Oh, God

Raise the minimum wage AND throw billions at some .gov handout program to "Restore America".

Tell you what.  Why don't you try the novel idea of LETTING PEOPLE AND BUSINESSES KEEP MORE OF THE MONEY THEY EARN?  You know that has been shown to make things happen too.

Oh, sorry... I forgot you're a Democrat that doesn't think that the lowly peasant has enough sense to spend the money they've earned the "right" way.

www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/12/29/politics0809EST0484.DTL

Dean's urban policy to include jobs, higher wage, business credits

KATHY BARKS HOFFMAN, Associated Press Writer Monday, December 29, 2003  

(12-29) 05:09 PST LANSING, Mich. (AP) --

Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean wants to improve the nation's cities by putting $100 billion toward creating a million jobs, increasing the federal minimum wage to $7 an hour, and providing credit for urban businesses.

The former Vermont governor planned to unveil his Initiative to Strengthen the Nation's Cities during a Monday afternoon campaign stop in downtown Detroit. In an advance copy of the plan obtained by The Associated Press, Dean said he would help put people back to work by creating a $100 billion Fund to Restore America aimed at adding at least a million jobs in the first two years it's in place.

Cities and regions would use these funds to create jobs in education, health care, homeland security and other critical areas. The fund also would support local programs that help create, promote and retain good jobs and train workers in disadvantaged communities.

Dean said he also wants to protect worker overtime pay and create a Small Business Capital Corporation to invest $1 billion in new loans aimed at creating 100,000 new small-business jobs in the first three years.

His plan would set up a national fund to provide a permanent source of funding to build, rehabilitate and preserve affordable housing for low- and moderate-income families, and double the amount for the Community Development Block Grant program to $10 billion.

Dean said his plan is needed because President Bush's policies have weakened American cities.

"Families in America's metro areas face a high cost of living," Dean says in a news release. "If they're working hard and playing by the rules, they shouldn't have to struggle so hard to make ends meet. That's why my initiative is aimed at creating jobs, promoting investment in small business, boosting wages and helping families afford housing.

"We cannot afford to waste four more years under an administration that ignores the potential as well as the problems of our cities," he said.

Other Democratic presidential candidates have promoted policies for strengthening cities and regaining lost jobs.

Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri has presented a plan for revitalizing jobs, especially those in urban areas. It would double the percentage of government contracts aimed at small, disadvantaged businesses. Gephardt also has outlined initiatives that would attract private capital to low-income areas and increase federal small-business loans for start up companies by $1 billion.

Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts has pledged to regain 3 million manufacturing jobs lost under Bush and to give industry a boost through tax breaks and tougher trade policies.

I reckon Mr. Dean didn't get the memo: America is "restoring" itself quite well without all of that BS, thank you very much.

Unless, of course, he thinks an 8.2% quaterly growth is a sign of a BAD economy? [rolleyes]

Woah!This is news!I had no idea Dean was/is a tax and spend demoncrap.This from a NAFTA supporter which has gone a long way to make minimum wage jobs the norm.

You're kidding, right?  ALL Demoncraps are tax and spend junkies.  I used to say that the Republicrooks are the party of big gov't, and the Demoncraps are the party of bigger gov't , at least until Dub-ya got elected.

Demos are absolutely brain dead when it comes to economics and finance.  With their ideas and proposals, it's clear they simply have no idea how the world works.

The Republicrooks on the other hand know full well how finance works, and use that knowledge to pretend to be the party of "fiscal restraint" while lining their own pockets.

Read: unneeded, inefficient, 'on the dole'...  

It sounds like he wants to do what local governments can't do.  That is, he wants to pour money into the cities, but unlike the taxpayer response the locals face, citizens can't move out of the overtaxing district which would now be the entire US.  

sounds like the socialist mentality to a tee!

Let's see...

When CA state minimum wage was $4.25, I was getting $9 or $10 an hour, and I was okay. Then the socialists raised minimum wage to $6.75/hr.

Of course, as wages go up, so do prices. All the prices went up..guess what? My wages did not!

so in effect, they made my pay worth less!

In my case, at least Bush has the right idea about tax cuts. He gets my vote if he does not sign the AWB..assuming it reaches his desk.