John Edwards Wants Congress to Create Economic Cushion of Up to $100 Billion
DES MOINES, Iowa — Presidential candidate John Edwards says the country can’t simply wait for the economy to turn around, and he wants Congress to come up with as much as $100 billion to prepare for a potential economic slowdown.
The Democrat and former North Carolina senator suggests an initial investment of $25 billion for job creation and other aid, with the rest set aside if the economy slides into a recession. He was scheduled to unveil his economic plan at campaign stops on Saturday in eastern Iowa.
In his policy paper provided to The Associated Press, Edwards said the economy is struggling because of the housing crisis and stagnant wages. Housing, energy and health care costs have increased, while the median income for working-age families dropped $2,400 between 2000 and 2006, he said.
“Families across the country are working harder than ever, but in the last seven years, the typical family
s income actually decreased at the same time the costs of health care, energy, and housing are skyrocketing,” Edwards said in a statement released by his campaign. “The truth is our economy is slowing under the weight of stagnant wages, a major housing crisis and a spike in energy costs. And now, leading economists are saying there
s a substantial risk we could enter a recession.”
Edwards’ plan doesn’t include recommendations for how Congress should pay for the economic rescue package.
“We intentionally do not pay for these proposals because we do not think now is the right time for spending cuts or tax increases. But starting in 2009, we will pay for each of our proposals,” Edwards campaign spokesman Eric Schultz said in an e-mail.
He also wants Congress to update the nation’s unemployment system, which he said now leaves workers unprepared for hard times. He calls on Congress to help states cover 500,000 additional workers each year, and set aside resources now to keep workers from having to wait for benefits if the unemployment rate rises.
Aid to states also should be boosted to keep them from having to increase property taxes or cut programs such as Medicaid in order to balance their budgets, Edwards said.
To combat the housing crisis, Edwards wants lawmakers to create a home rescue fund to help families get counseling, loans or other financial aid to avoid foreclosure. He also believes that families facing bankruptcy should be allowed to rewrite terms of their mortgage, and write off debt that exceeds the value of their home.
To keep such a crisis from happening again, Edwards said Congress should pass stronger laws against predatory lending and create a federal regulator to oversee financial services products.
Edwards wants Congress to make a major investment in clean energy that he contends would both fight global warming and create jobs to spark economic activity.
Several of Edwards’ economic proposals, including some of his energy and housing proposals, have been included in other policy plans he has offered over the course of the presidential campaign.
“The big new aspect is that there’s a recognition our economy is weak enough that we need to take immediate action — not wait for the next president,” Schultz said.
this man gets more idiotic by the day. Either he has a complete lack of understanding of economics and financial markets or he thinks we’re idiots.
1) How do you say you want to set aside money for an impending recession and follow that up by saying you’ll figure out how to pay for it after the recession has already come and possibly gone? Raise taxes while a recovery is in it’s infancy? Or before it’s even started?
2) Stagnant wages are the result of our not being prepared for globalization. It’s not going away until there’s been a complete wage correction or we become ruinously protectionist.
3) The sub-prime debacle is the result of an over-heated market created by secondary market greed in the same way that investors frothed at the mouth over junk bonds and dotcoms. Edwards statement that such investment vehicles need to be regulated, if not prohibited in some markets, is nothing more than regurgitation from someone that profited from this disgrace. I believe that the FED and SEC have that area of responsiblity covered. Maybe John’s looking for a job for a buddy.
There was a similar crackdown on predatory lending after severe abuses caused a spike in foreclosures in the late 80’s. It’s going to happen every time we have an extended economic expansion and everyone wants it to continue, unless Edwards has a plan to legislate greed and other flaws of human nature.
I’m not sure why O’Reilly calls Edwards a fraud. The fact is that all of Edwards’ short political career and his tenure as a director of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Poverty, Employment, … Center appears to give Edwards legitimacy in his campaign assertion that there are two worlds in America. What gives? O’Reilly reported that Edwards lives across from a trailer park and hasn’t once set foot there, and that therefore Edwards is a fraud. I too live across from a trailer park. What am I to do? I work hard at my job to help my community and that is precisely what Edwards appears to have done. Am I missing something? Edwards’ bio, supplied by Fox News website, appears to negate O’Reilly’s charge. I am thinking about voting Republican for the first time, but your bio of Edwards appears intriguing that there appears to be one candidate that is focused on the regular American, the middle class. That focus appears to be missing from many of the campaigns.