Blog

by Kevin Henning, KCDP Chair
for the KCDP weekly newsletter, December 8, 2019

James Carville’s profound words to George H.W. Bush still ring true today. Climate Change, Healthcare, Immigration, Civil rights, LGBTQ rights, voter suppression, and many other issues are critically important to address. However, to replace Trump with a Democrat we must also demonstrate that the Democratic Party will make the economy work for all Americans not just the rich. We must prove that we are the party of economic growth, full employment and wage growth for the American worker.

Republicans still lambaste Obama on the economy saying the economy stagnated near the end of his term. This is just another Republican alternate fact (lie). According to Forbes magazine, Obama actually created more jobs in each of the last four years of his Presidency than Trump created in his first two years. If you compare twenty years of Democratic presidents (Carter, Clinton, Obama) to 20 years of Republicans (Reagan, Bush, Bush) you find that Democrats created over twice the jobs than the Republicans (45 million versus 20 million). Also, according to Forbes, the stock market has historically been stronger with a Democrat in office.

What we have is an economy that works great for the wealthy but not so good for working folks. Top corporate executives have seen their pay grow by more than 1,000% over the past 40 years, nearly 100 times the rate of average workers. Women continue to earn less than men. In 2018, women earned 82 cents for every dollar a man earned. Addressing these issues will be essential for the Democratic Party to reassert itself as the party of the American worker.

Too many Americans have been left behind, Democrats must convince the electorate we are committed to doing everything we can to build a full-employment economy, where everyone has a job that pays enough to raise a family and live in dignity with a sense of purpose.

What are your ideas to address the economy? Email me and I will accumulate a list of actions that we can share with party officials and candidates.