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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Baldur Fjvlnisson who wrote (334950)	12/30/2002 9:24:39 AM
From: Baldur Fjvlnisson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

THE WRONG CHOICES OF THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION Now, all of us love the idea of a tax cut. I’m proud to say I’ve voted readily to reduce marginal rates and give tax breaks where they create jobs and make economic sense. But the hard fact is that the new tax cuts proposed by the President do neither. How can anyone reasonably suggest to our fellow Americans that the way to get the economy moving today is to cut taxes 8 years from now? And as for fairness, we’re not calling for redistribution - what we want is for average, middle class Americans who work hard to be able to get ahead just like their parents did. 20 years ago, the average CEO made 42 times what the average worker made. Now it’s 531 times more. It’s out of whack. Yet 40 percent of Bush’s tax giveaway goes to that very top 1 percent. I think that’s an attack on the fundamental fairness that holds this country together. And perhaps most outrageous if the violation of generational responsibility -- The largest cost of the Bush tax giveaway will not be born by any of us here today - it will be paid for by our children. That’s right - we’re borrowing from Social Security and Medicare to put money in some peoples’ pockets today - and sticking our children with the bill. We need to repeat the truth again and again. The new Bush tax cuts are unfair, unaffordable and unquestionably ineffective in growing our economy -- because they come at the expense of choices we need to make now so more Americans can enjoy greater wealth and a higher quality of life later. Because of those cuts this Administration is clinging to, there are priorities going completely ignored - all of which make a difference in the quality of our lives - education, health care, transportation, our environment. So our task is to get our economy moving again now. To create jobs and raise incomes... to grow out of the deficit... and to meet our needs. PLAN TO REVIVE ECONOMIC GROWTH IN THE SHORT TERM How do we do that? First, we should give every working American some tax relief now. I propose a payroll tax holiday on the first $10,000 of income. Every worker in America would immediately receive a $765 tax cut and every two-income family would get a cut of $1,530. Money to help families pay for new school clothes, put a down payment on a new car, or save for the future. It’s fair, it’s affordable and it will immediately put money into the pockets of most Americans - including the millions of middle class Americans not helped by the President's tax giveaway. Most important, it will help our economy now - not a decade from now. Next, we should extend unemployment benefits that run out at the end of this year for 820,000 families. It puts more money into the economy and sparks consumer demand. But more importantly, it is the right thing to do for people who are newly out of work, need health insurance and help taking care of their families. It is extraordinary to me that the President lobbied hard to pass a bill to help businesses with terrorism insurance, but was content to allow unemployment insurance for workers to run out 3 days after Christmas. I believe there are two other ways we can help hardworking families while boosting consumer demand: One -- raise the minimum wage and two -- expand the Earned Income Tax Credit that rewards low-income families for being on the payroll instead of the welfare rolls. Frankly, the Republican response on the minimum wage is an extraordinary story of modern economic America. Even as the American worker has increased productivity almost 75% in the last three decades, you would have to raise the minimum wage to $8.14 an hour just to restore the purchasing power it had 33 years ago - and all we’re trying to do is get it up to $6.55! Hardworking families deserve a raise. And fairness demands it. As you know, our economy has experienced a period of enormous excess capacity. We need to burn that excess up and encourage businesses to invest again. Too often Democrats have given the impression that you can love jobs but bash the people who create them. We can’t deny the important role businesses play in our economy -- and I believe if we are going to get America moving again, we need to empower the businesses that hire more workers to invest and expand. I propose a new job creation tax credit to encourage employers to start hiring and raising wages again. This tax credit would give a 1-time break from the payroll tax for every new job and for any raise given to an existing employee. It would benefit every business, from the smallest Mom and Pop shop to the largest employer. Most importantly - it would start creating jobs now.