THE ECONOMY

By Byron Walker DeLear

Many say that our economy's headed for a recession, but one thing's for sure, for more than a decade the economic policies coming out of Washington DC have been one-sided, ineffective and have weakened our Middle Class.

Protecting and defending the economic interests of Missouri's working families and strengthening America's Middle Class will be a cornerstone of my candidacy and public service.

Many say that our economy's headed for a recession, but one thing's for sure, for more than a decade the economic policies coming out of Washington DC have been one-sided, ineffective and have weakened our Middle Class.

Protecting and defending the economic interests of Missouri's working families and strengthening America's Middle Class will be a cornerstone of my candidacy and public service.

With the outsourcing of our prosperity and increasing foreign ownership of US industries, the restoration of America's economic sectors is not only an issue of fiscal concern, but one of National Security and sovereign integrity.

I will propose a permanent economic stimulus through tax relief by reforming the payroll tax. By putting the first $30,000 of wages earned into the pockets of the folks who've earned it, we will immediately inject billions into the economy spent for rent, food, car payments, etc. This tax relief for lower and middle income wage earners will be paid for by removing the artificial regressive ceiling on the Social Security tax.

America will be a stronger America with a diversified and balanced economy, made of a rebuilt domestic manufacturing sector, a stronger Middle Class and the creation of Green-collar jobs.

As a Blue-Dog progressive Democrat, I believe in fiscal responsibility and restraint. I will strive to express moderation and balance in the legislative policies I support. I also believe in our elected leader's role to provide guidance and help set priorities for the health of our economy, satisfying the Constitutional mandate of promoting the general welfare of the people.

Unfortunately, economic responsibility and restraint has gone missing in Washington for far longer than a generation.

Our elected officials have stood by while lobbyists, big money and fiscal opportunists have hijacked our government to solely serve their elitist agenda. There are 67,000 people employed by the lobbying industry in Washington DC equaling a staggering 175 lobbyists for every member of Congress.

Sadly, our democracy has become the "best democracy money can buy".

These trends have been compounding for decades, with big money running roughshod over Congress, and now, the chickens have come home to roost in the form of our nation's severely compromised and weakened economic condition.

The sub-prime mortgage crisis made possible through unbridled greed from predatory loan practices is causing millions of home foreclosures and the suffering of families all across our nation.

My opponent, Rep. Akin, appallingly voted to block regulating the out-of-control subprime mortgage industry in November of 2007.

Cracks of instability in our housing market have now connected with fissures opening up throughout our economy, weakening our dollar, blowing up inflation rates to their highest in 17 years and running up untenable levels of national debt and huge trade deficits.

Accordingly, the cost of living is skyrocketing with record prices of gasoline, health care and education, making the Middle Class and our working families more vulnerable than ever. Obsolete, worn-out theories of trickle-down, supply-side economics and free-trade doctrines have failed our country.

We have quite literally been witnessing the "Enron-ization" of the American economy.

Rep. Akin has been blindly following George Bush off this fiscal cliff by supporting the White House's disastrous economic agenda -- it's time to see some real "Show Me" sensibility in how Missouri is being served and represented in Washington DC.

There's a reason why it is commonly said that to get to the heart of any corruption, one needs only to follow the money trail + Show Me the money.

The fact of the matter is that the control of our corridors of power by select moneyed interests has silenced the political voice of most of our citizens and undermined our representative democracy. It has us outsourcing millions of jobs, paralyzed in our addiction to oil, embroiled in costly ongoing occupations in the Middle East, engaged in unfair trade deals and denying Health Care to millions of Americans.

A political intervention must be staged: the lack of accountability and the outsourcing of American prosperity must stop.

The long term political and philosophical solution is what I like to call the "separation of buck and state".

We must erect an ethical wall between our private and public institutions to free the hands of our legislators to serve, rather than sell.

Clean Money legislation and public financing of campaigns are the achievable gradient political steps for a corrupt-free and clean democracy; a more perfect Union. "Separation of buck and state" is the reform that makes all other reforms possible.

PROTECTING AND DEFENDING OUR ECONOMIC INTERESTS

To quote US Senator Byron Dorgan's (D-ND) book Take This Job and Ship It,

"Trade can't be "free" when our small businesses and working people are expected to compete with exploited workers and slave labor in third-world nations that care little about the conditions in their factories and not at all about the pollution they generate.

Our trade deficit now increases by $2 billion a day, but pharmaceutical companies have such influence in Washington that Medicare, by current law, is not allowed to negotiate lower drug prices. We import oil on an ever-increasing scale, putting ourselves into debt with the Saudis, the Kuwaitis, and other Middle Eastern nations; with their windfall profits, they continue to buy American assets. China's booming economy and abundance of cheap labor is threatening our economic survival as America's manufacturing base is dismantled.

We have mortgaged our fortunes, our principles, and our way of life..."

Any stock broker will tell you that a healthy and balanced stock portfolio is one that is diversified. In the same sense, the US economy needs to be diversified, with a rebuilt manufacturing sector, fair trade legislation and treaties, responsible spending practices, and a Marshall Plan to create a million Green-collar jobs.

This balanced and common-sense approach of a diversified economy has been missing for far too long in Washington DC.

As your representative, I will fight to repeal unfair trade legislation like NAFTA and CAFTA, I will protect the interests of American labor and defend worker's rights to organize and collectively bargain.

Now, these policies do not need to turn back the clock, they can act as an economic renaissance, propelling us into the future with the urgent construction of a new economy; a Green economy. Becoming energy independent by marshalling the best and brightest of our nation in designing, developing and deploying renewable energy technology will help stop America's economic degradation, and guarantee a sustainable, secure and environmentally sound future.

It's time to balance the national checkbook and reconcile ourselves to the fact that as a family, we are only as strong as our weakest link.

It's time to reverse the weakening of America's Middle Class, stop the hollowing out of our economy, and give back to those who are truly the heart and soul of our country: the working families of Missouri and America.

Our nation still has her better days ahead of her, but we must act now -- and with a little perseverance and vision, we can provide for our children a strong, healthy and vibrant economy, filled with hope and opportunity for a prosperous future.