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Can
We Endure Four More Years of Misery?
May
18, 2004
By Evelyn Pringle
 While
watching George W. Bush's attack ads against John Kerry on
TV, I realized something was missing. Like what Bush plans
to do about the economic problems if he's elected to four
more years.
For over three years, all we've heard about is tax cuts,
tax cuts, and more tax cuts. When is he going to admit that
his tax cuts have done nothing to stimulate the economy or
produce job growth and come up with a plan B?
All of Bush's ads try to paint Kerry as being against tax
relief, so let's set the record straight. Kerry will not raise
taxes on the middle class, he will not eliminate the child
tax credit, and he will not reinstate the marriage penalty.
But I'll tell you what he will do to fund his economic
policies. He will roll back Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy,
and work to eliminate each and every corporate tax loophole
so that corporations will pay their share of taxes. And one
of the first to go will be the one that allows companies to
set up an off-shore mail box in order to rip off billions
of dollars from the tax rolls.
The country's economic forecast is not good. According to
the newly released Middle-Class Misery Index for 2003, health
care premiums are up 11%, college tuition is up 13%, and gasoline
is up 15%, while wages are down 2%.
While I've heard nothing about a Bush plan to address these
problems, Kerry proposes a series of specific policies aimed
at reducing health care premiums, helping families pay for
college, and reducing gas prices.
Kerry will offer $177 billion in tax credits to reduce yearly
health insurance premiums by $1,000 per family and within
three years he wants all Americans to have access to the same
health care plan available to members of Congress.
Families are now spending $300 more a year on gasoline than
when Bush took office. So what has Bush done about it? He's
spent millions of dollars on TV ads to try to convince the
public that the rising cost of gas is somehow Kerry's fault.
So far as I know, that's his whole policy in a nutshell.
Kerry has a plan to lower the price of gasoline. While he
works to convince OPEC to increase production, he will suspend
filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. He will promote long-term
energy independence by advancing the use of renewable fuels
and promoting fuel efficient cars and homes.
Bush has presided over the worst job loss of any President
since Hoover. 2.6 million private sector jobs are gone. Yet,
I've heard of no Bush plan for job creation, other than his
standard mantra of more tax cuts.
Kerry has a strategy to stimulate job growth. He will make
a $50 billion package available to the states to increase
manufacturing incentives and to stop the outsourcing of jobs
overseas, he will extend tax credits to companies that create
jobs in the US.
Kerry realizes the importance of a college education and
has a plan that will help students pay for college with a
College Opportunity Tax Credit and a Service for College Program.
He will provide a credit for each year of college on the first
$4,000 paid in tuition and the Service for College plan will
provide the cost of four years at a public college to young
people in exchange for serving their communities and country
in national service
Kerry's been out there talking about his agenda every day
for months. Its time for Bush to stop the attack ads and start
telling people what he plans to do about the economic problems
in this country if he's elected to four more years.
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