The Brown County Republican Women’s Club welcomed Steve Munisteri, Chairman of the Texas Republican Party, as their guest speaker on Friday at their monthly luncheon.

Munisteri focused on the nation’s economy and specifically the problems that the high national debt is causing.

“We have a debt that is so monstrous, you would think we were a third-world banana republic,” Munisteri said.

He said that the U.S. national debt has topped $15 trillion and compared the current problem to that of nations such as Zimbabwe and Japan.

“Our national debt is now in excess of the total value of what we produce in a year,” he said.

Munisteri said that the upcoming election in will be the choice of two different philosophies on how to solve the economic issues.

“I can tell you that the course we are on is the wrong direction,” Munisteri said. “Because the number one way for us to meet all of our international threats, take care of the national debt, the biggest thing you can do is grow your economy.”

He said that the U.S. economy grew only 1.7% in 2011 which is a slow rate of recovery.  He also said that the country is on track for 1.7% growth for this year as well.

“That’s not enough to sustain economic growth; it’s not enough to reduce unemployment, we need to be at 2.5% or more,” Munisteri said.

He outlined that the Republican way to boost the economy and reduce the debt is to encourage business and help create jobs.

“This is our economic program – 70% of our economy is consumer spending,” he said. “You want to get the country going again, you just spur business.”

He said that the more business grows, jobs are created and consumers spend more money.

“Create businesses – they create jobs, they employ people, they spend money, you have rapid economic growth,” Munisteri said.  “What you need to do is have an environment that creates businesses.”

He said that to do this, money must stay in the private sector and to not over regulate businesses.

Munisteri said that the key is through the upcoming November election and not just in Washington, but in key races in Texas.

“We have to have a clean sweep to change things around,” Munisteri said. “We’ve got a battle in Texas.”

He encouraged those in attendance to participate and volunteer where they can to help bring about these changes.

Pictured at top is Munisteri (left) speaking to a group after Friday’s luncheon.