|
|
Martin O`Malley on Budget & EconomyDemocrat |
CLINTON: I want to be the president for the striving AND the successful. But I want to make sure the wealthy pay their fair share,
SANDERS: The greed of Wall Street is destroying this economy. We have got to break the large financial institutions up.
O'MALLEY: I look at our economy as an ecosystem. And the fact of the matter is that the more fully people participate, the more our workers earn, the more they will spend, the more our economy will grow. And most heads of businesses--large, medium and small--understand that. But there is a better way forward than either of those offered by my two opponents here on this stage. We're not going to fix what ails our economy, we're not going to make wages go up for everyone by either trying to replace American capitalism with socialism, nor will we fix it by submitting to sort of Wall Street-directed crony capitalism.
CLINTON: For me, it is looking at what works and what we need to do to try to move past what happened in '08. And AIG was not a big bank. It had to be bailed out and it nearly destroyed us. Lehman Brothers was not a big bank. It was an investment bank. And its bankruptcy and its failure nearly destroyed us. So I've said, if the big banks don't play by the rules, I will break them up. And I will also go after executives who are responsible for the decisions that have such bad consequences for our country.
What I'm talking about is this, our middle class is shrinking. Our poor families are becoming poorer, and 70 percent of us are earning the same, or less than we were 12 years ago. We need new leadership, and we need action. The sort of action that will actually make wages go up again for all American families.
Our economy isn't money, it's people. It's all of our people, and so we must invest in our country.
O'MALLEY: I would follow through on the promise that the American people thought we made as Democratic Party, to protect the Main Street economy from recklessness on Wall Street. I would push to separate out these too-big-to-jail, too-big-to-fail banks, and put in place Glass-Steagall, a modern Glass-Steagall that creates a firewall so that this wreckage of our economy can never happen again.
Tell me how it is, that not a single Wall Street CEO was convicted of a crime related to the 2008 economic meltdown. Not. A. Single. One.
Tell me how it is, that you can get pulled over for a broken tail light in our country, but if you wreck the nation's economy you are untouchable. This is not how our economy is supposed to work! This is not how our country is supposed to work! This is not the American Dream!
Our economy isn't money, our economy is people--all of our people. We measure success by the growing prosperity and security of our people--all of our people. A stronger middle class is not the consequence of economic growth--a stronger middle class is the cause of economic growth. Together, as one nation we must build an American economy that works again for all of us.
Source: Irish Times 2015 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls , Apr 27, 2015
O'MALLEY: Yeah. We have been restoring fiscal responsibility for these last seven years. We inherited a $1.7 billion deficit from our predecessor. We're on the verge of closing that. In the budget that I submit this week, we will close it without any new taxes. Part of what drives our budget, of course, is the economy and the pace of this recession. And it has been an extended recession. However, I've cut more in spending than any governor in modern history, and yet we've also been able to make the record investments in education, transportation infrastructure and innovation. And what we also have been able to do is to maintain a AAA bond rating
Q: But if I understand you, there will be no deficit projected into next year?
O'MALLEY: Those forecasts depend on what sort of rate of growth you put into the economy. The best way for every state to reduce its deficit is for our national economy to grow at a faster pace.
O'MALLEY: Well, I believe that the people of our state and, also, the people of our country, want us to make choices on their behalf that yield results, results that make our economy grow by making our middle class grow. And I'm proud of each of those things. I'm proud of the people of our state. But, also, being an inclusive people, respecting the dignity of every individual, these things are also good for an economy. These things are good for building an innovation economy and attracting the most talented workforce. I think they all go together. What the people of our country want is not ideology, not trickle-down economics, but middle-out economics, where we strengthen our middle class to grow our economy and to give our kids a better future.
Romney wants to take America back. Back to what? Back to the failed policies that drove us into a deep recession? Back to the days of record job losses? Instead of a balanced, achievable plan to create jobs and reduce the deficit, Romney says he will cut taxes for millionaires.