News Reasons To Vote For Kerry: Things He Will Do To Improve America

[Evo]

Let's see if we can get this thread back to the original topic "Things Kerry will do", or I will close the thread.

 

[Artman]

Originally Posted by amp
1. Kerry will balance the budget.
2. Kerry will give the US a stronger and more improved military.
3. Kerry will bring back our allies.
4. Kerry will bring about almost universal healthcare.
5. Kerry will reform and revialize our public education.
6. Kerry will accomplish the mission in Iraq and bring our troops home with honor.
to be cont...

Artman, you want my beliefs? Here they are above, well-said and concisely put by amp. Good enough for you? Buh-bye.

Thank you.

Now don't get hot over this. These are not attacks on your opinion, these are serious questions from someone who wants the get at the facts.

Can either Elizabeth1405 or Amp or someone else give me some basis for these beliefs other than Mr. Kerry's word that he might accomplish some of these?

For instance, has he proposed in his platform a method for achieving items 1 and 2 together? The two are often mutually exclusive.

Items 3 & 5 he may be able to accomplish, but what are his proposed methods?

How does he intend to pay for Item 4?

Item 6 seems to me well within his capabilities. I also believe this to be important to him.

 

[loseyourname]

Is John Kerry making it up as he goes along? The presumptive Democratic nominee, who has been raging about the Bush economy for more than 15 months, was recently asked to tie his campaign proposals into a succinct and compelling agenda. "Succinct agenda," Mr. Kerry replied. "We're going to balance the budget. We're going to cut the deficit in half in four years. We're going to create 10 million jobs. And we're going to provide health care to all Americans? How's that?" Well, which is it going to be? Are you going to balance the budget? Or are you going to cut the deficit in half? The difference is only about $250 billion a year.

Full Article

 

[russ_watters]

Evo - fair enough.

[switching gears]

Artman & loseyourname - money for proposed spending is always a toughie for both sides. Healthcare, defense, and balancing the budget require more income for the government or cuts in other places. When Kerry says things like the quote above and also says he'll "roll back" already in place cuts, what I'm hearing is that with him in office we'll have some major tax increases.

 

[loseyourname]

I'm reading over his site right now, trying to figure out exactly what his economic plan is, but it's still pretty vague. There are a couple of things that just don't make any sense, though.

- He says he'll bring jobs back to America by closing tax loopholes for overseas employees. But even that is done, overseas wages will still be so much lower that it will still be more profitable to ship unskilled jobs overseas.

- He says he will create jobs and encourage investment by lowering corporate taxes for 99% of all businesses, but this will not increase the deficit. In fact, his plan will take in an additional $12 billion each year. The only way to do this is to tax the hell out of the largest corporations, which are the ones investing the most money and creating the most jobs.

- He says he'll cut health-care premiums by $1000. What does this mean? $1000 per year per worker? There's another tax increase, but is this part of the increase for the top 1% of businesses, or the top 2% of households.

- Back to the cutting of business taxes. Does he realize that the owners of the more successful 99% of businesses for whom he is cutting taxes are often in the top 1% of income earners? Cutting their taxes in one place and raising them in another isn't going to do a whole lot of good. It certainly isn't going to create any new jobs.

- He'll create universal access to college by giving a tax credit of up to $4000 for 4 years. Why? The Hope credit already goes up to $6000 for 4 years. A student can make $1000 in a year working a minimum wage job for 4 hours a week. If anything, expand federal work study programs.

- He says he'll lower corporate taxes by 5%. First off, this is a bit misleading (or at least ambiguous), as he is lowering it from 35 to 33.25%, not to 30%. I'd still kind of like to know how lowering corporate taxes like this is going to generate an additional $12 billion of revenue, but he doesn't seem interested in explaining how he will achieve all of these things.

- One final thing he doesn't mention is that all of these proposals can only be achieved through legislation. If congress remains Republican, how the heck is he going to get any of this passed?

