New Hampshire Union Leader - Governor Pawlenty Calls for Honest Economic Policy at Bedford Event

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"Americans need someone to tell them the truth about the nation's current economic situation, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty said in a speech Tuesday.

"We need strong people, clear people who see this problem and are willing to stand up and look the American people in the eye and tell them the truth about how we got here, the size of the problem - and not just scare them, but provide constructive solutions," Pawlenty said Monday during a "Politics and Eggs" breakfast at the Bedford Village Inn.

Pawlenty, a potential 2012 presidential contender, explained the nation's economic problems in simple terms.

"It's not the right versus the left. It's eighth grade math," Pawlenty said of the gap between the nation's spending and revenues. "It's junior high math. We can all see it."

Facing increasing debt and economic sluggishness, Pawlenty - a Republican - said government should work to decrease regulation and give incentives to help businesses grow.

"The best thing we can do for them as public policy leaders is to make sure that we have an environment in place in this state, and in every state, where we are doing those things to make it more likely - not less likely, that jobs are going to grow," Pawlenty said.

Righting the economy also will mean reigning in government spending and lowering the national debt, Pawlenty said.

"We've had the Wall Street bubble, we had the housing bubble, we had the IT bubble and now we're going to have the government bubble," Pawlenty said.

Avoiding that bubble will require cutting non-discretionary spending, adopting a pay-for-performance Medicare model, and curbing Social Security payments to wealthier Americans, Pawlenty said."

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