Mike Huckabee on Jobs Former Republican AR Governor; possible draft candidate

Wages for bottom 90% of the economy stagnant for 40 years

3 million jobs left since 2001, but not due to trade

One solution obviously is to prepare our children and grandchildren for the work world of the 21st century, and we must do that. As governor, I set up back-to-basics programs in math and reading that improved test scores dramatically

Continue farm subsidies for low prices & competitiveness

What can government do to help our farmers? We must continue subsidies because our farmers compete with highly subsidized farmers in Europe and Asia, and they face fixed costs (land, equipment, seed, supplies) whether or not they produce a crop. Subsidies insulate farmers from natural disasters like droughts, floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes, as well as from sudden spikes in the price of fuel, feed, and fertilizer.

No class warfare: talk to both rich & poor

A: Not at all. It is not class warfare. Look, I’m not about wanting to make rich people poor. I just would like to see that poor people have a chance to get rich. If we have an economic system that ignores the fact that $3-a-gallon gasoline really does hurt a working class family, health care costs going up double digits, really affects people’s lifestyle--we’ve got people who, when asked how’s the economy doing--they just say, “It’s just doing terrific.” The macro economy is doing great. You can take a look at the stock market, and it looks great. But translate that down to the factory worker who loses his job, take that down to the single parent for whom every day is a struggle to keep food on the table, and our party had better be talking to those people, because there’s a whole lot of them.

Excessive taxes, red tape, and litigation cause job losses

Unions more prominent to fight high CEO salaries

A: The real fact is, unions are going to take a more prominent role in the future for one simple reason: A lot of American workers are finding that their wages continue to get strapped lower and lower while CEO salaries are higher and higher. And the reality is that when you have the average CEO salary 500 times the average worker, and you have the hedge fund manager making 2,200 times that of the average worker, you’re going to create a level of discontent that’s going to create a huge appetite for unions. So unions are the natural result of workers finally saying, “Look, I can’t go from a $70,000-a-year job to a $15,000-a-year job and feed by family of four.” That’s when unions are going to come back in roaring form.

Blacks still face racism & unequal opportunity in job market

A: Part of that is it is that there is still racism in this country, & the opportunities aren’t the same. Some of it has to do with the fact that there are people who unfortunately still look at a person’s face & their skin, and that’s something that government can’t change, but leadership certainly can speak to. One of the things all of us need to be aware of is that there isn’t an equal opportunity for every American yet. There just isn’t. We could say there is, but it’s not true. And the reason answer is to make sure that there are not only educational opportunities that bring equality, employment opportunities that ensure that people have the same chances as anybody else.

No “sexual orientation” in Employment Non-Discrimination Act

• HUCKABEE: Yes.
• TANCREDO:Yes.
• COX: Yes.
• BROWNBACK:Yes.
• PAUL:Yes.
• HUNTER:Yes.
• KEYES: Yes.

Supports farm subsidies & fully-funded crop insurance

• We need subsidies to help our farmers compete with heavily subsidized farmers in Europe & Asia and to insulate them from the effects of natural disasters.
• We need a counter cyclical revenue program that makes payments based on low yields or low prices; & we need a fully-funded crop insurance program.
• Our agricultural policies must encourage young people to enter & stay in farming.
• As President, I will watch out for our farmers because our national well-being depends on theirs.

More R&D & tax incentives for small farmers.

Resolved, That the Southern Governors’ Association, with respect to the 2002 farm bill, urges Congress and the Administration to:
• Create a major funding research and development block grant initiative to state departments of agriculture and other appropriate state entities which could work with universities and non-traditional research entities to spur value-added processing;
• Discourage, eliminate and prosecute “insurance farmers” under the crop insurance program and require coverage of farmers for disaster relief payments eligibility;
• Urge the U.S. Justice Department to review the implications of the consolidation of agricultural businesses with respect to the Sherman Anti-trust Act and assign a senior level Justice official to this task;
• Support programs that will sustain small farms;
• Invest in our infrastructure and transportation network to assure that agriculture and other producing and consumer interests are well served;
• Encourage new farmers to enter agriculture production with incentives and other programs such as capital gains taxes, new tax-deferred savings accounts and deferred loans;
• Discourage dual marketing systems for biotech and non-biotech products, maintain the current regulatory system on labeling of biotech foods, and pass legislation to protect against crop destruction aimed at academic research institutions and biotechnology companies

Repeal the federal unemployment "temporary surtax".

• Whereas, the Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA) was enacted over 60 years ago to guarantee financing for a national employment security system’s federal-state partnership; and,
• Whereas, the “temporary surtax” of 0.2%, enacted in 1976, is still being collected today despite a $24 billion surplus in the trust funds; and,
• Whereas, over the past several years, the return of taxes paid from states to fund important employment services has decreased to an average of only 51%, with some states receiving back as little as 32%, causing them to raise taxes to compensate for the unutilized federal funds; and
• Whereas, over the same period, the ability of states to fund essential unemployment insurance and employment services has suffered; and,
• Whereas, states are better equipped to collect the employer-paid tax and to provide local services to its unemployed citizens; now, therefore, be it
• Resolved, that the Southern Governors’Association calls on the United States Congress and President to pass employment security financing reform which includes repealing the FUTA surtax, increasing state flexibility and eliminating inefficiencies in FUTA tax collection while maintaining the trust funds on the unified budget.