From a speech he made in Houston, Texas.http://www.deanforamerica.com/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=10534“Not far from here stands Enron Tower. It symbolizes all that is wrong with our country today.
At Enron, those at the top enriched themselves by deceiving everyone else and robbing ordinary people of the future they'd earned. And the Bush Administration is following their lead. They have created an economic program that enriches their friends and supporters at the expense of ordinary working Americans. A program deserving of the name -- Enron Economics.
We were promised fiscal responsibility. We've gotten a 9 trillion dollar increase in the nation's debt over ten years. We were told that tax cuts would reduce the deficit, but the government's chief auditor -- a Republican -- says that's flat false.
Enron Economics benefits those who make the most -- their share of the tax burden declined from 28 percent in the 1990s to nearly 20 percent today. Meanwhile, everyone else suffers -- cities and states across America are raising property taxes health insurance premiums and college tuition. Schools are closing and teachers and police officers are being laid off. Funding for Medicaid and housing is being cut â'" and our infrastructure continues to crumble.
We know what happened to Enron. Moral bankruptcy led to fiscal bankruptcy. And the ethos of Enron is where our politics and policies have led us in America.
But every one of us here today knows that Enron Tower marks the end of an era, because right here, less than one mile away, the new era is being born.
And it begins with you.
Next year we will defeat George Bush. But this is not just about electing a president -- it is about changing America. And next year will only prepare us for the work we will do the year after and ten years after and fifty years after that.
We are the wealthiest and most powerful society in the history of the world. We face big challenges. And we need big ideas to match them. When the people take back their government from the powerful few who control it, we will be able to make real change for the future of our country.
The government today is no longer working for all the people. We need a new social contract for the 21st century -- based on shared responsibility and on our country's deepest values. And it should also reflect the world we live in.
Today, there are 43 million Americans who don't have health insurance. But we can make health insurance affordable for everyone.
Today, prescription drugs are more important in treating our illnesses than they ever have been before. We can make medicine affordable for everyone.
Today, college is becoming more expensive just as a college diploma is becoming more of a necessity. But we can make sure that every student who pledges to finish high school will be guaranteed $10,000 a year in grants and loans to help pay for college.
Today, more families rely on the income of women than at any time in our history, both single-parent families and two-income families. But women are still not paid as much as men. We've got to eliminate the wage gap in this country -- it's the economic issue of the next century.
Today, more families have two working parents, and childcare is becoming almost as expensive as college. But we can make sure that childcare is affordable and accessible for all Americans who need it.
Today, our tax burden has been shifted to hard work, while wealth is taxed less and less and many wasteful companies are being subsidized -- companies that leave a mess of pollution for us to clean up, or are sending jobs overseas. But we can have a fair and simple tax code -- a moral tax code -- in which hard work is rewarded first and foremost, wealth pays more of its fair share, and corporations who contribute waste to our country will be penalized for doing so.
Today, economic power is being concentrated into fewer and fewer hands. But we can check the power of mega-businesses that make decisions which affect millions of us.
Today, there are new technologies which can be the foundation of our economy for the next century. We can invest aggressively in them, just as our nation did when it invested in railroads, in rural electrification, and in public roads and highways.
Today, our energy supply relies heavily on oil from countries that set the price that we pay for a gallon of gasoline and use our money to fund terrorism. But we can create an energy policy that is ours again, relying on sources that will never run out -- solar power, wind power, and ethanol and biomass. We will reduce our dependence on foreign oil 20% by the year 2020, as the energy policy of the next century begins to bear fruit. And it will create new jobs for decades to come.”
Also, other things he says about corporate America. I hope this helps.http://www.deanforamerica.com/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=9537http://www.deanforamerica.com/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=10177http://www.deanforamerica.com/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=10534
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