The american people are begging for jobs with politicians on both sides of the aisle have been obsessed with spending cuts instead. this past weekend, finally good news. we finally heard the revenue side of the equation being mentioned in regard to budget talks.
>> no one on the republican side will vote to raise taxes but i think many of us would look at flattening the tax code, do away with deductions and exemptions and take that revenue to help pay off the debt.
>> finally, revenues are on the table. now remember why this is so important. the less revenue that they raise, the more they are going to take out in spending cuts from the middle class and the poor. the rich should have to pay their fair share if we’re going to have to balance the budget. that is why revenue is so important. even senator mark warner says his colleagues in the gang of five are committed to including revenue.
>> rifly $3 in cuts and a dollar of that cut will be savings to $1 in revenue. that’s the framework we’re looking at.
>> i’m not sure i agree about the equation but that’s a start, great. how do they bring in more revenue with taxes.
>> the way we deal with revenue says not raising taxes. we are going back to the reagan approach which is lowering tax rates, getting rid of tax skejss.
>> exemptions.
>> are you kidding me? their idea for the revenue side is to lower taxes. so look, they might take away home deductions which hits the middle class pretty hard and lower rate in tax brackets. i got to be honest, i think these guys are jokers. that is a democratic telling you how they plan to redistribute wealth back up to the top as more. that is enough to make you lose faith in the party entirely. the republicans are much, much worse. they say, yes, lower taxes on the rich, what a good idea. one guy thinks we should look to the people, not politicses for leadership.
>> there has been a lot of angest about whether all of the promises are kept. whether we have change we can believe in. we aught not to think about people in washington as responsible for the change that we can believe in. we are responsible for the change that we can believe in. change does not come from washington, d.c. change comes from the bottom up and we will make change in our own communities and it will spread out wards.
>> that was this past weekend. of course i couldn’t agree with that idea more. but let’s talk about how we fight back against that d.c. machine. joining me now, that man arguing for the change, howard dean. governor dean, thanks for being here tonight, we really do appreciate it.
>> thanks for having me on.
>> all right. look, you and i totally agree. you can’t rely on washington politicians and you got fight from the bottom up. i hear oup that. but here they are in washington. both republicans and democrats. telling us, you know, we will probably raise the retirement age. social security, medicare. take away exemptions, subsidies, et cetera. how do you fight back against that?
>> nothing wrong with a good primary. tea party shows that. we don’t see the specific proposals yet. proposing raising the retirement on social security has already been done, first of all. secondly, proposing raising the eligibility for medicare is insane. all this does is kick more people off health insurance in a country where we don’t have nearly enough people with health insure towns begin with. this pro disposes this is about the politicians in washington. the problem is not healthcare or medicare or medicaid. the problem is the system. it is all over every system whether it is medicare, medicaid or private insurance. there is a very interesting column this past week, by paul krugman, saying that the insurance industry cost went up faster than medicare costs did. there are some ideas kicked around washington that probably makes sense, but there are a lot that don’t make any sense at all and we need really clear about what those are. we have to see their ideas first. i’m not willing to poopoo the idea because they haven’t put their ideas on the table. this idea they will reduce corporate taxes, especially since some big caps don’t pay taxes whatsoever, that’s a big starter.
>> every single hint out of that gang of five is going in that direction. they are talking about tax holidays from money they bring in from abroad, et cetera. it is frustrating because those are democrats. those are primaries. if you are talking about primaries against guys giving away corporate tax cuts et cetera, more me, mark warner, everything he said to me sounded absolutely republican. it would be crazy for progresives t progressive to let him run again. if you ask, how about the top dog, president obama.
>> i’m not a fan of primary egg president obama. i’m supporting the president. look, he hasn’t done everything we would like on the progressive side of the aisle. but he has two great supreme court justice. he asked the government to conform with kioto. i forget the date. but that’s an extraordinary step forward. we don’t have the health plan we should have but it is a big step forward. there is not any question that this president is a — you know, has been a president who has done some of the things he said. i think we will get out of iraq bit end of the year. that’s another one. maybe we will see a by the end of the week a troop we ducks in afghanistan. that’s another one. these things won’t happen under romney or bachmann. i’m not a fan of primarying the president at all.
>> let me throw out a wild card here. i hear you and historically primaries heard the president. i have agreed with that up until this moment. of course, having a bachmann or romney would be an abs disaster. i agree with all of that. i now think if they go in this direction and the president signs off on it and these are very conservative positions, i think a primary might help the president. it would force him to the left where the real country is at. if the country isn’t in favor of cutting social security and medicare.
>> no.
>> they aren’t under favor of raising taxes on the rich. maybe it helps them and doesn’t hurt them.
>> i don’t think the democrats and senate and house will vote for these kinds of crazy proposals that we’re hearing about lowering taxes for the people who make a million dollars a year or getting rid of home mortgage deductions. if you ask me, am i in favor for the first $500,000, yes, or first $400,000. if that’s what they are talking about by getting rid of home mortgage deduction or houses worth 4 or $500,000. that’s different.
>> yes.
>> we don’t know exactly what they are proposing so we ought to find out what they are talking about before we talk about primarying people. there are people we won’t name on the show but you will see democracy for america primarying some people and i will support some of those candidates.
>> there is no question about it. it is all in the nuances and how they do it. but all of the signs have been bad so far thp. i’m trying to get in front of it before they say this is a brilliant idea that the republicans want to do. that’s part of the reason to have that conversation now.
>> absolutely. that’s right. draw the line. but let me say something else, that we disagree on a little bit. i think it is okay to repay tree ought the prove ilts stashed abroad if they invest in research and development. all of it. you bring it out and pay it back in shareholder dividends. you bring it back and put jobs in america, then i’m okay with it. there are different ram if i fications and we don’t know what they are.
>> right. jobs are important. mitch mccon sell trying to put it on the president. let me show you a video and let’s talk about it.
>> do republicans have any plans to do anything on the unemployment front or are you going to let things take their course?
>> no. i think what we are doing is encouraging the president to quit doing what he is doing. quit overspending. we are hoping with the debt ceiling discussions we can discuss deficit and debt.
>> he admits it, we’re not doing a damn thing, right? so on the other hand, is the president making a mistake but not coming out with a big jobs bill and say, i’m for creating jobs and they are against that.
>> i think we aught to be really clear we are going to support jobs. that’s what this campaign is about. we have spent too much time talking about spending and not enough time talking about jobs. we have once again let the republicans set the agenda. this is about jobs. the republicans may believe if can you reduce deficit spending can you get jobs. that’s fine. but there is about jobs, not about spending. we aught not let republicans spend that agenda. they have no agenda. mcconnell says he has one thing on his agenda. that’s fine for the republican party. it doesn’t help the country very well. republicans are interested in power so they are their corporate patrons and sponsors like the koch brothers get more for themselves and middle class has less and less. the republicans are destroying the american dream. to rekindle the american dream we need more jobs. push the hate moners out of the way. i think we need a jobs bill but it is hard to get that because the republicans won’t vote for that either.
>> all right, howard dean, thanks for being with us tonight and thanks for shedding a light on it.
>> thank you.
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