Reply #48: I disagree that other Dems have not been addressing the economic vision [View All]

....On the economic policy, what he's done is he's tilted in favor of wealthier Americans. If you look at the economic statistics you find that actually, except for two or three years at the end of the Clinton Administration, ordinary Americans' real income- people in the sort of middle fifth of the American income distribution - their real income hasn't gone up since the 1970's. Even though they're working harder, more women are in the workforce, income hasn't gone up. In fact, the minimum wage hasn't kept pace with inflation. But if you look at the amount of wealth controlled by the top 1% of the income, you'll find it's more than doubled over those thirty years. This is part of a strategy of- it's part of an historic change in ideas. It's... The ideas of the Democratic Party about income distribution and the economy really, they really started with Theodore Roosevelt, and he was are first Democratic president, even though he belonged to the other party) crowd chuckles), and you know he busted up the trusts. He believed in the environment, and after Roosevelt we ended up with the progressive income tax, the direct election of senators, women got to vote, social security came in, and Lyndon Johnson brought Medicare in. It was great for the Democratic vision.

The Republican vision is different. The Republican vision is that the less government the better, that if you just let everyone alone and let them go their own way that somehow everything's going to work out for alright for everybody and that people will more or less get what they deserve.

I was looking recently at the movie "Wall Street." I don't know how many of you remember it, but one of the main characters in there is a man named Gordon Gecko, who's portrayed by Michael Douglas, and in it he gives what I believe is the Republican Party creed. He says, "GREED IS GOOD!" And he goes on to explain, "GREED CLARIFIES! GREED STRENGTHENS! Greed is what's made all the progress possible in mankind." And in the Democratic Party what we believe is that people should be free to do what they want but that you also have to have some help from the government to keep the playing field level to make sure everybody has an equal opportunity. So, what I see in President Bush's economic policy is he's tilted too far in favor of promoting people with a lot of money at the expense of ordinary Americans. I'll give you an example. I was on an airplane coming out of Little Rock and a woman right next to me- she's a young woman, attractively dressed, and, um, we were in one of these little tiny jets, so it was pretty hard not to say hello. (crowd chuckles) And she said she's to Tulsa to sell medical equipment and she was maybe in her late 20's, and so we began to talk about things. And so, it was just after the Bush tax cuts had been passed and I asked her if she understood- I said, "Did you get a tax cut?" She said, "Oh yes, I sure did." I said, "Can you (inaudible) tell me how much it was?" She said, "I think I got, you know, 30 or 40 dollars a month." I said, "Well, do you understand that some people got tens of thousands of dollars, millions of dollars out of this tax cut?" She says, "Well no, I didn't really think about that." I said, "Do you understand what that means?" She said, "Well, we were taught in school that you have to give money wealthy people, because they're the ones that make jobs for the rest of us." (crown chuckles) And I said, "Well, who taught you that?" (laughter) She said, "Well, our economics professor did at Southern(?) State University." And I mean, it is a set of ideas called trickle-down economics. And, but you know I'm out there for this every day in the economy. And so I go out there to see my friends in Aspen and their house prices have quadrupled in four years. Along the North Carolina coast, and Cape Cod, on the Pacific coast, and all resort areas where people want to live house prices are way up. Some people say it's the lower interest rate, but that accounts for places across the country. I'm talking about desirable locations. What that money does is that money gets spent on high priced real estate, running up the prices. It gets put in savings accounts, and it gets used in investments abroad and luxury trips and so forth. If you want to create jobs in this country, you gotta get ordinary people enough money to meet their basic needs. That's the way America got to be a great economy and that's what we've got to do if we're going to keep it a great economy. So, I disagree with President Bush...
(applause)
http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/866

If the president won't stand up and provide Americans with answers, then we must be willing to stand up and propose our own solution.
snip
It's time for a fundamental debate about the choices we are making as a nation. It's time for each and every one of us to say what needs to be said, with the full force of our convictions with nothing held back.
snip
And the rush now to camouflage their misjudgments and inaction with money doesn’t mean they are suddenly listening. It's still politics as usual. The plan they’re designing for the Gulf Coast turns the region into a vast laboratory for right wing ideological experiments. They’re already talking about private school vouchers, abandonment of environmental regulations, abolition of wage standards, subsidies for big industries - and believe it or not yet another big round of tax cuts for the wealthiest among us!

The administration is recycling all their failed policies and shipping them to Louisiana. After four years of ideological excess, these Washington Republicans have a bad hangover -- and they can't think of anything to offer the Gulf Coast but the hair of the dog that bit them.

And amazingly -- or perhaps not given who we’re dealing with -- this massive reconstruction project will be overseen not by a team of experienced city planners or developers, but according to the New York Times, by the Chief of Politics in the White House and Republican Party, none other than Karl Rove -- barring of course that he is indicted for "outing" an undercover CIA intelligence officer.

Today, let’s you and I acknowledge what’s really going on in this country. The truth is that this week, as a result of Katrina, many children languishing in shelters are getting vaccinations for the first time. Thousands of adults are seeing a doctor after going without a check-up for years. Illnesses lingering long before Katrina will be treated by a healthcare system that just weeks ago was indifferent, and will soon be indifferent again.

For the rest of the year this nation silently tolerates the injustice of 11 million children and over 30 million adults in desperate need of healthcare. We tolerate a chasm of race and class some would rather pretend does not exist. And ironically, right in the middle of this crisis the Administration quietly admitted that since they took office, six million of our fellow citizens have fallen into poverty. That’s over ten times the evacuated population of New Orleans. Their plight is no less tragic - no less worthy of our compassion and attention. We must demand something simple and humane: healthcare for all those in need - in all years at all times.

This is the real test of Katrina. Will we be satisfied to only do the immediate: care for the victims and rebuild the city? Or will we be inspired to tackle the incompetence that left us so unprepared, and the societal injustice that left so many of the least fortunate waiting and praying on those rooftops?
snip
Katrina is the background of a new picture we must paint of America. For five years our nation's leaders have painted a picture of America where ignoring the poor has no consequences; no nations are catching up to us; and no pensions are destroyed. Every criticism is rendered unpatriotic. And if you say “War on Terror” enough times, Katrina never happens.

Well, Katrina did happen, and it washed away that coat of paint and revealed the true canvas of America with all its imperfections. Now, we must stop this Administration from again whitewashing the true state of our challenges.
http://www.johnkerry.com/pressroom/speeches/spc_2005_09_19.html