 

[amp]

Well Artman and LYN, he has given you and US an overview of what and how he intends to go about accomplishing those goals, I'd say that's sincere, just and fair. This is more than the head of the current admin was providing at the same relative point in his first run.

Kerry's record if undistinguished is moderately good and shows the he fought for many things we 'average joes' feel would benefit us.

Contrasted against the incumbent, you see someone out of touch with 'joe average' and the larger portion of the population.

Kerry knows this is the only planet we have to live on at present so he sees the crucial importance of ecological wisdom for the current generation and generations yet to come.

The incumbent, well its no secret.

 

[Artman]

Thank you Amp.

Kerry's record if undistinguished is moderately good and shows the he fought for many things we 'average joes' feel would benefit us.

This seems to be true.

This also seems to be true:

- One final thing he doesn't mention is that all of these proposals can only be achieved through legislation. If congress remains Republican, how the heck is he going to get any of this passed?

Thank you for the information on Kerry's platform loseyourname.

 

[amp]

This also seems to be true:
Quote:

Originally Posted by loseyourname
- One final thing he doesn't mention is that all of these proposals can only be achieved through legislation. If congress remains Republican, how the heck is he going to get any of this passed?

Thank you for the information on Kerry's platform loseyourname.

LYN, pardon me for not opting for pessimism which would increase the work in a already difficult task, finging and building a foundation from a base of common ground. The Rep's are desirous of many of the beneficial projections of the Kerry initiatives. As Obama stated better than I could, there is no liberal or conservative, we are Americans who stand/work/progress united in our efforts to strengthen and revitalize the spirit of America.

 

[loseyourname]

The whole point is that none of the parts of his platform I listed here would be of any benefit. No Republican or Democrat should vote for any of them.

 

[amp]

...none of the parts of his platform I listed here would be of any benefit. No Republican or Democrat should vote for any of them.

Really? Why are you so certain? I guess like the 'Shadow' you must "know what lurks in the hearts of men."

 

[nbo10]

The only thing we need to know about Kerry is that during his time in the senate he voted against every major weapon system that we currently use to defend your country.

Ohhh, but wait... I think he now supports all the systems. Do you believe in his actions or what he says in hindsight?

The number one job the president is to protect and defend the US. President Bush has shown that he has the conviction to stand against what the mainstream media and left think is right. By liberating Iraq we ensure that the tyrannical government can not lanuch an attack on the US or any other country. We are also ensured that WMD will not be devolped in Iraq and passed on to terrorist organizations. The windfall of democracy in Iraq & Afganistan will be felt in all parts of the mideast and the world. The ramifications of which will be enjoyed by future generations.

JMD

 

[JohnDubYa]

LYN, pardon me for not opting for pessimism which would increase the work in a already difficult task, finging and building a foundation from a base of common ground. The Rep's are desirous of many of the beneficial projections of the Kerry initiatives. As Obama stated better than I could, there is no liberal or conservative, we are Americans who stand/work/progress united in our efforts to strengthen and revitalize the spirit of America.

Time to put the boots on as it is getting a little deep around here.

 

[Dissident Dan]

The only thing we need to know about Kerry is that during his time in the senate he voted against every major weapon system that we currently use to defend your country.

Do you get all your information from TV ads?

 

[amp]

I don't think so nbo10 . Kerry (IMHO) intends to cut the waste in the military and to produce systems that mesh and blend into a more robust military, unlike the way the public's investment has been abused by shall I say greed mongers.

This is hilarious:

...By liberating Iraq we ensure that the tyrannical government can not lanuch an attack on the US or any other country.

Iraq was less of a threat before the invasion than North Korea. Iraq could barely support itself.

 

[JohnDubYa]

Iraq could barely support itself.

So they had very few weapons, is that your assertion? Historically, nations that are nearly destitute are very dangerous. In fact, such seems to be the norm.