I know I've been HARSH on Dean......... (re Krugman on Fresh Air)

[AP]

and maybe a lot of it is based on the anticipation that he's headed in a direction which he may not be heading, and I met yet find my self appologizing for everything I've said, however....

for anyone who listened to Krugman, did you hear what he said the ENTIRE PURPOSE of the Bush administration was? He said it was a roll back of America to Herbert Hoover. He said that they want to deny the US the money to conduct those social programs we've been conducting. He said that they're trying to transfer all the burdens of running society to the middle class, and all the benefits to the rich.

I grant that he has been talking about the defecit, but what he's also talking about is the big picture, which includes the sytem of taxation which shifts the burdens to the poor and benefits to the wealthy. I believe he said that running defecits is good if it's short term and leads to greater wealth down the road.

So, if Krugman's right, shouldn't we be looking for the democratic nominee to be talking about these same issues? Shouldn't the debate be about how we're going to equalize the burden? Shouldn't we be talking about how the burden needs to be taken off the middle class and shifted to the people/companies which have been benefitting so imensely for the last couple decades?

Maybe I'm wrong. But I'll need convincing if I am.

[pruner]

1. Dean is not the Democratic nominee (yet)

what the hell are you talking about?

[AP]

4. Apparently he's number one, so if anyone else wants the nomination

apparently, they have to convince everyone they're better than Dean.

This one's obvious. If I'm worried that Dean isn't the best person, I'm going to have to talk about Dean.

[Capn Sunshine]

2. So what about Dean hasn't impressed you he believes this?

His statements on the California recall were part and parcel of the same take.

He's stated Bush's/the neocons policy is to roll back the clock to the 1800s.

[AP]

5. Mostly, I was stunned by his comments at the Philadelphia fundraiser

which were related here.

I was very confused by the debate with Kerry over middle class taxcuts, which is essentially a debate over progressive taxation. I thought that this was going to be the most important issue this year, and I presumed everyone was on board with it. When the DU favorite suggested otherwise, I was nervours.

When I read those Philadelphia comments, I got sick. It appears that it's more than just a committement to defecit reduction (going way beyond Clinton's attitudes towards defecit reduction), it's a serious lack of interest in unburdening the middle class.

[KittyWampus]

15. The Problem Isn't Middle Class Taxation, I Think

If I understand Krugman, anyway, we (workingclass) are still undertaxed compared to other industrialized nations.

The problem is that corporations and uber wealthy are not paying enough taxes... by a very large margin.

So perhaps we should repeal the entire Bush tax cuts and then RAISE rates on those making over a quater
million a year EVEN MORE.

And also, start making sure multinatnional corporations start paying into the system.

[AP]

21. I'm all for more progressive taxation any way you get it.

But I'm not sure that Dean is for it.

He talks about simplifying the tax code, targeting relief at the poor, and saying that the middle class don't need a break. I haven't yet heard him suggest that he want's to get the burden shifted off the middle class and onto the corporations.

My feeling is, keep the tax cuts for the middle class so that you're working from a more progressive starting point (as Alabama has proven today, it's very hard to even get to the progressive baseline), and then if you need more revenue, raise taxes, first on the super rich and corporations, then on the upper middle class, and last, on the middle and working class.

[hedda_foil]

23. How the FUCK did you get that spin out of the account of the fundraiser???

It's 180 degrees off, AP.

[KittyWampus]

12. Dean Thinks Bloated Pentagon Spending Is Just Hunky Dory

Despite the fact trillions of dollars have gone missing from their budget TWICE in the last several years.

Yet Dean won't cut military spending and then he goes on to say that's because of Terrorism... even though
Pentagon spending has NOT much to do with defending our Homeland against terrorism.

Supporting our first responders and border/coast guard is where the money needs to go.

TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS HAVE GONE MISSING TWICE.... 2 seperate occassions.

Not millions or billions. TRILLIONS!

And we are grousing about 87 billion for the war in Iraq???

Trillions missing is NOT some guys buying golf shoes in every color and yachts to match.

Yet Dean doesn't think the Pentagon needs to "tighten it's belt".'

Why, I wonder...

[AP]

13. To me, Pentagon budget is more of an issue of where it's going

If it's going to soldier's salaries, and teaching them skills that are valuable after they leave the service (like they show in the commercials) I think it's great.

If the budget goes towards star wars and other transfers of huge sums of money to bloated monopolist friends of Senators, I'm not so enthusiastic.

[KittyWampus]

16. This Is Trillions Missing- Unaccounted For

Who knows, maybe they went to covertly fund some new version of Saddam or Bin Laden...

As a Dem candidate, wouldn't it make sense to say the following:

If thePentagon can't find those trillions then they should have
a few trillion shaved of its budget til it manages to account for them?

This money is doing something covertly... and since its the Pentagon, it's probably not pretty.

I'm glad some of the candidates started talking about Halliburton in Iraq...that was important to me.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

3. you can't expect leadership from Dean on this

Edwards could really pick up the south will a populist economic message. So far he's done a good job, he did great in both the CBCI debate and the first one.

