2007 Iowa Brown & Black Presidential Forum: on Budget & Economy

Bill Richardson: Balanced Budget Amendment to address $9 trillion debt

A: America has lost its economic leadership. We have a $9 trillion dollar debt. We’ve got a weakening dollar. We’ve got jobs going overseas. These are the steps that I would take as president. What is going to be key is fiscal discipline. I am for a constitutional amendment to balance the budget within a 5-6 year period. We have to balance that budget. This debt is to commercial banks, to China, to India. I’m for a line item veto. We need investments also in science and technology. Give a tax incentive for increasing the prevailing wage. Invest in education, invest in kids and science and technology. It’s a competitiveness issue. This is the kind of investment we need to make. Fiscal discipline, number two science and technology, invest in the new industries of the future and third invest in education. That’s how America will regain its economic leadership.

Chris Dodd: People of color lured into sub prime lending

A: I think it’s a pretty good idea. In fact we made a similar suggestion. Freezing that rate would allow a couple of things to happen. One, people stay in their homes. But also the financial institutions, they’re better off getting 3-4% back than nothing whenever foreclosures occur. [Furthermore], I’m trying to make sure this doesn’t happen again. This was outrageous what went on here. There were no cops on the beat in this administration--they basically walked away from this and you have three times people of color in this country are being lured into sub prime lending.