If my math is right, the plan is predicated on a $1.1 trillion dollar tax "adjustment" for families making over $200k/year. http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB106686598826809700,00.html -- Bullish on America By WESLEY CLARK During the first month of my campaign for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, I met countless casualties of the present economy -- laid-off traders, out-of-work waitresses, unemployed factory workers, retirees who lost nest eggs, and recent graduates who can't find a starter job. These are the citizens behind the statistics of the last 33 months: More than three million jobs lost and over 1.4 million more people sunk into poverty. At every stop, I try to reassure these Americans that prosperity will return with responsible leadership. My recommendation remains: Go long on the U.S. economy. * * * If we make the right choices, this century will be another American Century. Why am I so optimistic? Because we've recently seen how well we can do. In the 1990s, our economy created more than 23 million new jobs. In 2000, the typical American family earned $7,700 more than they had eight years before. It was the longest expansion in history. And it was no mirage. The last decade's prosperity was the result of hard work, responsible stewardship and American ingenuity. So I disagree with the pessimists who say that our best days are behind us. And I disagree with those who argue that we must choose between solvency and prosperity. It's just not true. When we return to fiscal discipline, our economy will rebound robustly. If we create the conditions for long-term growth our outlook will be brighter than ever. Here are my four principal ideas for helping the economy reach new heights and ensuring that all Americans share in our prosperous future: •_Job Creation Is Job One. We must help every willing American get back to work. To jump-start job creation, I will redeploy $100 billion, over two years. _ The government cannot create millions of jobs. But if the government establishes the right conditions and incentives, America's businesses can. I will encourage job creation by providing $20 billion in tax credits for new hires and small business investments. Despite the lessons learned on 9/11, homeland security is still shortchanged. I would correct this failing by investing $40 billion in our nation's safety, so law enforcement agencies and local first responders can hire the personnel they need and we can finance the construction of new safeguards at our nation's borders and bridges. This investment will directly fund jobs while strengthening our defenses against terrorism. President George W. Bush's three tax cuts forced states to make brutal cuts in areas such as education and prisons. I will allocate $40 billion to help states keep tuition increases down and retain crucial state employees. My stimulus program will not increase the deficit by one dime. All of these proposals can be paid for by trimming the tax cuts given to the richest Americans, those making more than $200,000 a year. Plus, this package will provide more stimulus bang for the buck than the tax breaks for the rich that ballooned the deficit. •_Restoring Fiscal Discipline. The Bush deficits are projected to continue even under the assumption that strong growth resumes. Permanent deficits are a shoddy way of passing today's debt onto tomorrow's children. Deficits do matter. Deficits undermine investor confidence and erode our ability to meet priorities, from homeland security to health care. _ In the 1990s, everyone from Newt Gingrich to Bill Clinton agreed on the principle that tax and spending proposals should be paid for without increasing the deficit. President Bush turned his back on this tenet. I will restore the basic principle that the president must balance the nation's checkbook. My "Saving for America's Future" plan will dig us out of the hole that the Bush administration has gotten us into, by saving $2.35 trillion for national priorities, like health care, and deficit reduction. I will eliminate $400 billion in needless expenditures. Even the Pentagon will be called on to trim its waste, while strengthening national security. We will save $300 billion by ending corporate welfare, which perverts economic incentives. We will save $125 billion by partnering more effectively with our international allies and correcting the course of our Iraq policy. We will recapture $1 trillion in revenue by adjusting the tax cuts which affect the wealthiest families, those earning more than $200,000 annually. Finally, we will save $600 billion that would otherwise be spent on servicing the debt. The return to fiscal responsibility will not be painless. But meeting our nation's challenges has always required commitment and sacrifice. •_Economic Opportunity for All Americans. There are few things more important to a person's dignity, to a family's security, and to our nation's prosperity than the chance to earn a decent living. That is why we need to do more to develop our human potential. We should help every citizen to "be all he or she can be." _ We must promote continuing education, increase access to health care and child care, and promote retirement security so all Americans can live productive lives. That's what it will take to achieve economic opportunity for all. •_Creating the Conditions for Long-Term Prosperity. Every president must maintain the framework for America's economic future, including: a fair tax system, transparent markets, and rules of trade that work for America. To stimulate growth, savings and capital formation, we need a tax system that is fairer and simpler. In the coming months, I will put forth my ideas on how to overhaul the tax code. •The collapse of confidence during the Enron era taught us that government must help markets work more openly and efficiently. The sustained efforts of a president who is truly committed to reform will restore the trust that makes our markets the best place in the world to trade and invest. Growth is not only about markets here at home. We need a president who will lead the way in developing an effective governance structure for global economics, one which affords all people and all nations a chance to prosper. Creating the conditions for future prosperity also entails protecting our environment. Sacrificing our natural resources to meet the short-term requests of special interests undermines America's long-term strength. Promoting alternative energy sources and clean energy technologies will stoke economic growth. There is no nation in the world with our productive power, no competitor that can match us in our creativity. If we tap into the spirit of New American Patriotism, we can tackle the challenges before us and help our economy reach its real potential. These are the reasons why I remain bullish on our economic outlook, despite the joblessness and hopelessness that I have encountered on the campaign trail. But, the first step to improving our nation's economy must be changing our CEO. Gen. Clark is a Democratic candidate for president.
