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Economics
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TAXES AND SPENDING
- Reduce or eliminate federal deficits, which drive up the national debt and future interest payments borne by taxpayers. Do what is necessary to balance the budget, even if it requires tax increases and spending cuts in popular programs. Be done with economic dogmas claiming deficits are necessary to "stimulate the economy" and other unproven theories.
- Preserve Social Security and make it solvent without increasing social security taxes on lower- and middle-income workers.
- Fund job training and skills retraining programs, through grants and subsidized student loans, as the right approach to meet the challenge of global competition, rather than protecting uncompetitive companies and workers.
PENSION FUNDS, BANKRUPTCIES, AND BAILOUTS
- Strictly enforce all legitimate contractual obligations of companies toward their retirees, and if a company defaults, impound its assets as necessary to pay those obligations.
- But do not bail out any bankrupt pension fund at taxpayer expense, and revoke any law that provides for tax-paid underwriting of pension funds.
- Except for FDIC insurance for savings accounts, do not underwrite any private funds and do not bail out faltering companies at taxpayer expense, no matter how large the company, because more subsidizing of failure today only breeds more failure in the future.
- Reassess loan guarantees of all kinds and establish a transparent review process to better scrutinize them and ensure that they are not a form of bailout or corporate welfare in disguise at the expense of U.S. taxpayers.
- Tighten bankruptcy law to insure, without possibility of loopholes, that no one may declare bankruptcy while still retaining ownership or interest in any million-dollar properties, and require them instead to liquidate those assets and pay down debt before they may qualify for bankruptcy.
PRICE-FIXING AND PRICE-GOUGING
Uphold the general principle that all prices should be determined by the free competitive marketplace guided by the forces of supply and demand.
- Police the marketplace as far as practical to ensure that competition is furthered and that anticompetitive practices, such as price-fixing, are penalized.
- Do not give in to popular demands to crack down on "price-gouging" unless there is clear evidence of anticompetitive practices or collusion among sellers.
- Repeal price-gouging laws which penalize sellers for taking advantage of shortages to increase their prices, as such price increases are a proper reaction to market forces, including during natural disasters when widespread shortages may take place.
- Take whatever steps may be necessary to make the oil industry and energy production more competitive, especially ensuring the possibility of new companies entering the market and eliminating any subsidies or privileges to current giant companies or any protection of them against new competition.