--create an entrepreneurial climate in which businesses can create jobs
--strive to balance the federal budget without raising taxes
--reduce our staggering national debt
--strengthen the economy and reduce the debt by providing incentives for individuals and businesses to encourage investment, expansion, job creation and new business start-ups
--eliminate wasteful deficit spending
--lower taxes and reduce regulatory burdens on businesses, particularly small businesses
The stimulus package has not created jobs. And it won’t. Talk of another “stimulus” package is absurd. More government spending will not rescue our economy.
The best way to stimulate the economy is through low tax rates that enable businesses and families to grow and prosper and save and invest.
We must:
--balance the federal budget
--limit discretionary spending to the rate of inflation
--reform entitlement spending
“People are rightfully outraged about rewarding political allies like, for example, ACORN.
“I will fight against the big spenders of both political parties and will oppose spending which rewards special interests or is for earmarks or bailouts.
“Many economists estimate that the federal budget could be balanced within 5 to 10 years simply by limiting the growth in spending to the rate of inflation.”
--ease access to credit and capital, particularly for small businesses
--use the Earned Income Tax Credit to reward work and reduce poverty
--preserve the purchasing power of the minimum wage
--expand opportunities for dislocated workers to obtain job training
--maximize access to vocational rehabilitation
--strengthen the enforcement of consumer protection laws
--train our workforce to compete around the world
--promote public-private partnerships to advance education, research and development in science, technology, engineering and math
--modernize America’s aging infrastructure
--repair and rebuild our roads, bridges, mass transit, water systems, information networks and energy grids
--reduce the national debt by adopting performance-based budgeting, separating operating expenses from investments, and establishing a nonpartisan panel along the lines of the Base Closure and Realignment Commission
--restore fiscal responsibility
--improve oversight of the financial industry
--create a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency to promote transparency and accountability in the market for financial products and services
--crack down on predatory lending
--prevent other deceptive and abusive practices in the financial industry
--separate traditional banking from riskier investment banking activities by enacting a modern version of the Glass-Steagall law
--require that derivatives be traded on an exchange and regulated in the same manner as commodities and futures
--limit the amount of leverage banks are able to incur and increase the percentage they are required to keep in reserve in safe, liquid investments such as Treasury bills
--restore fiscal responsibility, transparency, and accountability to our government
--take responsibility for leaving this country in sound fiscal shape for our children
--invest in those programs—education, renewable energy, and health care—that we know will provide for stable economic growth
--spend the money necessary to get our economy moving in the right direction again
--change the way we approach federal spending
--demand that the federal government work transparently, make decisions based on accurate information, and figure out how to pay for what it spends
--cut spending from the federal budget
--address the problem of high health care costs
--stop increasing health care costs and lower the percentage that those costs take out of the federal budget via healthcare reform
--reform Social Security and Medicare to preserve the integrity of these programs while reducing the increasingly large impact they have on the overall federal budget
-- target tax cuts to those middle class families and small businesses struggling the most under the weight of this recession as well as developing industries, like new energy, with the potential to create jobs and spark real economic growth
--close tax loopholes that serve no purpose and simply allow some institutions to avoid paying their fair share
--strive to build an economy based on the production of American products that are the best in the world, and an American workforce that beats the global competition
--encourage private investment and innovation
--support the development of individual opportunity
--find a way to develop, sell and use our vast resources of wind, sun, geothermal, and natural gas for energy
--make sure our efforts to break down the dam of bad assets blocking the free flow of credit are really helping the agricultural communities, small businesses and families who serve as the backbone of our economy
--step up our focus on community banks and main street business
--stop financial industry abuse while promoting sustainable economic growth
--create a systematic regulatory structure that requires:
(1) transparency
(2) individual and corporate accountability
(3) government oversight that keeps pace with changing financial markets, and
(4) rules for regulators designate that make it clear which agencies have responsibilities over which companies