If you ask the GOP presidential candidates why the economy is still stuck in a rut, I think they'd all say something along these lines: "Taxes are too high, we're overregulated, government has been on a borrowing binge," and so on.
I have my doubts about all of these arguments,* but I'm not an economist, so I'm not in a position to make definitive pronouncements on any of them.
I am, however, in a position to play devil's advocate. Here's another argument as to why the economy is still lagging--one you hear primarily from Keynesians: "There's a consumer spending bust going on. People lost so much money in the housing market, so much money in the stock market crash, and so much money from being out of work for so long, they're being extremely cautious about spending whatever money they have left. What businesses are seeing, therefore, is dramatically reduced demand for their products and services. Under those circumstances, business owners are reluctant to invest, hire, expand, and so on. Until that dynamic changes, the economy is going to struggle."
Let's assume that this second argument is true. Under that assumption, I'm not sure Republicans are offering anything that will get us out of the mess we're in.
*I'll give you one example. The argument about budget deficits used to be this: "Budget deficits slow economic growth because when the government borrows a lot, interest rates go up, and when interest rates go up, it becomes more expensive for businesses to borrow money, for consumers to finance big-ticket items, and so on."
Clearly, though, with interest rates at historic lows, this argument doesn't hold up in the current economic environment.
Footnote: Some of you will undoubtedly say, "Republicans are offering tax cuts. Tax cuts will stimulate consumer demand and business investment, and that will help the economy grow."
Here's what the Keynesians would say to that: "We tried that in 2008, and then again in 2009. What we found is that consumers and businesses were not spending most of the temporary windfall. Instead, they were saving it, or using it to pay down debt."
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