SANTA FE - New Mexico once had 20,000 timber workers. Now it has eight, U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce said Thursday in criticizing government for too often destroying jobs instead of fostering a climate to create them.

Spotted owls received the protection they deserved in New Mexico, but a zealous government wiped out the state's timber companies along the way, he said.

Eliminating government policies that impede industry is the only sure way to put more people to work and reduce the country's crushing debt, Pearce said in a 20-minute speech before the New Mexico House and Senate.

Pearce, a Republican just returned to Congress to represent southeastern New Mexico, said most people do not appreciate the severity of a national debt exceeding $15 trillion.

"We cannot continue on the track we're on indefinitely and expect our children to have a future," he said. "This is what happened to the Soviet Union."

Pearce, who has degrees in economics and business administration, said more jobs are the only answer to saving America from economic ruin.

Raising taxes stifles job creation, he said. Reducing government budgets also is not a solution unto itself, he said.

Cutbacks aimed at waste, fraud and abuse are necessary, but reductions can only go so far before vital services are hampered, Pearce said. When that happens, government deserts the people it is supposed to help.

Job growth that pours more money into the economy is the best solution to reducing debt and saving worthy

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government programs, Pearce said.

He said he remained optimistic because growing the economy by just 3.5 percent annually would begin eliminating debt and shoring up Social Security, among other programs.

But there is another part of the equation that must change, Pearce said.

"It's not complex. We can't keep spending more than we're bringing in," he said.

Most of those listening to Pearce were Democrats. They applauded him politely, especially when he said unchecked debt could drown the nation.

Santa Fe Bureau Chief Milan Simonich can be reached at msimonich@tnmnp.com or (505) 820-6898. His blog is at http://elpasotimes.typepad.com.