a different 1993, Clinton doesn’t piss away early momentum on healthcare reform?

GeographyDude

Gone Fishin'
Clinton — and Congress — definitely had a mandate to start rebuilding the American middle class.

Okay, what solid things did they do that they didn’t fully get credit for and/or what could they have done?
 

Amadeus

GeographyDude said:
Clinton — and Congress — definitely had a mandate to start rebuilding the American middle class.

Okay, what solid things did they do that they didn’t fully get credit for and/or what could they have done?
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In his first two years, Clinton should have stuck to his campaign promise of passing a middle class tax cut. From then on he could have built up political momentum for more ambitious measures like universal health care.
 

GeographyDude

Gone Fishin'
Amadeus said:
. . . Clinton should have stuck to his campaign promise of passing a middle class tax cut. . .
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I think he may have. Let’s dive into the details of the 1993 tax law.

———————————————-

Later Edit:

* It looks like there wasn’t a middle-class tax cut in ‘93, at least not clearly and obviously so.
 
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Amadeus

GeographyDude said:
I think he may have. Let’s dive into the details of the 1993 tax law.
Click to expand...

In my initial post I didn't say that he never passed a middle class tax cut, but rather that Clinton should have kept his focus on that until he had enough political capital to pass more wide reaching programs. Clinton's problem was that he tried to do everything all at once and this doomed any chance of healthcare reform passing during his Presidency. But had he waited until after the midterms or until his second term, at which point he's had enough time to get the people on his side, then healthcare reform would have been more likely to pass.
 

GeographyDude

Gone Fishin'
Clinton and Blair: The Political Economy of the Third Way

https://books.google.com/books?id=C...tle:Clinton intitle:and intitle:Blair&f=false

‘ . . . (a 39.6 percent marginal rate) on annual incomes above $250,000; . . . ’
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In his campaign, Clinton talked about asking the rich to pay more, so that the rest of us can finally get a break.

Well, this 1993 tax law achieved the first goal, and it helped with deficit reduction. But so much of the rest of it is such a muddled mess and such a compromise, that it’s hard to tell whether we achieved the second goal of a middle class tax cut.
 
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Amadeus

GeographyDude said:
In his campaign, Clinton talked about asking the rich to pay more, so that the rest of us can finally get a break.

Well, this 1993 tax law achieved the first goal, and it helped with deficit reduction. But so much of the rest of it is such a muddled mess and such a compromise, that it’s hard to tell whether we achieved the second goal of a middle class tax cut.
Click to expand...

I find it interesting that the book argues that Clinton was more a Republican than a Democrat when it came to federal spending.
 

GeographyDude

Gone Fishin'
The Biggest Tax Increase in History

https://www.google.com/amp/s/slate....96/08/the-biggest-tax-increase-in-history.amp

‘ . . . The Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 (TEFRA) fashioned by Dole and the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 (OBRA-93) pushed through Congress by Clinton were projected, at the time of passage, to raise almost exactly the same amounts of revenue. . . ’
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Okay, so we have a name for Clinton’s ‘93 tax law.

And it does sound like much more of a deficit reduction plan, and a successful one, rather than a middle class tax cut.

And notice this is a Slate article from more than 20 years ago!
 

GeographyDude

Gone Fishin'


In the 1992 election:

Oct. 11: Presidential debate

Oct. 13 Vice Presidential debate

Oct. 15 Presidential debate, town hall format

Oct. 19 Presidential debate


Phenomenal, but built up expectations which maybe . . . only a very confident, middle-of-the-road economist could meet?
 
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