Interviews during 2017-2019: on Budget & Economy
Howie Hawkins:
Steady-state economy better than increasing GDP
Economic growth, as gauged by increasing Gross Domestic Product (GDP), is a dangerous and anachronistic goal. The most viable and sustainable alternative is a steady-state economy. A steady-state economy has a stable or mildly fluctuating product
of population and per capita consumption, and is generally indicated by stable or mildly fluctuating GDP. The steady-state economy has become a more appropriate goal than economic growth in the United States and other large, wealthy economies.
Source: Green Party Platform adopted by 2020 presidential hopeful
Jul 12, 2020
Rocky De La Fuente:
Transportation & infrastructure are critical to our success
Mass transit, public and private transportation and our overall infrastructure are critical to our continued success as a nation. The Reform Party would open a dialogue with the American people on what their transportation needs are.
If we focus on the essential needs of the American people, our long-term strategic needs as well as costs, we can develop a plan that will lead to a better transportation system.
Source: Reform Party Platform adopted by 2020 presidential hopeful
Jun 22, 2020
Jo Jorgensen:
Voluntary funding & Balanced Budget Amendment
We oppose any legal requirements forcing employers to serve as tax collectors. We support any initiative to reduce or abolish any tax & oppose any increase on any tax for any reason. To the extent possible, we advocate that all public services be funded
in a voluntary manner. Government should not incur debt, which burdens future generations without their consent. We support the passage of a "Balanced Budget Amendment" to the U.S. Constitution, provided that the budget is balanced exclusively by
cutting expenditures, and not by raising taxes.
A free and competitive market allocates resources in the most efficient manner. Each person has the right to offer goods and services to others on the free market. The only proper role of government in
the economic realm is to protect property rights, adjudicate disputes, and provide a legal framework in which voluntary trade is protected. All efforts by government to redistribute wealth, or to control or manage trade, are improper in a free society.
Source: Libertarian Platform adopted by 2020 presidential hopeful
May 22, 2020
Don Blankenship:
Eliminate debt by selling federal assets
We must eliminate the debt in the shortest reasonable time by:- Not spending more than collected revenues;
- Paying interest as it accrues; and
- Making annual reductions in the principal
We could eliminate the debt more rapidly by selling certain lands and other federal assets, including foreign military bases, and applying the proceeds exclusively to debt reduction.
Source: Constitution Platform adopted by 2020 presidential hopeful
May 2, 2020
Justin Amash:
Relief payments should go to people, not corporations
During the coronavirus pandemic, Amash has castigated federal agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration, first for botching containment efforts and then for asserting monopoly control over testing.
He was one of a mere handful of no votes on the $2.2 trillion CARES Act, arguing that all relief payments should go directly to individuals and households rather than corporations, nonprofits, or government agencies.
Source: Reason magazine on 2020 presidential hopefuls
May 1, 2020
Justin Amash:
Would support universal monthly cash relief for everyone
Part of the reason they make the system so convoluted is so that they can each get pats on the back from their respective constituencies. 'Thank you for the thing you did specifically for farmers. Thank you for the thing that you specifically did for
airline workers. Thank you for the thing that you specifically did for truckers.' If they did something like, let's just send everyone some money, universal monthly cash relief, there's only one constituency for that. That's the entire public.
Source: Politico e-zine on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Apr 30, 2020
Joe Biden:
Recovery package must provide state aid, hazard pay
In addition to funds to keep workers on payroll, the next recovery package will need to provide significant funds to states, to make sure that educators and health care workers and first responders can keep getting paid. It will have to provide hazard
pay to frontline workers putting themselves at risk. It will have to extend unemployment benefits, and provide further direct cash relief, through a cancellation of a minimum of $10,000 of student debt per person and Social Security boosts.
Source: Medium.com blog on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Apr 9, 2020
Democratic Party:
AdWatch: Trump takes no responsibility for coronavirus panic
[One-minute TV ad, "Failed to Act," playing in PA/MI/WI; second half]:Trump: "The country's in great shape; the market's in great shape"
Text: L.A. Times: Investors Panic Over Stock Market Free-Fall"; DJI -7.77%
NBC News headline: "Dr. Fauci on
Virus Testing: 'It Is a Failing'."
Text: Mar.3: 359 cases; more than 20 deaths
Trump: "No, I don't take responsibility at all."
Text: Mar.16: 4,019 cases
Reporter: "On a scale of 1 to 10, how do you rate your response to this crisis?"
Trump: "I'd rate it a 10; I think we've done a great job."
