Conservative Mismanagement Threatens America's Economic Security

Conservative Mismanagement Threatens America's Economic Security

January 26, 2005

The White House's steering of the economy hit another iceberg yesterday as new reports emerged that the U.S. federal budget deficit would hit a record high of $448 billion this year.  America's economic strength will only worsen as with the additional costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the president's reckless pursuit of permanent tax cuts for the wealthy and a $2 trillion Social Security privatization plan. 

• Conservatives make the wrong choices and have the wrong priorities on the economy.  Instead of investing in the future and providing greater opportunities for the middle class to advance, conservatives want to give permanent tax breaks to the wealthy and slash spending on education and health care.  Instead of providing real incentives for Americans to save and build a secure retirement, conservatives want to undermine the integrity of the Social Security system.  These may be conservative values, but they are not the values of average Americans trying to get by and get ahead. 
  
  
• Their mismanagement of the economy has dire consequences for America.  In the short term, the budgetary mess will be used a ruse to cut and cap important domestic spending and threatens our ability to protect the homeland and fight terrorism abroad.  Over the long term, conservative incompetence on the economy will erode America's economic strength, turning the country into a second-rate power saddled with debt owned by foreign governments and banks. 
  
  
• Americans deserve policies that provide economic opportunity, promote a solid middle class, and reward hard work.  Rather than blindly following failed trickle-down economics of the past, progressives want pro-growth policies that invest in people so they can help build the economy and secure a solid standard of living.  We should reward those who work, not just those who thrive on unearned wealth and investments.  America's strength lies in the ingenuity and productivity of its workers and the fiscal responsibility and stewardship of its leaders.  Unfortunately, both priorities have been ignored by the current conservative leadership.    

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