Economy and Jobs, Page 2
Reduce our Deficit and Debt
Democrats have shown that we can be the party of fiscal responsibility and sound economic policy. The booming financial times of President Clinton's administration were no accident, but the result of a balanced budget, careful spending, and responsible tax policies. By putting our financial house in order, we can keep our economy growing and continue to generate jobs.
These are the historical keys to the "virtuous cycle" of a strong and booming economy. It is time for the government to regain accountability for its budget and to encourage personal fiscal responsibility by practicing what it preaches.
These
actions will finally restore Americans' confidence that the government will
tighten spending and get the national debt under control.
Including assumptions for health care reform, budget deficit projections are
anticipated to total $9 trillion over the next 10 years. With this in mind,
Alan understands that no real recovery plan is complete without accounting for
the long-term needs of the nation's economy. Left alone, projected deficits
will exceed projected economic growth.
To avoid leaving a legacy of debt and a future of economic hardships to
our children, we must return to sound financial planning, beginning with
spending restraint. The country can no longer afford bills like the stimulus
bill that included more than 9,000 earmarks at a cost of $7 billion.
Alan understands that we need to restore tax fairness to our system. He believes that once we are firmly out of the recession, we must bring income taxes for wealthy earners and capital gains taxes back to the levels they were at before the Bush tax cut. Doing so would generate between $25 and $70 billion dollars in revenue per year.
A Fiscally Responsible Plan
Alan’s approach to job creation centers around strategic investments that will grow our economy. Every program that requires funding is designed to jumpstart economic activity to a level where taxpayers will more than recoup their initial investment. Even so, the total cost of Alan’s plan is under $23 billion annually—that’s less than the revenue generated by rolling back part of the Bush tax cuts for just one year. By rebalancing our spending priorities, we can position our economy to experience sustained growth for years to come.