[CWebster]

6. interestingly enough

Did anyone happen to catch Krugman on Russert the other night? He refers to himself as a "Moderate democrat" and admits to being a "freetrader".

[dsc]

7. I admit I didn't hear the entire interview

(I missed the first 11 minutes) but what I heard was a man very. very concerned about deficits. He mentioned us not being able to borrow due to us not being considered serious about deficits. He mentioned needing money to pay for those post Hoover programs. Maybe we didn't listen to the same interview but that is the message I got.

[indigo32]

8. Absolutely true about Bush and the Neocons

Repubs today make no bones about it... NEW DEAL GONE, PUBLIC EDUCATION GONE, all of it.

Frankly I think that we are really going to face a campaign about the Iraq war... like it or not... thats how it'll be framed.

I wish I could offer you the assurances you need, personally I can't imagine a Dem who doesn't believe in certain economic issues and I don't think Dean is anything less. Frankly I'd like to think that rolling back Bushes regressive tax cuts, and he explicitely talks about their regressiveness, would be of some comfort. I think he understands the concept well enough.

[AP]

10. The College Democrats just endorsed Edwards, not because of Iraq positon

but because he sounds like the one who's going to make sure there's a job out there for them when they graduate.

Now, I don't know what the College Dem's success rate is for their endorsements, but it just seems to me that at this time in America's history, the things that are worrying the college students happen to be the same things worrying a majority of Americans.

[indigo32]

22. Oh I'm not saying I think the Iraq situation is the be all end all

I'm just saying thats how Bush and his advisors will frame the debate.

[w4rma]

9. I don't see what more you want from him.

Dean wants to balance the budget, repeal Bush's tax-shifts for the wealthy (that are bankrupting the U.S. treasury), favor small buisnesses over big buisnesses (partially because they stay in America and don't export our jobs) and expand health-care to the currently uninsured (shifting some resources to the middle and lower classes).

He's also, IMHO, the primary reason that the rest of the Democratic field are attacking Bush because he showed them how to do it.

He's only human. I don't see what more you want from him.

[AP]

11. A firm statement that he's for more progressive taxation (regardless

of whether its used to raise more or less tax revenue) and some acknowledgement that some of the burden is going to have to come off the working and middle class and will have to be put on the rich companies/individuals who've made off like bandits the last 20 years.

[dsc]

14. That doesn't appear to be what Krugman

himself would advocate. He seems avery bit the hawk on the deficit that Dean is.

[KittyWampus]

17. He Advocate Deficits For Specific Purposes

Not deficits to lavish money on contributors...

but deficits to create jobs...

On Russert he mentioned the need for spending on the order of theNew Deal... I THINK...

[dsc]

18. To the point that he does

that has nothing to do with progressive taxation. Krugman is in favor of short term deficits for long term projects and for economic stimulus. Maybe some middle class tax cuts would qualify but not the ones being discussed. The only cuts that can be called middle class were child credits and a slight rate cut. Neither did beans as a stimulus.

[AP]

24. Krugman said that defecits that are investments in the future

are good defecits. He said you can't run defecits forever. He said the problem with Bush is that he's running huge, irrepairable defecits, so there will be trouble. Krugman said at liberaloasis that the middle cass taxcuts could probably remain because they won't make a big enough difference in the deficit and the tax code could use some progressivity.

What Krugman said was that Bush is trying to burden the middle class and unburdent the wealthy and this is very wrong. Progressive taxation is about equalizing the burden.

[sendero]

19. I heard most of that interview...

... and Ms. Gross is no pushover interviewer either :)

I missed the part about Dean but I will say that Krugman was very impressive, he seemed to know what he was talking about yet had enough humility to back away from one earlier prediction.

As for his claims about the aims of the present administration, I think that this is not news to most of use, but it is good to hear it on the airwaves....

[hedda_foil]

20. Dean HAS BEEN talking about these things, damnit!

In those words! He's stated specifically that the goal of the Bush admin is to defund all social programs. He's talking about shifting the burden to the people who have benefited so immensely as you say. For God's sake, man, stop getting all your information on Dean secondhand. He's actually the candidate who has been loudly speaking out on exactly what you're demanding ... and he began doing so MONTHS ago.

[Orangepeel]

25. seems pretty clear to me

The economic policies of the Bush Administration are misguided, unfair and unsuccessful.

They fail to meet the basic standard of economic justice: decent, well-paying jobs for all who want them. They are policies that have created a legacy of debt for future generations. Huge tax cuts that benefit the wealthy are starving essential government services like education and homeland security, and forcing states and local governments to increase sales, income and property taxes. While America’s wealthiest individuals - those in the top 2 per cent of income brackets - receive the bulk of the tax cuts, America’s middle class is left behind.

<snip>

The ideologues gathered around the President have a more ambitious goal -- to repeal the progressive legacy of the Twentieth Century. They want to return to a time when private wealth was insulated from the graduated income tax, and the many labored for the benefit of the few. They would ignore the widening gap between rich and poor, shred the safety nets that provide at least some protection for the unfortunate, and dismantle the safeguards that protect consumers and workers alike.

http://www.deanforamerica.com/site/PageServer?pagename=policy_statement_economy