Carol Moseley-Braun on Budget & EconomyFormer IL Senator; Democratic Candidate for President |
MOSELEY BRAUN: You have to create jobs and you have to get the economy going to create the robustness in the economy that will produce the revenue to balance the budget. I mean, balancing the budget is a priority that will come when we create jobs.
When Bill Clinton became president, we balanced the budget and created jobs and had this country on a good economic foot and the people were doing well. We were in a time of prosperity. This administration has not only had a job hemorrhage, but sent us into record deficits. Their policy of borrow and pass the buck has just simply shifted the responsibilities not only to state and local governments and tax payers but to our grandchildren, and that's wrong. We, as the Democratic Party, stand for getting this economy back on track and preserving the promise of the American dream that we will pay our bills as we go.
A: In 1993 I voted as a Senator for an economic plan that created new economic growth and balanced the budget. We should build schools and housing, not prisons, and focus as much on crime prevention as punishment, by addressing violence and education, health (including mental health), and poverty as we right now spend on trying to resolve the aftermaths of our neglect.
This is economy is not working for working people, because the Bush crowd does not appreciate, understand or have any respect for working people. Democrats believe that government can play a constructive role to serve the public interests, to serve everybody.