Washington Post headline: Squandered Time: Trump Lost Control of Coronavirus
Text: Spinner exceeds 5,000 then 6,000 then 7,000 cases
CNN headline, Mar.14: "NIH's Dr. Fauci: It's Going to
Get Worse; Possible Millions Could Die"
Voiceover: And now, here we are. Trump canot be trusted, with our economy, our health, and our future
Text: Paid for by AB PAC, www.AmericanBridgePAC.org
Source: American Bridge AdWatch on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Mar 21, 2020
Donald Trump:
OpEd: Trump should take responsibility for corona panic
[One-minute TV ad, "Failed to Act," playing in PA/MI/WI; second half]:Trump: "The country's in great shape; the market's in great shape"
Text: L.A. Times: Investors Panic Over Stock Market Free-Fall"; DJI -7.77%
NBC News headline: "Dr. Fauci on
Virus Testing: 'It Is a Failing'."
Text: Mar.3: 359 cases; more than 20 deaths
Trump: "No, I don't take responsibility at all."
Text: Mar.16: 4,019 cases
Reporter: "On a scale of 1 to 10, how do you rate your response to this crisis?"
Trump: "I'd rate it a 10; I think we've done a great job."
Washington Post headline: Squandered Time: Trump Lost Control of Coronavirus
Text: Spinner exceeds 5,000 then 6,000 then 7,000 cases
CNN headline, Mar.14: "NIH's Dr. Fauci: It's Going to
Get Worse; Possible Millions Could Die"
Voiceover: And now, here we are. Trump canot be trusted, with our economy, our health, and our future
Text: Paid for by AB PAC, www.AmericanBridgePAC.org
Source: American Bridge AdWatch on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Mar 21, 2020
Lincoln Chafee:
Dedicated to curbing $22.6 trillion debt
His "anti-war, anti-deficit, strongly protective of civil liberties" message, culminated in him thinking it was a good idea to run for president. "I am enthusiastically absolutely dedicated to not getting us into these quagmires overseas and
ending foreign entanglements" and trying to curb the "$22.6 trillion debt." Those are the particular issues he wants to make central to his campaign, both for the nomination and, if he wins it, in the general election.
Source: Reason magazine on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Jan 6, 2020
Bill Weld:
There's no such thing as government money
We're spending more on interest on the deficit now than we are on national defense. Interest on the debt is the fourth-largest item in the budget. They're spending money in Washington like drunken sailors, $1 trillion a year. You can't keep doing
that indefinitely. My motto, when I was in office, is, "There's no such thing as government money. There's only taxpayers' money." Well, they've forgotten that in Washington, led by the president.
Source: Meet the Press interview for 2020 Presidential hopefuls
Aug 25, 2019
Mark Sanford:
Debt & deficit numbers bode trouble for future
It is a project on behalf of my four sons. Because the route that we're going right now not only has implications, in terms of the Republican Party, going forward, but real implications, in terms of every young person's ability to sustain the
American dream. If you look at the debt and deficit numbers right now, we are in troubling waters that have not only implications, in terms of the economy here and now and what's going to happen next, but frankly, their ability to build wealth over time.
Source: Meet the Press interview for 2020 Presidential hopefuls
Aug 18, 2019
Joe Walsh:
Those who attacked Obama's spending should attack Trump's
Walsh called out Republicans who, like him, attacked Obama's spending but have gone silent as Trump runs up the national debt. "Trump has increased the deficit more than $100 billion year over year--it's now nearing $1 trillion--and we hear not a word
of protest from my former Republican colleagues," he wrote. "He abuses the Constitution for his narcissistic trade war. In private, most congressional Republicans oppose the trade war, but they don't say anything publicly."
Source: Salon.com on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Aug 16, 2019
Mark Sanford:
Republican Party has lost its way on debt & spending
Almost a year after President Donald Trump urged voters to reject Mark Sanford, the former South Carolina congressman is considering a Republican presidential run of his own against Trump in 2020. Sanford, in an interview with The Post and Courier,
confirmed he will take the next month to formulate a potential run against Trump as a way of pushing a national debate about America's mounting debt, deficit and government spending. He would run as a Republican."Sometimes in life you've
got to say what you've got to say, whether there's an audience or not for that message," Sanford said. "I feel convicted."
Since leaving office in January, Sanford said he has been privately mulling whether to run for the nation's highest office.
He described the internal debate as a drumbeat that never went away. "I'm a Republican. I think the Republican Party has lost its way on debt, spending and financial matters," he said.
Source: Charleston Post and Courier on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Jul 16, 2019
Howie Hawkins:
Income gap between rich and everyone else has grown
The income gap between the rich and everyone else has been growing markedly. As of 2017, the richest 0.1% take in 188 times as much income as the bottom 90%. Between 1979 and 2007, paycheck income for the richest 1% and 0.1% exploded.
Meanwhile, the bottom 90% of earners have seen little change in their average income, with just a 22% increase from 1979 to 2017. An estimated 43.5% of the population are either poor or low-income, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Source: Truthout, "Popular Resistance" on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Apr 19, 2019
Howie Hawkins:
Income gap between rich and everyone else has grown
The income gap between the rich and everyone else has been growing markedly. As of 2017, the richest 0.1% take in 188 times as much income as the bottom 90%. Between 1979 and 2007, paycheck income for the richest 1% and 0.1% exploded.
