The Los Angeles Times: on Budget & Economy


Carly Fiorina: Stimulus package is a failure; more tax cuts instead

Fiorina blasted Boxer's economic record in Washington and, specifically, her support for the federal stimulus package. "She believes that the way to get jobs growing, the way to get the economy going, is to spend more taxpayer money, bail out companies if necessary--that didn't work real well--regulate more, tax more and spend more,'' Fiorina said.

She called the February 2009 stimulus package a "failure'' and as proof cited the unemployment rate in San Bernardino County, which has increased from 11.7% when the stimulus legislation was approved to more than 14.2% in August.

To rescue the economy, Fiorina said Congress should extend the Bush-era tax cuts passed in 2001 and 2003, which she said gave much-needed tax relief to small and family-owned businesses. Those tax breaks are set to expire at year's end.

Source: L.A. Times PolitiCal coverage of 2010 CA Senate Debate Oct 18, 2010

Carly Fiorina: Key to recovery is less government, taxation, & regulation

Boxer accused Fiorina of opposing every recent job-creation effort in the Senate, including an education bill that provided California with $1.2 billion to save the jobs of 16,500 teachers, and a bill that would increase access to credit and extended tax breaks for small businesses. "Every time you really get past the surface, you see my opponent fighting for billionaires, for millionaires, for companies that shipped jobs overseas," Boxer said.

Fiorina said that the key to economic recovery was less government, taxation and regulation. She called for extending the Bush administration's tax cuts, saying that their expiration would further harm the struggling economy, and expressed support for repealing the estate tax and creating additional tax break for small businesses. "To create jobs, we need to make sure in particular our small businesses, our family-owned businesses, our innovators and our entrepreneurs are freed from strangling regulation and freed from taxation," Fiorina said.

Source: Los Angeles Times coverage of 2010 CA Senate Debate Sep 2, 2010

George W. Bush: Country is not better off as a result of Clinton/Gore years

Bush insisted that Gore was mistaken in arguing that the country is better off today. "I don't think the school system is better off. I don't think the morale in the military is better off. I don't think our standing in the world is better off. No question the stock market is higher. But prosperity hasn't reached throughout all of society." One of the central aims of this week's convention is to convince voters that the nation now is in a stronger position than when Bush's father was president.
Source: Ronald Brownstein, LA Times Aug 13, 2000

George W. Bush: Private sector responsible for economic boom

Bush flatly rejected the contention from Clinton and Gore that their economic policies, particularly the 1993 deficit-reduction package that passed Congress solely on Democratic votes, had contributed to the nation's boom times. "I think the economy has grown really in spite of government. This is an incredible period of time when productivity has been enhanced, not because of any great initiative of government, but because of the ability for entrepreneurs to stake a new claim."
Source: Ronald Brownstein, LA Times Aug 13, 2000

George W. Bush: 1980 tax cuts, deregulation, and trade led to strong economy

Who deserves credit for the longest economic expansion in U.S. history? Did the White House help foster it, or were the Democrats, as Republican presidential nominee George W. Bush contends, just lucky? "The momentum of today's prosperity began in the 1980s-with sound money, deregulation, the opening of global trade and a 25% tax cut. The economic growth of the 1980s provided the venture capital for the technology revolution of the 1990s," Bush said in a major speech on taxes.
Source: Peter G. Gosselin, LA Times Aug 21, 2000

Jerry Brown: $27B budget gap then; multibillion-dollar surplus now

Brown noted the recent shift in how the rest of the nation views California, now that the state has closed a $27-billion budget gap from when Brown began his term in 2011. Instead of being viewed as a failed state, Brown said, California has regained its reputation as an engine of innovation and creativity.

"California is still a very yeasty place," he said, noting the state's record for companies that develop new technologies that grow into major industries. He said the state now has multibillion-dollar surpluses that can continue for the next several years if state lawmakers spend responsibly.

Source: Los Angeles Times on 2014 California Governor race Dec 16, 2013

John McCain: $9B of pork in current budget bills; cut subsidies

McCain said he has found at least "$9 billion worth of pork and wasteful spending" in the appropriations bills now being considered by Congress that could fill the budget gaps. He specified subsidies for oil, ethanol and sugar as examples. "Congress has found the funds to raise their own salaries but they can't find enough to help and lower and middle-income Americans," said McCain.
Source: Will Lester, AP/LA Times Oct 1, 1999

  • The above quotations are from Media coverage of CA political races in The Los Angeles Times.
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Gov.Jeb Bush(FL)
Dr.Ben Carson(MD)
Gov.Chris Christie(NJ)
Sen.Ted Cruz(TX)
Carly Fiorina(CA)
Gov.Jim Gilmore(VA)
Sen.Lindsey Graham(SC)
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Gov.Bobby Jindal(LA)
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Donald Trump(NY)
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Robert Steele(L-NY)
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