressional seat loss.

The biggest failing of House and Senate Republicans this year has been their emphasis on budget accounting more than growth economics. This is understandable given the tea party's 2010 electoral influence, the magnitude of the deficits, and Mr. Obama's fiscal abdication. But it has too often made the GOP come across as bookkeepers.

Assuming they get some spending cuts and budget reform as part of the debt-limit talks, Republicans would be wise to focus most of their legislative attention on raising growth to 4% or 5% of GDP. This is the least the U.S. should be growing after the deep recession of 2007-2009, and the failure to do so is Mr. Obama's biggest political vulnerability.

In the GOP Weekly Address, House Republican leader Eric Cantor (VA) emphasizes jobs and growth.

At The NYT, Paul Krugman advocates solving unemployment through a return to the Works Progress Administration.