Closing Income Gap Tops Obama’s Agenda for Economic Change; Clinton econ plan also in NYT article

[DeepModem Mom]

Closing Income Gap Tops Obama’s Agenda for Economic Change
By DAVID LEONHARDT
Published: February 2, 2008

WICHITA, Kan. — Senator Barack Obama says the top priority of the next president should be to create a more lasting and equitable prosperity than achieved by either President Bush in the current decade or even Bill Clinton in the 1990s. In an hourlong interview outlining his economic views, Mr. Obama praised the Clinton administration for reducing the deficit and setting the stage for the ’90s boom. But he said Mr. Clinton had failed to halt a long-term increase in income inequality that had left the middle class feeling squeezed.

If elected, Mr. Obama said he would to try to forge a popular mandate for policy changes that could reverse a generation of slow wage growth and outlast any one administration. At the top of his list would be shifting the tax burden more toward the wealthy and making investments — in health care, alternative-energy research and education — that would cost a significant amount of money but could ultimately lift economic growth.

“The project of the next president is figuring out how do you create bottom-up economic growth, as opposed to the trickle-down economic growth that George Bush has been so enamored with,” Mr. Obama, an Illinois Democrat, said.

Mr. Obama’s agenda would be complicated by the government’s projected budget deficit, which is primarily a result of soaring Medicare and other health care costs expected in coming decades. No candidate, in either party, has yet offered a detailed plan for bringing those costs under control, health care experts say....

***

Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton hold similar or identical positions on a host of economic issues, and Democratic economists not aligned with either campaign often speak positively about both....But the two candidates offer strikingly different strategies for achieving their economic agendas....

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/02/us/politics/02obama.html?ref=todayspaper

[Frances]

1. If Obama does become President,

he will need all the help he can get in the Senate. Some say that if she doesn't win the Dem nomination, Hillary will work to become Majority Leader. I think she'd be a great one and would support Obama's plans.

I hope that supporters of both Obama and Hillary remember that and treat both candidates with respect.

[DeepModem Mom]

2. Agreed, Frances -- thanks! nt

[OHdem10]

3. Globalization and Free Trade Policies are the main culprit.

As long as Corporations with Allegience to No Country are allowed
to roam the world seeking the cheapest Labor, jobs will be continuosly
outsourced and the American Worker's Income will drop. As long
as Companies are permitted to bring in HI TECH WORDERs at lower
wages using H-1B Visa, American workers will lose jobs and their
wage scale will drop. As long as Companies continue to bring in
Immigrants to work for below minimun wage salaries, American
Workers will be displaced.