Democratic debate at Pace University: on Budget & Economy
Al Sharpton:
Job development is critical to economy
We are going from a threat of inflation to a threat of deflation. President Clinton did a good job, but we had a technology boom then. We don't have that now. The fact is there was a reason the economy was strong then.
We don't have that reason now. We must invest in job development. That's how you bring the economy back.
Source: Debate at Pace University in Lower Manhattan
Bob Graham:
"Opportunity For All" program is critical to economy
I am the candidate who has the most comprehensive economic plan, Opportunity For All, which lays out the pillars of creating new jobs in America: balancing the budget; making our tax program more fair and progressive;
third, investing in America by rebuilding America. If we can afford to rebuild the bridges, the roads, the schools and electric system of Iraq, we can afford to invest in rebuilding America.
Source: Debate at Pace University in Lower Manhattan
Carol Moseley-Braun:
Balanced budget follows from job creation & prosperity
Q: Which should be the priority, balancing the budget or creating jobs? MOSELEY BRAUN: You have to create jobs and you have to get the economy going to create the robustness in the economy that will produce the revenue to balance the budget.
I mean, balancing the budget is a priority that will come when we create jobs.
When Bill Clinton became president, we balanced the budget and created jobs and had this country on a good economic foot and the people were doing well.
We were in a time of prosperity. This administration has not only had a job hemorrhage, but sent us into record deficits. Their policy of borrow and pass the buck has just simply shifted the responsibilities not only to state and local governments and
tax payers but to our grandchildren, and that's wrong. We, as the Democratic Party, stand for getting this economy back on track and preserving the promise of the American dream that we will pay our bills as we go.
Source: Debate at Pace University in Lower Manhattan
Dennis Kucinich:
$435B trade deficit is critical to economy
I'm frankly surprised at my Democratic colleagues that they won't take a firm stand and recognize that NAFTA and the WTO have hurt this country. It's not a choice between trade or no trade.
You return to bilateral trade, conditioned on workers' rights, human rights and the environment. There's a $435 billion trade deficit. Unless you address that issue all of these other [economic issues] won't mean an awful lot.
Source: Debate at Pace University in Lower Manhattan
Dick Gephardt:
Return to Clinton economic policy from Bush's failed policy
GEPHARDT [to Kerry]: [Maintaining any part of the Bush tax plan] is the wrong policy, and let me tell you why. This plan has failed. The president's economic plan has failed. And we should not keep half of a failure or a quarter of a failure.
If it's failed, let's change the policy. Let's do something else. We'll go back to the Clinton tax code. I led the fight in 1993 to put those changes in place; it worked. And my plan will give more money to the average family than the Bush tax cuts.
KERRY: Going back to the Clinton tax cuts, doesn't create another job, it puts a burden on current predicament of middle-class Americans. They lose their current revenue. What's kept America's economy moving in the last two and a half years
has been consumer spending. If all of a sudden, when we're trying to recover, we sucked a whole lot of money out of those consumers, we are not going to be able to keep the economy moving. It's the wrong policy.
Source: Debate at Pace University in Lower Manhattan
Dick Gephardt:
Healthcare reform is critical to economy
Q: You proposed a $200 billion a year health care plan, and you say that that plan is going to pump money into the economy, and that's the way you're going to provide jobs in this economy. Yet Senator Edwards says that it's a terrible plan, because it
depends on companies getting tax credits, and they will then provide the insurance to their employees. And he says by depending on these companies it's like telling employees, quote, "They're in good hands with Enron." Why would corporate America fulfill
the role you envision for it? GEPHARDT: Because my bill makes them do it. We don't just hand out tax credits, we say, "You've got to pass it along to the employee so they can buy the plan that they want to buy." We're never going to solve the economic
problems in this country until we solve the health care problem. We have 50 million people without health insurance. We did an economic study. A reputable economic forecaster said that we'd put $312 billion of stimulus into the American economy.
Source: Debate at Pace University in Lower Manhattan
Howard Dean:
Politicians promising everything causes budget deficit
[The Bush tax cuts and Democratic support of them] is exactly why the budget is so far out of balance. Washington politicians promise people everything: "You can have tax cuts, you can have insurance, you can have special education."
We cannot win as Democrats if we take that kind of tack. Tell the truth: We cannot afford all of the tax cuts, the health insurance, special ed and balancing the budget, and we have to do those things.
Whatever you got out there in tax cuts, the majority of Americans saw their kids' college tuition go up, their property taxes go up, because of the enormous tax cuts and no money coming to the states. Let's call this one right.
Let's be fiscally responsible and balance the budget. Bob Graham and I are the only people up here that have ever balanced a budget and I think we ought to balance this budget and not promise more than we can deliver.
Source: Debate at Pace University in Lower Manhattan
Howard Dean:
Balance budget, even if unpopular
Q: As president, what would be the least popular, most right thing you would do?DEAN: As governor, I'm an expert in doing things that sometimes people don't like. I actually had the pleasure of serving through both Bush recessions, not one of them.
And I had to balance the budget during very difficult conditions. We have to balance the budget. That means we have to make unpopular choices. That's why we think we ought to repeal the entire Bush tax cut so we can, in fact, have health care programs.
Source: Debate at Pace University in Lower Manhattan
John Kerry:
Bush policy kept economy afloat in recession-keep some of it
GEPHARDT [to Kerry]: [Maintaining any part of the Bush tax plan] is the wrong policy, and let me tell you why. This plan has failed. The president's economic plan has failed. And we should not keep half of a failure or a quarter of a failure.
If it's failed, let's change the policy. Let's do something else. We'll go back to the Clinton tax code. I led the fight in 1993 to put those changes in place; it worked. And my plan will give more money to the average family than the Bush tax cuts.
KERRY: Going back to the Clinton tax cuts, doesn't create another job, it puts a burden on current predicament of middle-class Americans. They lose their current revenue. What's kept America's economy moving in the last two and a half years
has been consumer spending. If all of a sudden, when we're trying to recover, we sucked a whole lot of money out of those consumers, we are not going to be able to keep the economy moving. It's the wrong policy.
Source: Debate at Pace University in Lower Manhattan
Wesley Clark:
Home ownership is critical to economy
Q: How would you deal with a potential problem at a place like Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac? CLARK: We do have to recognize that home ownership is critical in this country and we're sustaining our economy right now off the refinancing proceeds of the
American family. I've refinanced my home. I'm sure many other people here have. But we don't want anything to happen to these mortgage agencies, because they are the ones who are helping to facilitate home ownership. So we really do need to investigate
this.
The way the process works is that if there's a sudden rise in interest rates these institutions will be in jeopardy. It's time to relook again the real meaning of the federal guarantee or whether or not there is a federal guarantee behind them.
As president, I'm going to assure that every American has the right to own a home and will maintain his home ownership no matter what might change and what might problems there might be in these institutions. We'll fix this.
Source: Debate at Pace University in Lower Manhattan
Wesley Clark:
Push deficit reduction, even if unpopular
Q: As president, what would be the least popular, most right thing you would do?CLARK: We're going to focus on deficit reduction.
We're going to put this economy back on a sound footing so we can not only pay our bills but meet the other needs that we have in education, health care, the environment and Social Security.
Source: Debate at Pace University in Lower Manhattan