Do any Democrats have a plan to create jobs?

[imhotep]

Kucinich has said he would repeal NAFTA.
Other than that, has Dean or Kerry come up with a solution other than just blaming Bush?

[poskonig]

1. Dean's introducing a detailed plan in September. nt

eom

[Composed Thinker]

8. Is

Is this plan just about jobs, or does it encompass a lot of his vision? I know he has a book coming out in the next few months. Is that what you're talking about?

[Skittles]

2. unseating Bush Inc.

would be a good start.

[are_we_united_yet]

9. Ha! Good one skittles!

That would probably obviate the need for any Democratic initiative.

God knows the idiots in the White House haven't a freakin clue.

[NNN0LHI]

3. Some of them want to roll back Bush's tax cuts for the rich and spend...

...some of that money to fix our crumbling infrastructure. That would create jobs.

Don

[walkon]

4. Kucinich

He also proposed public works projects to repair and build national infrastructure needs, build and repair schools, etc., to be funded by cutting pentagon spending, particularly ending the missle defense (star wars) program, and repealing the tax cuts for the top 2% income bracket. Repealing NAFTA and ending the WTO as it exists today were also part of his effort to protect jobs as well as grow jobs in this country. All of these goals and proposals get my attention and support. Dean is to come out with specifics in the Fall. I look forward to that.

[lkinsale]

5. Graham's plan

Infrastructure-

School Construction and Repair: Phased up to an additional $12.5 billion per year, the rest to be matched by the states.

Transportation Infrastructure:

* Highways and bridges: Ramping up federal investment to an additional $14 billion per year, with 50% state match.

* Transit: Federal transit funding of an additional 12% over TEA-21 levels, roughly $1 billion per year.

* Rail: Provide an additional $3 billion per year to move American into the era of high-speed rail.

Homeland Security: $13 billion a year in increased homeland security expenditures -- sufficient, when matched 50-50 by state and local dollars, to fully fund the nation's outstanding port security and first responder needs.

Technology:

* Basic Research: A 10% increase in appropriations for basic research -- about $3 billion above the baseline -- each year.

* Broadband: Current federal funding of about $3 billion per year will double, with the requirement of a state or local match; this will bring public sector investment to a total of $12 billion a year -- roughly one-third of what's needed to make this technology universal. This should leverage the private sector investment necessary to cover the country's entire projected need.

* Renewable Energy: The Graham Energy plan would cost approximately $4.5 billion dollars a year.

* Expand incentives to invest in these technologies and to purchase alternative fuel cars, including funding to replace Bush's Hydrogen Car Program with a serious hydrogen effort, R&D tax credits for companies researching affordable solar home construction, and an investment tax credit for innovative building technologies, including high efficiency furnaces and gas-fired heat pumps

* Increased funding for DOE and EPA research and development.

* Reinstate and expand the Solar Roofs Initiative to meet a goal of 10 million solar roofs by 2015.

* Help pay for these initiatives by eliminating the tax loophole that allows companies to deduct 100% of their Humvee and other tax and spending subsidies for environmentally harmful activities, saving about $2 billion per year, and outfitting federal buildings with advanced solar electrical systems to save the federal government $1 billion a year in energy costs.

Environmental Infrastructure: Provide a 50-50 matching fund available to all states to meet their drinking water and wastewater infrastructure needs, totaling $10 billion a year for the next twenty years, and raise funding for national parks by $600 million dollars a year, which will eliminate the maintenance gap over ten years.

Economic Stimulus-

* If the economy is still in recession in 2005, put more money into the hands of working Americans who are likely to spend it by taking the first $10,000 of earned income of every American out of taxation under the payroll tax.

* Permanently extend AMT relief for individuals and families

* Extend marriage penalty repeal.

* Extend and maintain the child credit at its highest level of $1000 per child.

* An income tax deduction for up to the full cost of purchasing of long-term care insurance and a caregiver tax credit that phases in after four years to $3000 for taxpayers with long-term care needs.

* Opportunity for All education & training credit will provide nearly $40 billion a year in tax relief to middle class families for advanced education and job training.

Balance Budget Within 5 Years.

Create More Than 3 Million New Jobs.



Opportunity for All-A Plan for America's Economic Renewal Bob Graham

PDF of full plan

[GBD4]

6. Bob Graham

http://www.grahamforpresident.com/economic_plan/Graham_Economic_Plan.pdf

Bob Graham would like to take a public works route to create jobs. He would like federal investments in school construction, roadways, mass transit, broadband technologies, vaccine research, national parks, among other things. Perhaps a sort of scaled down New Deal as far as using government investment to spur job growth. Senator Graham has stated that for every $1 billion spent on highway construction, 40,000 jobs are created, plus road maintenance work, etc. 760,000 jobs were created in 1997 alone by the Federal Highway Program. In all, between rail, roads, highways, Senator Graham estimates one million jobs created in the transportation sector alone. Extensive broadband investments would create over one million jobs, as well, in telecommunications, manufacturing, and other jobs that demand Internet usage.

He is also pushing a $10,000 tax credit for vocational training for Americans.

[GBD4]

7. Whoops!

didn't know lkinsale was posting simultaneously!

[Gringo]

10. An end to the Bushco war and fearmongering

would probably go a long way in restoring folks' confidence, and help the economy immensely, IMO

[whoYaCallinAlib]

11. There you go! That would be a definate stimulus

to the economy and job growth.

[ConsAreLiars]

12. Kerry's approach

is described here:
http://www.observer.com/pages/story.asp?ID=7681
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For several months, Mr. Kerry has been coming to New York on a monthly basis not just to raise money, but to talk about it. He has assembled a high-powered team of advisers who he hopes can help him in forming an economic agenda for the 2004 campaign. The meetings, which are organized by financier Roger Altman, have included Gene Sperling and Laura Tyson, both chief economic advisers in the Clinton administration, and investment banker Felix Rohatyn.
-snip-
"What’s exceptional about this is that the other candidates, for the most part, are focused on fund-raising and politics, and Kerry’s got this group of bright lights together to focus on policy," said one of the participants who is a Kerry supporter. "There’s nothing else like this that I know of."

Here’s how the meetings actually work. The group gets together with the candidate every three or four weeks, with out-of-town members of the group conferenced in on the telephone. The meetings are sometimes in Washington and more often in New York, where they are frequently held in the office of Mr. Altman, who organizes them. They are generally about one and a half to two hours long, and Mr. Kerry decides the topics of conversation. They talk about economic policy in the context of current events and whatever is happening in the campaign, with Mr. Kerry asking questions and the advisers doing their best to answer.
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