Which candidate proposes the wisest fiscal policy?

[jpgray]

[Paulie]

1. Dennis

For the simple reason is he will cut the bloated Pentagon budget and get us out of Iraq as soon as possible. If we don't save the lives of our troops, along with the budget, what future do we have????

http://www.d-n-i.net/charts_data/evolution_of_the_fy_2004_supplemental.htm

[Mairead]

19. Don't forget that he'll end the drugs war and legalise pot

Which will not only stop a multi-billion dollar drain, but increase tax income.

[Zynx]

2. None of them.

We can't take a slow approach on cutting the budget deficit and we can't afford any large programs either. Social Security surpluses will start declining rather than growing starting around 2013 or so. We can't only achieve a surplus by that point. We need to get rid of the deficit entirely by 2010 at the latest.

[snoochie]

3. Kucinich

We can't afford to have both guns and butter.

Wars for empire and an expanding war on drugs will ensure the end of the social welfare programs started under FDR.

I honestly can't believe Democrats back this stuff.

[OhioStateProgressive]

5. "both guns and butter"

'we have warehouses of butter, we got oceans of wine.
We got famine when we need it,
we got design-a-crime.
We got Mercendes, we've got porsche, ferrari and rolls royce...yeah, we got choice.
She said meet me in the garden, we've got salmon in my dear, and the lord said "Peter, I can see your house from here..."

R. Waters

lyrics seemed appropriate:)

[flaminbats]

6. We cannot afford to have both a police state and a welfare state...

Republicans love to lump everything bad into the welfare state category, and everything wonderful into the national security category. If we want to have a meaningful debate we need an investment category and a pork barrel category. And this is a debate we can have..with Kucinich as our nominee.

Kerry, Edwards, Kucinich, and even Sharpton are pushing a variety of Bush-lite tax-cut proposals. But at least Kucinich pays for his health care plan with a 7% tax on employers, and his tax-cuts with a 15% reduction in the bloated military budget. And only he would abolish the Department of Homeland Investigation.

[quinnox]

4. Gephardt and Dean

I liked the fiscal discipline of rolling back all the tax cuts and using it for healthcare. I have to agree with deficit hawks on principle, it's getting out of hand. 7 trillion bucks is outrageous!!

[ThirdWheelLegend]

7. Yeah but he's unelectable and should be exluded..

Exclude Kucinich from the debates, he makes the 'frontrunners' look bad!!!

Time for unity against Bush with a corporatist Dem!!

Long live Manufactured Consent!

TWL

[LWolf]

8. As usual.

An issues poll, and Dennis leads.

A who will you vote for poll, and someone else does.

How many democrats care about issues enough to vote for them?

[redqueen]

13. It is very frustrating

DK is the only one willing to cut the defense budget. That does it for me.

1/2 our discretionary spending is too much.

He's got my vote. :)

[LittleDannySlowhorse]

9. Howard Dean

In my humble opinion.

[HFishbine]

10. Dean

by far. The word "wise" can't even be applied to the others except DK.

[AP]

11. Here's the biggest threat to fiscal security:

and only Edwards is addressing it.

Household Wealth Maldistribution

U.S. wealth distribution is extremely concentrated, much more so than income.

<1998 data from The State of Working America 2000/2001, Economic Policy Institute. Current distribution and of wealth is much more unequal, as it has been substantially accelerating under the Bush tax, budget, and regulatory regimes. >

Percent of wealth owners, percent of total wealth, average wealth of class
0.5% 26% (not available)
1% 34% $10,200,000
5% 57% $1,400,000
10% 69% $623,000
20% 82% $345,000
bottom
20% n/a -$8,900

The bottom 80% of wealth owners now own less than 15% of this country’s wealth.

96% of all common stocks are owned by the top 20%.

I'm interested in this 85+% of the wealth sequestered in the top-20-percenters' assets because, while this is the supposed “investor class,” the effect of their “investments” is a generation-long decrease in the overall U.S. and global quality of life.

Bush's tax-based legacy to the rich, just his tax-based legacy, is around $2 trillion (nine zeros), and growing. That doesn't even count his budgetary and regulatory largesse. God forbid wealth would flow-not-trickle down into local infrastructure projects that would provide full livelihood incomes and safety nets for the 80% of us who are now scraping over our meager share — less than 15% — of this country's wealth.

Just $1 trillion can be visualized as billion dollar grants to 1000 cities
with which each could build 10,000 $100,000 homes, which they could rent for
$500 per month and derive enough income to maintain and grow that housing
stock 5% annually (500+ per year new houses). That's giving 30,000,000 in-debt individuals (and an additional 1.5 million people per year) an opportunity not to have to pay 50% of their income for housing.

Oh, and for every $1 invested in construction, at least $3 are leveraged
into local economies. So, in addition to the 500+ new houses built in each
city in each outyear, there's an annual injection of $150 million in productive activity in each local economy.

[RichM]

12. DK. (If you don't cut defense, you're dodging the issue.)

[AP]

15. Defense spending can be a GREAT way to spread wealth to working class

Defense spending should be a bout people. We should spend money to make soldiers' lives good -- feed them, train them, have them protect the country for a few years, and then send them out in the work force where their skills will create more wealth for America.

We spend too much money on useless weapons programs and not enough on people.

[redqueen]

18. Which is why Kucinich routinely addresses such wasteful weapons programs

Wish more candidates would. Wonder why they don't.

[vet_against_Bush]

14. I like them all!, over W period, n/t

[jansu]

16. Dean is and he is still a Candidate!

He just stopped campaigning, he did not withdraw! I, among many Dean supporters will be voting for him come our Primary time. I will vote ABB in November,but until then, I will stand by my principles! As I hope all of you are doing!

[diamondsoul]

17. Kick n/t