'Ownership society?' Some questions for George W. Bush...

[WilliamPitt]

For Immediate Release
August 9, 2004


ASK PRESIDENT BUSH: HOW CAN I OWN SOMETHING IF I CAN'T AFFORD MY HEALTH
CARE OR FIND A GOOD JOB?

George Bush will be meeting today with voters in Virginia to discuss his
idea of an ownership society. We are all for helping Americans with
ownership but the way George Bush pursues this goal actually increases
the burden on to the middle-class while making America even more of a
debt society.

Kerry spokesman Phil Singer said: "How can George Bush talk about
encouraging ownership when under his Administration it has become a
hardship to help families get good-paying jobs or pay for the
skyrocketing costs of health care and college? Is this his definition
of turning the corner? Instead of coming up with a plan to turn the
Bush economy around, the White House is content to recycle old ideas and
repackage them as new ones. John Kerry thinks we can do better and has
a comprehensive plan to make America stronger at home and respected in
the world."

QUESTIONS FOR GEORGE BUSH:

How Can You Talk About Real Ownership When I Can't Afford Health Care?
Today, health care premiums cost my family over $2,600 more than it did
before you took office. With prescription drug prices and other out of
pocket costs rising faster than inflation or the increase in my
paycheck, its tough to keep up with these costs. (Kaiser Family
Foundation)

How Can You Talk About Real Ownership When the Hardship is Finding a Job
that Pays the Bills? Over the past four years, the job market has not
been so stellar. A lot of people I know lost their jobs and the ones
that are coming back are paying $9,000 less than the ones we've lost. A
lot of families I know feel squeezed with income down by nearly $1,500.
This is not the kind of job creation that makes it easy to start a
business or max out in my retirement account. (Bureau of Labor
Statistics; Census Bureau)

How Can You Talk About Ownership When the Hardship is Sending My Kids to
College? I think it would be great to max out on retirement this year,
but I have more pressing needs like sending my kids to college.
Unfortunately, over the past four years the cost of college tuition has
increased by 35 percent and is now over $1,200 more than it used to
cost. (College Board)

How Can You Talk About Ownership When Filling My Car Up at the Pump Is
Squeezing My Families Budget? Over the past couple of years, I've seen
gas prices skyrocket at the pump. This past week oil prices approached
$45 a barrel, making high gas prices here to stay for a while. This is
costing my family, with two teenagers still living at home who have to
be driven around, nearly $700 more this year than it did four years ago.
We're expecting to pay over $2,800 for gas this year alone. (Department
of Energy, Household Vehicles Energy Consumption 1994, Table 5.2, August
1997; AAA Fuel Gauge Report)

AN OWNERSHIP SOCIETY THAT BENEFITS THE WEALTHY AND CREATES A NEW DEBT
SOCIETY:

Shifting From Taxing the Wealth of the Wealthy to the Work of the Middle
Class By Running Record Deficits. Over the past four years, this
administration has shifted the tax burden from the wealth of the wealthy
to the work of the middle class. At the same time, they have pushed the
size of the deficit to staggering levels. The tax cuts overwhelmingly
benefited the wealthiest Americans and shifted a greater burden of taxes
onto middle-class families. The president's new proposals will only
continue to shift this burden and add trillions to the nation's debt.

George Bush's Tax Cuts Went to the Wealthiest Americans. The Bush tax
cuts are targeted to the rich, not to the lower- and middle-income
Americans most likely to spend them. The top 1 percent get about $50
billion in tax cuts in 2004, close to one quarter of the entire tax cut.
The top 10 percent get more than the other 90 percent combined.
(Urban/Brookings Tax Policy Center)

Bush's So-Called Savings Plans Offer Virtually Nothing to 95% of
Americans While Increasing Government Debt We Pass On to Our Children.
Today, only about 5% of people contribute the maximum amount to IRAs and
401Ks while the other 95% either can't afford to put away that much or
have no retirement savings at all. By removing income caps and raising
the contribution limit from $3000 to $5000, RSAs and LSAs would do next
to nothing for the 95% who can't afford to max out existing incentives,
while offering the privileged 5% a generous new tax windfall. (Copeland,
Craig "IRA Assets and Characteristics of IRA owners," EBRI Notes,
December 2002; CBO, "Utilization of Tax Incentives for Retirement
Saving," August 2003.)

HSAs Offer Lucrative And Unprecedented Tax Shelter Benefits To The
Wealthy. HSAs permit tax-deductible contributions, investment earnings
on funds held in the accounts to grow tax-free, and tax-free withdrawals
if funds are used to pay for out-of-pocket medical costs. In other
words, funds held in these accounts are not taxed at any point. This
constitutes a tax benefit never previously allowed in the U.S. tax code
for other tax-advantaged savings accounts such as IRAs and 401(k) plans.
There are also no income limits on HSA participants, so wealthy
individuals can use them to supplement their existing retirement
accounts. (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 12/1/03)

$2 Trillion Social Security Privatization. George Bush has proposed
privatizing Social Security and creating individual retirement accounts.
This plan will not only put the fiscal future of America's seniors in
doubt, it will also cost the American taxpayers an additional $2,000
billion. (Council of Economic Advisors, Economic Report of the
President, 2004)

Bush Administration Proposed Eliminating Section 8 Housing and Removing
Protections for Renters. Bush has proposed reforms to the Section 8
housing program that would hurt American families who take advantage of
low income housing. The Washington Post reported, "The Bush
administration is proposing to transform a cornerstone of the nation's
housing policy for the poor, replacing a federal program that provides
rent vouchers to 2 million families with a system that would give broad
new powers to local housing authorities...This year's version would
eliminate a long-standing rule that families in the program, known as
Section 8, pay no more than two-fifths of their income in rent. It would
erase a requirement that three-quarters of the vouchers go to families
who are extremely poor. And it would omit the federal quality standards
that have covered all the apartments and houses in which participants
live." (Washington Post, 4/13/04)

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