George Bush's economic performance has been the worst of any President
since World War ll. Under George Bush, the American economy las grown
by less than one percent. Eight and a half million Americans are out
of work. Real wages of the average American worker have dropped nine
percent below what they were in 1979.
George Bush and the Republican Party are anti-growth because their
supply side trickle-down economics are anti-business.
Tom Harkin believes it's time for a new direction, and he has outlined
a new economic strategy that will lead to real growth. It's a New
Growth Agenda and its centerpiece is resource-based econmics.
Resource-based economics are about redirecting our priorities to
invest in America, in our physical infrastructure and our human
resources.
Tom Harkin knows you can't make the economy grow by giving bigger
pieces of a shrinking economic pie to the people at the top. That's
Bush's plan. And it hasn't woked. Tom Harkin believes you make the
econoy grow by investing in the skills of our people, giving the
private sector the tools tlley need and investing in infrastructure
and new technologies. Then, production and investment that depend on
skilled labor will go -- and stay -- where the skilled labor is.
That's the high-wage, high-skills, high productivity path to economic
grouth.
Tom Harkin has proposed a five point NEW GROWTH AGENDA to put America
on the path to long-term economic growth.
* First, we must take that failed experiment of supply-side economics
and throw it on the scrap heap of history along with that other failed
experiment called communism.
* Second, we need to put in place a program of resource-based
economics. That means investments in our physical infrastructure,
rebuilding our roads and bridges, developing new high-tech
transportation systems, and creating energy efficient technologies. It
also demands investing in our human resources, making our schools
second to none, and putting more resources into programs like Head
Start, WIC, and childhood immunization programs that provide high
returns on our investments.
* Third, we must stop subsidizing the defense of Europe and Japan and
use those funds to start investing in America. With the end of the
Cold War, we need to shift spending priorities from military to
domestic to make America strong from the inside-out. And we can still
maintain the most powerful, modern, high-tech military in the world,
provide support for our allies, and reduce our military budget.
* Fourth, we need to get tough on trade and stop exporting U.S. jobs.
The revolving door for our trade negotiators must shut. Of the top 19
commerce trade agents in the Reagan and Bush administrations, nine are
now foreign agents, and seven work for Japan. That practice must end!
* Fifth, we need policies that reflect the new realities of American
families and the workplace. We need to invest in child care, family
leave, pay equity, and adopt a comprehensive health care system where
affordable health care is not just a privilege of wealth, but a basic
right of every American citizen.
Tom Harkin believes it's time for the American people to take back
government from the privileged few and special interests and create an
economic system that will work for all of us. A Harkin Administration
will make the New Growth Agenda a reality!
