Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Income Inequality, Tax Cuts, Deficits and Unemployment Insurance


Al Kranken, D-MN, gave a little-noticed but insightful speech on the Senate floor in December (you can read the entire speech here or listen to the video above). His dot points were:
  • One lesson of the last election was not to give tax breaks to millionaires
  • Rising income inequality in the US is a very serious problem
  • Republicans can't lecture anyone on deficits (compare the two Bush administrations to Clinton)
  • "Small" business doesn't mean small business to Republicans
  • Maintaining unemployment insurance, one of the most important automatic stabilizers in the economy, is more important than bailouts
  • Giving tax breaks to billionaires is not making "tough choices"
What happened? Al Franken used to be funny on Saturday Night Live!

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