Raise taxes! Sounds like a GREAT plan! Sign me up! I figured he couldn't get through the typical liberal demagoguery of screaming ENRON!!!, CORPORATE WELFARE!! and TAX CUTS FOR THE RICH!! The military cuts won't go over well with the brave American soldiers we have around the world.
Only in your twisted mind is implementing long term tax cuts for the rich =raising taxes I imagine hte elimination of waste in the Pentagon will probably be no lmore unpopular than the Bush administrations attempts to limit combat pay. But who knows. Anyway, what's Bush's deficit reduction plan? Is it the same as Reagan's?
every presidential candidate in my memory (back to humphrey in '68, although i do recall my parents being the only ones on our block w/ goldwater for president buttons!), has promised to cut pentagon waste. bush/rummy is as far as i know the first one to really try. but clark isn't trying to cut the deficit. he wants to raise taxes to pay for more programs. where's the savings in that?
Samuel, nice try on rehashing this nugget of information that has been debunked repeatedly. Repeat it enough and people are bound to believe you, or so your plan states.
Since when does not implementing a long term tax cut, and mainitaining them at their current level = a tax increase? BTW, the President has a prescription drug plan too, and no deficit reduction plan. Why did you bother posting this if you weren't going to read it and mindlessly repeat propaganda? What's Bushes deficit reduction plan? Post that for me when you find it.
"not implementing" doesn't equal a tax hike? and where in the artice does he talk about "long term tax cuts?" or perhaps you didn't read it and are just mindlessly excerpting whatever you can jam into your pre-set soak-the-rich agenda. show me a candidate who would keep the tax cuts, and reduce the deficit by cutting spending and that's a guy i'd take seriously and consider voting for. this is just gephart w/ a couple of stars on his shoulder...
Many of president bush's tax cuts don't kick in till 2005-2009. Look it up if you want, but its true. But even if they didn't, you think maintaining taxes at the same level (a worldwide low among industrialized nations) which they were at when the longest economic expansion in history is a massive tax increase? A pathetic distortion of semantics, although it doesn't really Again, show me President Bush's deficit reduction plan. I've asked you three times and you don't have an answer. Maybe because you don't plan on doing anything in this thread other than smearing Clark with platitudes about "tax and spend". How cliched.
$1.1 trillion doesn't qualify as massive (although you used that modifier, not me)? as far as bush's deficit reduction plan goes, you're right, he hasn't articulated one other than let the economy grow and that will take care of it. not sure i agree, but we just passed the tax cuts- why not give them a chance to work? early returns are promising... do you have any substative comments about Clark's plan, pro or con, or are you just trying to use the thread as another opportunity to Bash Bush? are you capable of making a comment on any substative policy issue w/o diriecting some gratuitous broadside Bush's way, or does he define your entire world view? ..and by the way, i just lost my job for the third time post 9/11. i don't blame Bush for that though.
