Issue Position: Job Crisis
Issue Position
Job Crisis - Economy - Fiscal Responsibility
Washington's 6th District has experienced over a 70% increase in unemployment over the past 2 years*. This is unacceptable. Although current elected officials state they are "for jobs", over-expansive government and fiscal irresponsibility on the part of these elected officials have prevented our local economy from having the kind of foundation that would provide us any chance of survival in a downfall. In order to ensure we slide no further down this slope, we must rebuild, lay healthy economic foundations, cut government spending as all budgets must be cut in a recession- government is not the exception to the rule. We must encourage free market enterprise, ease the tax burden on small businesses which historically account for generating 64%** of net new jobs over the past 15 years, and strengthen our local economies by passing on the bailouts and practicing fiscal responsibility in our government. We cannot afford to spend another two years standing by while our elected officials irresponsibly spend our tax dollars. We cannot allow another era for elected officials to pad the wallets of their families and special interest groups with our hard earned dollars, while doing nothing to set the stage responsibly for a healthy economy where our natural free markets will thrive. It is time to change this trend now.
*Link to 14 month average unemployment rate by County in the US:
http://www.bls.gov/lau/laucntycur14.txt
Link to 2008 and 2009 Unemployment Rates by County:
ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/la/laucnty08.txt
ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/la/laucnty09.txt
**SBA Stats 2009
http://www.sba.gov/advo/stats/sbfaq.pdf
SBA Stats 2010 First Quarter:
http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/sbqei1001.pdf
MY PLAN:
No Bailouts to Failed Corporations and Special Interests
The "bailouts" of various financial institutions by the Federal Reserve and the United States Treasury shows emphatically that our current national leadership prefers inside deals and "crony capitalism" to the Constitution and the people.Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, AIG etc. were all bankrupt corporations whose shareholders should have been wiped out by the errors of company management. Instead, the Government used our money to pay off the hundreds of billions of dollars of debts of these corporations. Without exception, you can expect that some of the money given to these companies will filter back into the campaign war chests of its chief sponsors.This is Corruption at the highest level of our Government. Essentially, the Government has taken money from ordinary citizens to bail out inept gamblers who destroyed their companies in wild speculations. This massive corruption is what my campaign is fighting against.
End Wasteful and Misguided "Stimulus" Spending
The $749 Billion stimulus package enacted by Congress has been shown to be a failure. Furthermore it has resulted in massive political payoffs to Wall Street insiders, the Union bosses, and the Political class.Most of the stimulus - approximately 500 billion dollars of it - remains to be spent. This money will judiciously be spent to buy votes for political incumbents as the 2010 elections approach.The stimulus has not resulted in the 8.5% unemployment rate promised by it's proponents. Indeed the current official unemployment rate is 9.7% and the broader measures of unemployment are upwards of 20%.
Goldman Sachs, General Motors, Bank of America etc. were all bankrupt corporations whose shareholders should have been wiped out. But instead the Government uses our money to pay off those in control of these companies. Without exception you can expect that some of the Billions of dollars of "aid" given to these companies will filter back into the campaign war chests of its chief sponsors. This is Corruption at the highest level of our Government. It is what I am fighting against.
Block the Job-Killing "Cap-and-Trade" Tax Scheme
I agree with the columnist who stated that the "Cap and Tax" proposal supported by Norm Dicks is "all cost, no benefit" for America. It is a significantly intrusive piece of legislation that would impose enormous costs on American households, including sharp rises in gasoline and electric costs. Yet it would offer, at best, only a slight benefit in terms of CO2 emissions."Cap and Tax" would also send many, many more jobs to China and other economic rivals who will not be putting these same new regulations on their job creators. Our political class today loves regulation and picking the losers and winners in the economy through corrupt back-room deals. Politically favored big businesses such as GE, the world government crowd, and [...]
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