Steve Cohen: “Well, just the whole prospect. Jobs are so important. I was thinking back about Stiglitz. I think you were there at the…”

“Well, just the whole prospect. Jobs are so important. I was thinking back about Stiglitz. I think you were there at the caucus. He and Krugman say the same thing, that there's several ways you can get yourself out of this deficit. He went back into a little bit of history about how during the Clinton years we had a big deficit from the Reagan-Bush years and that President Clinton, with a bill that was passed in this Congress with all Democrat votes in about 1994, I think, put us on a road to balance the budget, and got us a surplus. It got us a surplus by the time President Clinton left office. Stiglitz said, which is so true--it's a factoid--the surplus was lost because of two wars, one of which was a volunteer war, not related to 9/11--Iraq--and Afghanistan, that were both passed through these Congresses, which were Republican-controlled, Republican Congresses, without being funded. Then the Bush tax cuts giving the wealthiest people the largest tax cuts and contributing to the largest disparity in wealth that we've ever had in this Nation. Now, the wealthy can only spend so much. There are only so many Chanel purses a woman can buy. There are only so many Rolex watches a guy can have, but we are losing a middle class. Then we put all this wealth through these tax cuts on the richest, making their tax rates the lowest since the 1950s, and then extended it for 2 years, the inheritance tax, to where the wealthy get to keep more and more in perpetuity.…”