On Friday Hillary Clinton announced her plan to stimulate an economy on the brink or in recession. Key economic markers are indicating an economic downturn that Clinton believes is hitting middle-class Americans. The hardest hit is the housing market with mortgage foreclosures set to reach an all time high. State and local governments are taking action to address the sub-prime mortgage financial scandal.
The Clinton Plan touts a $70 billion stimulus package. While the Clinton proposal will help homeowners who have been hurt by the housing foreclosure crisis, provide immediate relief to families who are facing skyrocketing energy bills, support workers who have lost their jobs, and make immediate investments in "green collar jobs" which, she believes, will not only stimulate the economy, but improve the environment. Clinton's proposal seems to ignore the structural poor.
Also on Friday at town hall meetings in South Carolina, Edwards spoke about his more long-term solution: To eliminate poverty in the next 30-years by creating a Working Society. The former North Carolina Senator's proposal would ensure every American has the opportunity to work hard and succeed. Edwards introduced his plan for "Ending Poverty in South Carolina within a Generation," which calls for major new policies for work, housing, education, debt and savings, and family responsibility.
"Too many Americans are separated from the opportunities of our country," Edwards said. "Every day, 37 million Americans wake up in poverty. In South Carolina alone, there are 228,000 children living in poverty, and that number is growing. Restoring our moral authority means leading by example and making clear that the hard challenges don't frighten us. There is no better opportunity than the challenge of poverty – the great moral issue of our time."
The Clinton and Edwards plans need to be fused. It is not enough to band aid the economy's current economic woes. We need bold action to address our current economic crisis yet we must also attack the root causes of poverty. While the Edwards' proposal is a series of sound public policy initiatives the Obama campaign is yet to announce the Senator's plan of short and long term goals and objectives on the question.
The troubling fact of the Edwards proposal is the timeframe, thirty-years is too long a period of time for these dispossessed Americans. Here, hope does not trump reality. Structural poverty must be addressed in the short-term funded on tax increases and a change in government priorities.
It is disturbing to note from an information flow perspective that the Obama campaign apparatus does not make press releases or other policy statements available on his web site. He is the only candidate that does not.
On the Republican side Senator John McCain follows the tried and failed tax cut scheme that hurts rather than helps the working poor. Huckabee favors a 25-percent sales tax. The Huckabee proposal is indeed regressive for sales taxes as a proportion of income drastically affects working and middle class families.
Clinton v. Russert
Senator Hillary Clinton performed very well on MEET THE PRESS this morning. She showed a mastery of the issues and answered NBC News anchor Tim Russert's questions with regard to allegations that her campaign was guilty of making race an issue in the South Carolina primary in a well-reasoned way. Although she did seem to believe that she was ordained to have the support of Black Americans.
NYT's David Brooks
On the CHRIS MATTHEWS SHOW, NYT reporter David Brooks demonstrated the elitism of the MSM when he remarked during a discussion of the NH primary results that, "people are idiots." This comment, at least to this observer, demonstrates the sense of oblige noblesse in which the fourth estate views the American people.