D-Walz, Mn
Congressman speaks at Angie’s Kettle Corn
September 28, 2010
By Mark Fischenich
http://mankatofreepress.com/local/x535472508/Economy-health-care-among-topics-for-Walz-visit
...Angie Bastian said the company’s human resources manager is having trouble finding detailed information about how the reform, which will mostly take affect in 2014, will impact their business.
“We’re looking for information,” she said. “... It would be helpful to have that so we can plan.”
Walz concurred, saying federal agencies need to finalize the rules surrounding the reform bill so that businesses of all sizes will know what will be expected of them and what sorts of tax credits they will receive. Ultimately, he said most small businesses will like what they see.
“The more people find out what’s in there, the happier they are,” he said.
What Democrats were told by their own economist about deficits;
10/21/2009 Transcript of Pelosi, House Democratic Leaders, and Economists’ Press Conference Following Economic Forum
Alan Blinder - And let me say this: I think our focus on the fiscal situation and deficit is very important in the long run, but I think it is also very appropriate to run a larger near term budget deficit to make sure that this economy gets out of this situation and gets on a self sustaining economic track. ...That said, we do have to be mindful of the long-run deficit problem. I have been taken recently in a number of venues to be quoting not quite correctly, paraphrasing St. Augustine who said something like, “Lord, make me chaste, but not just yet” We do need to become more chaste about the budget deficit, we do need to pay attention to the long-run fiscal hole, a lot of attention but in the short term, this is not the time to do it. 2009 and probably 2010 are not the times to do that.
Heather Boushey - Finally, I want to end with a statement about the deficit as well. I think that all of us agree that focusing on the short term deficit isn’t the right thing to do, we need to make sure that we’re focusing on job creation and if we don’t get people back to work, that too will increase the deficit. It isn’t an either or, the reality is that we need to get the economy back on track; we need to get people back to work. That will help our long term fiscal situation and then we need to be thinking about the deficit a few years out once we’ve got the economy back together.
Mark Zandi - I think our focus on the fiscal situation and deficit is very important in the long run, but I think it is also very appropriate to run a larger near term budget deficit to make sure that this economy gets out of this situation and gets on a self sustaining economic track.
Robert Kuttner - Last comment: you need to think about reduction of debt relative to the GDP as a 10-year project and in order to get the economy back on track, we may well need, we do need, more deficit spending now and in the next year but with a pre commitment to deficit reduction over 10 years through progressive taxation, one of the things we seem to agree on is a financial transactions tax, taxes aimed at the people who are still making out in this crisis so that the benefit can go to ordinary people and we don’t have to sacrifice the recovery on the long term/short term deficit reduction.
(Remember: Pelosi had been Speaker from January, 2007)
10/21/2009
Alan Blinder - “I think it is really quite remarkable that this many Members of the congressional leadership show up and spend several hours with the likes of us, talking seriously about the economy”
[The Great Jobless Recovery!]