Kerry Proposes Economic Aid to States

Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry on Thursday proposed sending $25 billion to states struggling with budget deficits as part of a broader plan to jump-start the economy and spur job creation.

The two-year "State Tax Relief and Education" fund would help states that have had to cut education spending and lay off police and firefighters under Bush administration policies that have "brought back the days of deficits, debt and doubt," Kerry said.

"When it comes to creating opportunity, restoring fiscal discipline, putting values back into our economy, and preparing for the jobs of the future, George Bush hasn't lifted a finger. I intend to move mountains," Kerry said at the University of New Hampshire, where he outlined an economic package that mixed new ideas with some old proposals.

"Let me put it plainly: If Americans aren't working, America's not working," the Massachusetts senator said.

http://www.johnkerry.com/news/releases/pr_2003_0828.html

and I hope Kerry gets to implement it from the Senate during Dean's first term.

(For all you honorable Kerry fans out there, I'm just tweaking Nick) ;)

:bounce:

This is the one area in which Dean is going to lose a portion of his current support to Dean.

No matter HOW Dean and his supporters try to spin it, Deans attempts to reverse the Bush Tax cuts, are a tax increase, and Kerry's plan to keep the poritons of the cuts to give to the middle class will be FAR more popular with them than Deans proposals. Republicans will call the attempts to repeal the cuts a tax increase adn Kerry is the only person stating that he is going to let the middle class KEEP what they got, while assiting the states in order to get the states to be able to lower the taxes they had to raise in order to deal with the Bush cuts to state finding.

One if the things in the 2000 elections that Democrats had to Deal with were the massive popularity of Bush's proprosed tax cut, andtheir dissilusionment with the reality of the cuts, the bulk going to the wealthy.

August 17, 1999:
Would you vote for this man? Polls continue to show little sign of progress for the Vice President, and he even sinks to 25% in the latest Fox poll during a three-way matchup with Governor Jesse Ventura. Things are so tough that Bill Bradley has even pulled to within single digits in the Fox poll. Elsewhere, Gallup finds that voters would be kind to lawmakers who vote for the GOP tax cut plan, although this could change rapidly when considering the President's rhetorical skills.

http://www.evote.com/index.asp?Page=/polls_section/1999-08/archive.asp

Dean supporter revisionist history of the 2000 election state that the Bush tax cuts were unpopular and unsupported, but information from that period states quite the opposite.


4) PROVIDE TAX RELIEF TO MIDDLE CLASS FAMILIES RATHER AND CRACK DOWN ON UNFAIR RELIEF FOR CORPORATE AMERICA. President Bush has turned a blind eye to struggling American families, despite the fact that today’s two-earner families are earning 75 percent more than their single earner family counterparts a generation ago, but they have less money to spend due to soaring housing costs, day care, college tuition, and health care. John Kerry would:

Keep the Middle Class Tax Cuts to Help Families Make Ends Meet. John Kerry believes that we should keep the middle class tax cuts that Democrats fought for in 2001 and 2003, which increased the child tax credit, reduced the marriage penalty and lowered tax rates. He strongly disagrees with Democrats who want to repeal these tax cuts, which would cost a typical middle-class family with two children an additional $2000.

Help Americans Get Ahead.

College Tax Cut: John Kerry will help Americans get ahead with his new “College Opportunity Tax Credit” by ensuring college is available for four years for every American.

Helping Create Wealth in the Stock Market: John Kerry opposes the dividend tax cuts in the 2003 tax bill that result in receptionists paying higher tax rates than CEOs. However, he does believe that middle class Americans should get more from their investments and will lower capital gains and dividend taxes for the middle class.


http://www.johnkerry.com/news/releases/pr_2003_0828.html


The Deans ideas on repealing the Bush tax cuts are attackable from MANY directions, but so far, Dean has been runniing a sole campaign with the other candidates not really running so far.

It has been stated almost from the beginning, that only a candidate who can provide financial relief to the states without fiscally effecting the middle class will be able to get middle class, and in particular, blue collar middle class support.

Deans plan does as more harm to the middle class than Bush's tax cuts have, as they remove the tax cuts they received under Bush, without removing the higer rates they must now pay at the state level.

Deans plan ends up with the middle class paying more out in their paychecks for federal income taxes, while also paying the increased state taxation.

"This is the one area in which Dean is going to lose a portion of his current support to Dean" - seems like kind of a zero sum kind of thing. :)

Here's a thought: Not everyone in this country lives in the la la land of ideas where if they just paid less money in taxes everything would be great. Just because the rich will vote for a sock puppet as long as he lowers their taxes, some of us realize that good things can be accomplished through taxes.

Our poop can be whisked away from our houses because of taxes. Firemen are supported through taxes. People aren't lying begging in the street (well they didn't used to be so much) because of taxes. Tax money, when used to create a better society to live in, benefits me as well.

That's just a grown up reality. Promising people that we can get this country back on its feet and still keep this misguided, ill-timed, and reckless tax cut (just their part, of course!) may not be the most honest way to approach the problem.

Just food for thought.

Edit to add smiley face so everyone knows where to laugh.
Also edit for grammar.

...oh, never mind.....Good idea!

I don't catch your point.

Nic has been known to "occasionally" post anti-Dean threads. This time he posted something positive about his candidate. Nary a mention of the "Devil." Get it? ha ha....uh ha...ewww ;(

It's been rough in here some times.

One of my ideas and John Kerry's is to divide $100 billion
between the 50states as an infrastructure rebuilding project
kind of something like FDR did with the new deal.
Called the New Century
Better to keep the money here in the US
then to send it over to Iraq

top 1% of the wealthy instead of everyone.

I know what I'll be doing today! Got to print this out and commit it to memory for the on-coming wars!

I absolutely loved his last economic speech. I am very excited to see how he elaborates, how he adjusted to new conditions, and what brand spankin' new ideas he's spanked out.

Ok, I admit it. I'm a policy dork. But in my mind, I'm still damn sexy, baby! Yeah!

<>

I do like Kerry a lot, hes always been a bonafide liberal democrat who I can agree with on many issues.