For Immediate Release
Tuesday, August 06, 1996
Statement by Gerald W. McEntee, President, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), AFL-CIO on Bob Dole's Economic Plan
Bob Dole's late conversion to supply-side economics is transparent and desperate. Moreover, it is dangerous to the American economy and to our country's working men and women.
I am confident that the American electorate is astute enough to recognize an election year ploy -- particularly if it is unveiled when the candidate is failing miserably in the polls and shows no signs of turning his campaign around. As everyone knows, Mr. Dole has spent his long career in Washington, DC advocating against these policies, even labeling them -- correctly -- as voodoo economics.
This latest tactic by the Dole campaign will do nothing to instill confidence in the hearts and minds of American voters. The bottom line is that the proposed Dole tax cuts would go to the wealthiest ten percent and would generate an average savings of $25,000 a year in taxes for the richest one percent. Furthermore, contrary to Mr. Dole's rhetoric about increasing take home pay for workers, his plan does nothing to address the economy's real problem -- the decline in before-tax wages.
Supply-side economics didn't work in the '80s -- it quadrupled our national debt and hurt our economy -- and it won't work now.
