Populist tax plans: Edwards vs Lieberman

[dumpster_baby]

I hope this thread does not get locked because I am quoting from an article that is critical of Edwards. Edwards is one of my top 2 choices. But this article brings out some good points about Edwards and especially when looking at his tax plan as compared to Clark and Lieberman.
Here are the telling quotes:
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Edwards talks a good talk about the "two Americas" that President Bush has allegedly cleaved with his tax cuts for the "most fortunate 2 percent." But in his policy blueprints, the Democratic presidential contender exhibits a marked ambivalence toward wealth and capitalism.

Edwards won't stray from one compulsory Dem plank: He'd cancel the Bush tax cuts for workers who earn more than $240,000 a year. But his tax plan passes for moderate among this crop of candidates.

He (Edwards) wouldn't create a new nosebleed 44-plus percent tax bracket for top earners - Gen. Wesley Clark and Sen. Joe Lieberman would. He wouldn't repeal Bush's middle-class tax cuts to pay for a universal health-care entitlement - Gov. Howard Dean would. (comment: Dean's plan is NOT Universal Health Care) He wouldn't pump tens of billions of federal taxpayer dollars into state government coffers to attain a quick economic fix - Dean and Sen. John Kerry would.

Edwards' economic plans betray a surprisingly keen faith in the free market's ability to create jobs and wealth. He sees private investment, not top-down government planning, as the gateway to economic growth.

More here:
http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/16664.htm

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Well, I strongly distrust the author's supply side arguments here. Most of the "investment" in the market these days winds going to feed a lot of financial engineering and marketeerist hype, especially the science. I see a lot of good science coming out of supposedly "socialist" countries like Finland, Sweden, etc.

But are we missing the boat on Lieberman? I am already in the Clark camp (he is really my first choice b/c of his progressive tax plan), but I have disregarded Lieberman as a conservative. But that nice tax hike (not nearly big enough, tho) proposed by Joe L really strikes me as something a LIBERAL would do, not a conservative. Did we misjudge Joe here in this race?

[denverbill]

1. No.