Mike Bloomberg in Interviews during 2017-2019
On Free Trade:
China tariff--2015: incalculable damage; 2019: not damaging
Larry Kudlow once said Trump's proposed policies on trade would lead to a bad recession, cause "incalculable damage" to the economy and kill consumers and businesses alike. Kudlow made those comments in 2015.
Kudlow said the tariffs Trump then sought and has now moved to impose on China and Mexico would damage the US economy enormously. The comments from Kudlow harshly contradict the administration's current positions on trade.
Kudlow stood by the administration's current policies in a phone interview with CNN's KFile. "That was then and this is now," Kudlow said. "I think his trade policies with China in particular have been very strong.
They are not damaging the US economy." Asked about his past criticism, Kudlow claimed he was speaking hypothetically.
Source: CNN K-file on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Feb 26, 2020
On Health Care:
2011: We're going to cut back Medicaid and Medicare
In January 2011, Bloomberg argued we'd have to do something about Medicare and Medicaid."When you listen to them talk at a federal level, 'I'm going to cut the deficit.' You know, every new group that comes through--keep in mind 2/3 of the federal
budget is entitlements and debt service. Debt Service legally, you can't touch, entitlements means seniors. We're going to cut back Medicaid and Medicare, we're going to have to do something, but that's going to be a very tough lift," Bloomberg said.
Source: CNN K-File FactCheck on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Feb 26, 2020
On Social Security:
2009: Called Social Security a "Ponzi scheme"
Bloomberg compared Social Security to a "Ponzi scheme" and repeatedly said cuts to that program as well as Medicare and Medicaid had to be part of any serious solution to reducing the federal deficit. "I don't know if Bernie Madoff got his idea from
there, but if there's ever a Ponzi scheme, people say Madoff was the biggest? Wrong. Social Security is, far and away," Bloomberg said in a January 2009 appearance, referencing the imprisoned former investment adviser who committed billions in fraud.
Source: CNN K-File FactCheck on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Feb 26, 2020
On Social Security:
2009: Social Security a Ponzi scheme, 2020: boost receipts
Bloomberg vowed to "strengthen entitlement programs." But when he was mayor of New York, Bloomberg twice compared Social Security to a "Ponzi scheme" and repeatedly said cuts to that program as well as Medicare and Medicaid had to be part of
any serious solution to reducing the federal deficit. "I don't know if Bernie Madoff got his idea from there, but if there's ever a Ponzi scheme, people say Madoff was the biggest?
Wrong. Social Security is, far and away," Bloomberg said in a January 2009 appearance.
A spokesman for Bloomberg defended him: "Mike believes that between now and that time, we will need to boost receipts by raising contributions from those who can best afford it."
Source: CNN K-file on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Feb 26, 2020
On Corporations:
$5 trillion in new revenue from high earners & corporations
[The New York Times reports that] Michael Bloomberg's plan would raise an estimated $5 trillion in new tax revenue from high earners and corporations, a proposal that would almost certainly raise his personal tax bill but is less aggressive
than those from his most liberal rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination.The proposal includes a repeal of President Trump's 2017 tax cuts for high earners, along with a new 5 percent 'surcharge' on incomes above $5 million per year.
It would raise capital gains taxes for Americans earning more than $1 million a year and maintain a limit on federal deductions of state and local tax payments set under the 2017 law, which some
Democrats have pushed to eliminate.
The Wall Street Journal reports that "Bloomberg's tax policies would place him in the middle of the pack of his rivals for the Democratic nomination."
Source: PoliticalWire.com on 2020 Presidential hopefuls
Feb 1, 2020
On War & Peace:
Iraq war was a mistake based on faulty intelligence
Bloomberg said he had no regrets over supporting the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. "I don't live in a regret world, and I didn't make the decision," the former New York mayor told The Times. "America wanted to go to war, but it turns out it was based on
faulty intelligence, and it was a mistake," Bloomberg said. "But I think the people that made the mistake did it honestly, and it's a shame, because it's left us entangled, and it's left the Middle East in chaos through today."
Source: Los Angeles Times on 2020 Presidential Hopefuls
Jan 6, 2020
On Tax Reform:
Wealth tax is counterproductive and unconstitutional
Asked about a wealth tax proposed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the very wealthy former New York City mayor said the idea was probably unconstitutional, definitely counterproductive, and something to be avoided at all costs. Anyone favoring radical
redistribution, Bloomberg said, should look south for an example to avoid: "It's called Venezuela" [which currently has a socialist government]. The policy on the table: a 2% wealth tax that Warren would levy on the total assets of individuals worth
more than $50 million and 3 percent on individuals with more than $1 billion. Per a Forbes analysis, this means that Jeff Bezos, whose $137 billion fortune makes him the richest man in the world, would owe the IRS an additional $4.1 billion each year.
Critics in the Democratic Party will complain that [Bloomberg's comparison] is heavy-handed, as the Warren wealth tax pales in comparison to the wealth redistribution of the Chavez-Maduro regime in Venezuela.
Source: Washington Examiner on 2020 Presidential Hopefuls
Jan 29, 2019
Page last updated: Nov 01, 2021