George Bush
Bush said he wants to build a more prosperous and competitive economy in his second term.
He said he will make the economy stronger by promoting tax reform, reforming education, building a stronger workforce, and lessening American's energy dependence.
He also said he wants to promote ownership and hopes to create 7 million new homes over the next 10 years.
His Jobs for the 21st Century Initiative is designed to strengthen America's workforce by better preparing workers through improvements in high school, post-secondary and job training education, he said.
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John Kerry
Kerry said one sign of a growing economy is a growing middle class with greater opportunities to succeed in the workplace.
"In America, a rising tide is supposed to lift all boats," Kerry stated on his Web site. "But today, Americans are working harder, earning less, and paying more for health care, college and taxes. Corporate profits are soaring, the government keeps expanding, but the opportunities for our middle-class are shrinking."
Kerry has said outsourcing is a big problem for America's economy and building job opportunities domestically would be a top priority.
"I will fight for the most sweeping international tax law reform in 40 years - a plan to replace tax incentives to take jobs offshore with new incentives for job creation on our own shores,"he said in March.
David Cobb
Tax cuts will be replaced with progressive taxation, military spending will be replaced with infrastructure improvement, and corporations will be replaced with community-oriented small business and cooperatives in a Cobb administration, he said.
Too often, growth is valued more than prosperity and the public good, he said.ˇThe full cost of the Iraq War and global climate change should be present in the price of gasoline.
Cobb said he will raise the minimum wage to $10 per hour and abolish trade treaties that undermine and exploit laborers, including the North American Free Trade Agreement and the World Trade Organization.
Job creation should come from accelerating the renewable energy industry, building energy efficient homes in urbanˇcenters andˇbuilding modernˇpublic transportation systems, he said.
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Michael Badnarik
The cause of America's poor economy is due to excess government regulation and spending, Michael Badnarik said.
"Every regulator we fire results in the creation of over 150 new jobs, enough to hire the ex-regulator, the unemployed and the able-bodied poor," Badnarik said.
The number of federal regulators in the '80s fell from about 122,000 to barely 100,000, he said.
"The private sector added 3,500,000 jobs as a consequence," Badnarik said.
He said the federal government needs to create a balanced budget and stick to it, instead of using the public's tax dollars as its personal bank.
"I'll veto deficit spending. Period," Badnarik said. "I expect this to be an easy thing to do, since I'll be slashing the size of the federal government at the same time - so much so that taxes will be slashed as well."
Michael Peroutka
Peroutka said one of the biggest threats facing Americans is the protection of good paying jobs.
He said he will stop the Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement and end United States participation in the North American Free Trade Agreement and the World Trade Organization.ˇHe said he will support a fair trade policy that will not benefit foreign or international governments.
Peroutka said he strictly adheres to the Constitution, and the only way to fix the national deficit is for the government to follow and use the Constitution as the federal spending limit.
Peroutka said he will work to repeal the income tax, property tax and inheritance tax and abolish the IRS. He promises the biggest tax cut in history.
Ralph Nader
The economy should shift its resources toward revitalizing public infrastructure, public transit, renewable energy industry, schools, libraries, parks and clinics,ˇNader said.
The $400 billion annualˇmilitary budget and tax cuts for theˇwealthy and corporations will be combated in a Nader administration, he said, redirecting those resources toward increasing theˇgeneral living standard.ˇHe will create millions of new jobs by accelerating the renewable energy industry, stopping the outsourcing of high-paying jobs, and investing heavily in local, labor intensive public works, he said.
Fair trade will be the centerpiece in a campaign to increase environmental, consumer and labor standards, he said. Nader will combat corporate crime, fraud and abuse, saving trillions of dollars and reforming large business structures to serve consumers, he said.
