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Kendall County Democratic Central Committee (click on name to email)
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Kendall County Democratic Forums
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kpfarrer
Posts:251
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| 11/17/2007 12:03 PM |
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"What to do about: The “Invisible Class” – those who make just over poverty-level income, not eligible for welfare but too poor to support a family – raise minimum wage?"
"What are you going to do to get people back to work and the economy back on track?"
Submitted by debate attendees on Nov. 12th.
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John laesch
Posts:8
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| 12/02/2007 7:22 PM |
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The working poor is growing population that can be directly attributed to Bush's anti-middle-class agenda. Here are a few ideas that would help strengthen the economy and help put America back to work.
1) Close our borders to free trade agreements like NAFTA, CAFTA and the FTAA. We need to stop off-shoring and outsourcing good-paying jobs and stop importing cheap labor. NAFTA facilitates both of these negative trends in our economy.
2) We need a progressive tax structure that asks millionaires to pay their fair share. I would reverse the Bush tax cuts for millionaires.
3) We need to raise the minimum wage to a living wage. Those who work a 40-hour work week should not be poor. Additionally, we are gonig to have to give small businesses a tax break so they can remain competitive with large corporations.
4) We need to pass a national healthcare program that cuts out the extraneous profits for insurance companies and CEO salaries. This will make American businesses more competitive and enable employers to pay their workers a fair wage.
5) It will take time to make the negative trends of globalization reverse and Congress is going to have to work hard to create jobs here in America. I would like to see more of our tax money invested in environmental initiatives. Please forgive me for cutting and pasting the answer that I used in the Daily Herald:
Initiating a new energy policy that invests heavily into renewable energy sources would create jobs, curb global warming and reduce the perceived need to maintain a military presence in the Middle East. The current price tag for the Iraq War, $1.5 trillion, could have covered the cost of a $20,000 investment for every American family to buy solar panels, wind generators or better insulate their homes.
I believe that the program would encourage more people to invest in alternative energy solutions if we offered subsidies to individuals who want to make their homes more energy efficient. If a home or business owner wants to re-insulate their homes, install solar panels or invest in wind energy, they would receive a sizeable rebate from the U.S. government.
We could stimulate the automotive industry and create even more American jobs by offering better financial incentives for people who buy a hybrid or hybrid-electric vehicle.
Financial incentives for automobiles or home remodeling could allow low and middle-income families to buy an energy efficient vehicle or make their home more energy efficient. Ultimately, we all benefit.
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