Meanwhile, the bottom 90% of earners have seen little change in their average income, with just a 22% increase from 1979 to 2017. An estimated 43.5% of the population are either poor or low-income, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Source: Truthout.org on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Apr 19, 2019
Pete Buttigieg:
Government investment can help minority businesses
We're talking about generational poverty, generational dispossession that's a result of a combination of racist policies over the years and the effect that poverty and mass incarceration have. We're investing in neighborhoods that have been
historically disinvested in. We opened a small business resource center in an area that was not getting the kind of attention that it needed because we know that entrepreneurship will empower not just minority business owners, but minority employees.
Source: Meet the Press 2019 interview of 2020 presidential hopefuls
Apr 7, 2019
Andrew Yang:
Measure standard of living instead of GDP
Yang supports changing how the U.S. measures economic success, by moving away from traditional benchmarks like GDP growth and the stock market and focusing instead on the country's standard of living, life expectancy and other metrics.
He would also develop a new U.S. currency called a "Digital Social Credit" that could be exchanged for real dollars.
Source: PBS News hour on 2020 Presidential hopefuls
Mar 19, 2019
Pete Buttigieg:
We should support workers going through changes
It's not about stopping or reversing technology. It is about making sure that the tectonic social and economic changes can actually work for us. Our generation is likely to change careers more frequently than our parents changed job titles.
We've got to make it less of a disruptive event when those changes occur. It's why we need portable benefits. It's why the conversation about Medicare-for-all is so important. It's why we might need to look at guaranteed income for working people.
Source: CNN Town Hall: back-to-back 2020 presidential hopefuls
Mar 10, 2019
Bill Weld:
Balance the Federal budget as states do
The amount of extra debt being run up in Washington is completely crazy. The Administration is spending a trillion dollars a year more than it takes in. And they call themselves conservatives! That's a trillion dollars of debt for our children
and grandchildren to pay off. That's not fair, to put it mildly, to members of the X-generation or to millennials. None of the States do this. Most States require by their Constitution that the Governor's budget be balanced.
Source: Speech in New Hampshire by 2020 presidential hopefuls
Feb 15, 2019
Bill Weld:
Top priority: zero-based budgeting; cut spending; cut taxes
We need the opposite of socialism. In the federal budget, the two most important tasks are to cut spending and to cut taxes--and spending comes first. We need to "zero base" the federal budget, basing
each appropriation on outcomes actually achieved, not on last year's appropriation plus 5 per cent, which is what too many folks in Washington use as a starting point. It is actually possible to cut spending year over year.
Source: Speech in New Hampshire by 2020 presidential hopefuls
Feb 15, 2019
Jay Inslee:
Leading state in job growth & personal-income growth
Inslee talks about "the other Washington": the experiment in progressive governance that he's led for the past six years that's cut against the conventional wisdom of economics. On his watch, the state has boosted health care, increased access to
early-childhood education and college, raised the minimum wage, expanded paid family leave, invested in infrastructure, and established in-state net neutrality, all while leading the country in job growth, overall personal-income growth, and GDP.
As other states shed residents, people are moving to Washington. It's hard to drive through the parts of Seattle where Amazon has sprouted neighborhoods of coffee shops and artisanal seafood kitchens and argue that the lefty policies Inslee's been
pushing have had the kind of economic downside that their opponents always warn they will.Opponents say, "Market forces, consumer demands, commonsense policies would have done about the same thing that we've had under six years of Jay Inslee."
Source: The Atlantic on 2020 presidential hopefuls, "Climate Change"
Jan 2, 2019
Tom Steyer:
Trump's $1T deficit is historic fiscal mismanagement
If you follow the money to understand priorities and values, Trump's budget plan will make your hair stand on end. First, his infrastructure scam neglects crucial environmental protections for our air, water, and wildlife, while allowing the
billionaires in his cabinet & corporate allies to build dirty fossil fuel pipelines and toxic waste dumps that harm our communities. Putting our country more than a trillion dollars in the red every year is fiscal mismanagement of historic proportions.
Source: Twitter posting by Tom Steyer, 2020 presidential hopeful
Feb 12, 2018
Mark Sanford:
Shouldn't trade increased spending for tax reform
We can't abandon what we believe in to get what we want. Many of us want tax reform, but does financial discipline have to be sacrificed on the altar to getting there? I thought
Republicans were the party of lower taxes--and less spending. We may certainly defer or delay things we believe in getting to things we want, but there is a point beyond which deferral becomes inaction.
Source: Medium.com for 2020 presidential hopefuls
Nov 1, 2017
Donald Trump:
Government must cut spending more
Speaking on Fox News in 2013, Donald Trump said that automatic budget cuts, or sequester, does not go far enough and
Congress must reduce spending further to address impending increases in the deficit.
Source: PBS News hour on 2020 Presidential hopefuls
Jun 16, 2015
Page last updated: Nov 01, 2021