Balls and Savy

NDOL seems to support the economic plans of Lieberman and Edwards revealed this week. Excerpts:

Lieberman called for a three-part strategy to revive progress against poverty:

Intensifying welfare reform by giving families "the child care, job training and other resources they need to find and keep good jobs," along with expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit and elimination of the marriage penalty.

Helping poor families save and create wealth through a "dramatic" expansion of tax-free Individual Development Accounts in which government will match personal savings to buy a home, go to college, get job training or start a small business.

Empowering people to fight against poverty-inducing social conditions like educational failure, family breakdown, early childbearing and delinquency.

Meanwhile, Edwards proposed canceling several recent Bush tax cuts for the top 2 percent of Americans in order to provide working families with incentives for savings and wealth creation. Specifically, Edwards called for:

"American Dream Tax Credits" that would offset half the cost of down payments on a first home.

"Matching Savings Accounts" that would offer a dollar in refundable tax credits for every dollar saved for retirement by families with incomes up to $50,000.

A cut in dividend and capital gains taxes for low-to-moderate income families.

The proposals are supported by the assumptions that there will be tax cuts for the poor and the recent tax cuts for the rich will be reversed. Do these guys really think that will happen? The rich (who control everything) may not give a damn about tax breaks for the poor, but when was the last time they supported higher taxes on themselves? It's not going to happen, and these candidates are wasting our time mentioning it.

The other main source of revenue to pay for these proposed social programs would be through a reduced military budget, a budget that is greater than 99% of the GDP's on this planet. But what Senator or Representative from state XYZ is going to throw their support behind reducing the number of bases in their state, or the number of contracts for companies in their state that sell military weapons and equipment? Let's be realistic and admit that no sane Congressman would do such a thing.

What does that leave us? The only option is to make sure we get, into the White House, a Democrat who has the balls and savy to successfully fight the Republicans in Congress. (That eliminates Lieberman and Edwards right off the bat.) How do we know it will work? Can anyone remember way back to about three years ago during something called the "Clinton Administration"? Even Lieberman admitted:

Lieberman noted the remarkable poverty-fighting record of the Clinton-Gore administration, which "produced the lowest African-American poverty rate ever measured -- and the lowest Hispanic poverty rate in 20 years -- double-digit income growth -- especially for the bottom 20 percent -- and the smallest welfare rolls in 32 years."

It's been done and it can be done again. Find your candidate who has the determination and intelligence necessary, and throw your support behind him or her. Now. (Thanks, NDOL, for stoking my ire.)