Economy Focus of Congressional Candidates Debate in Teaneck
The three Democrats running to represent New Jersey's 5th Congressional District held a debate in Teaneck Sunday.
The three 5th District Democratic candidates competing in the June 5 primary debated the issues in a forum at the Richard Rodda Community Center in Teaneck Sunday.
Teaneck Deputy Mayor Adam Gussen, former Marine Jason Castle and Lyndon LaRouche supporter Diane Sare are all vying for the opportunity to run against Republican incumbent Scott Garrett for his seat in Congress in the November election.
The economy was a main topic at the debate. Gussen said he favored creating incentives for businesses to create jobs and would like to help America have complete energy independence.
"We have a tremendous opportunity to put America back to work," Gussen said.
Castle said he believed he could help create partnerships between schools and employers to help the unemployed receive training and move into new careers.
"We can create an environment where those who need jobs can get them," Castle said.
Sare said she favored undertaking the North American Water and Power Alliance, a plan developed in the 1950s which would have brought water from Alaska to the lower 48 states for farming and hydro-electric power. She also said she wanted to reinstate the Glass–Steagall Act, a law from the 1930s which regulated banks.
Sare also said she believed increasing focus on math and science, with the eventual goal of establishing civilization on the Moon and Mars, would help improve the economy and America's public education system.
"We can't have public education in a depression and a dark age," Sare said.
Castle said he supported public education and believes charter schools are not a solution to problems in public schools.
"We need to fix the public school system so all kids can benefit," Castle said.
Gussen said charter schools could be a part of the education system but public schools should still be funded and emphasize standardized tests less than they do now.
"Teaching to the test will never be the answer," Gussen said.
Castle criticized Gussen for being on Teaneck's council when $6.1 million was cut from the school district's budget. Gussen said the cuts were necessary after voters rejected the budget and criticized Castle for never holding office and living outside of the 5th District. Castle plans to move to Teaneck at the end of June.
Both men also criticized Sare for some of the issues she has spoken about. Castle described her as "an ideological extremist" because she promotes impeaching President Barack Obama, who she called "a reckless British puppet."
All three candidates criticized Garrett for his stance on campaign financing, education and the economy.
"Scott Garrett's last 10 years in Congress is an embarrassment to the state of New Jersey and the United States of America," Gussen said.
The primary election is on June 5. Whoever wins will face Garrett in the general election. Garrett has represented the 5th District since 2003.
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Art Vatsky
7:32 am on Monday, May 21, 2012
An article in the NYTimes yesterday "Making Schools Work" reports that real integration helps students improve with no loss to already strong students. Economic studies prove this benefit persists even to the children of those students. Teaneck was a leader here and should remain so. Since the 1980s there has been a pull back from integration nationwide. Options put in place don't appear as effective. Don't argue with me. Read the article. Page 1, Sunday Review
Jacob
9:02 am on Monday, May 21, 2012
Congratulations to Mr. Gussen on his getting the Bergen County Democrats backing for this position. Although Bergen's State Senator, Assemblypeople and County elected officials should have tried a bit harder to convince Rothman to stay in the district, they should now get behind Gussen and stop bickering and posturing in the back room.
Tommy P
1:17 pm on Monday, May 21, 2012
Hold on a second, Gussen has openly called for increased capital gains taxes. He has been on tour around the county wanting to tax profits created by people who manage their investments like Mitt Romney as ordinary income. He has also gone on record being against lowering corporate taxes. So what job incentives is he for? We know he support policies which destroy jobs.
While I support our troops, I won't vote for this one. How exactly would a partnership between schools and employers possibly help? The are few jobs which qualified Americans can't be found. We already have over $1,000,000,000,000 in student debt, which is more than all Credit Card or Auto debt.
Sare might be right about Glass Steagall, but she is right less often than a broken watch. As a Larouche Democrat, how can anyone take her seriously? Larouche is going to be on Allan Fineberg's favorite boggie man's show (Alex Jones) later on today.
Its quite sad that our former congressman would have made a better candidate.
B@B
1:38 pm on Monday, May 21, 2012
When will we finally abandon this idea that if you Just Tax Businesses Low Enough they will create jobs? Companies are not people. Jobs are created because there is demand for products and services, not because a bunch of guys at the top of the economic scale decide that they have more money than they can spend in 1000 lifetimes and will "create jobs" out of the goodness of their acquisitive little hearts. Investor Nick Hanauer had it spot-on at Ted Talks. Here's a snippet:
"I have started or helped start, dozens of businesses and initially hired lots of people. But if no one could have afforded to buy what we had to sell, my businesses would all have failed and all those jobs would have evaporated.
"That’s why I can say with confidence that rich people don’t create jobs, nor do businesses, large or small. What does lead to more employment is a “circle of life” like feedback loop between customers and businesses. And only consumers can set in motion this virtuous cycle of increasing demand and hiring. In this sense, an ordinary middle-class consumer is far more of a job creator than a capitalist like me."
More <a href="http://business.time.com/2012/05/18/was-nick-hanauers-ted-talk-on-income-inequality-too-rich-for-rich-people/#ixzz1vWj7nBEn">here.</a>;
Tommy P
2:35 pm on Monday, May 21, 2012
Customers sustain businesses. Businesses are created to make a profit. People risk capital (money) to start a business. Put them in any order you'd like, they are all obviously true.
When deciding to invest in a business, people evaluate how much they much risk, and what the reward is. Taxes reduce that reward. They also make products more expensive which make them less likely to be bought. Its called the risk reward ratio. The more like your risk is to turn into a reward, the more likely you are to take it. In other words, taxes destroy jobs and business formation.
Did I miss something?
Ridgewood Mom
7:46 pm on Monday, May 21, 2012
Tommy,
You are approaching this from the interest standpoint of financial investors only, who are in the quite privileged position of thinking about the best ways of making money off of money that they already have in the first place. Sure, lowering taxes on such investments will increase profits for those who invest in them, and doing so will even create jobs for people as investors. But it is a very abstract sort of thinking to imagine that such is the basis for all business and job formation. There are many ways in which a person can go about a job and be productive without the help of an investor. There are also many profitable investments that do nothing at all for anyone else but the investor. If we really care about the job situation for most Americans then our energies should be direct. And tax revenue, well spent, absolutely increases jobs and business formation. That is why corporations receive billions of dollars in subsidies every year.
You are welcome to make moral arguments to the effect that it’s wrong to seize the rightful earnings of wealthy persons. I would disagree, and argue that there are more important moral issues in the world than defending the right of the rich to grow more rich. But that’s a different sort of discussion. And if we are going to have it, then we should understand that we are talking about something that has nothing at all to do with job creation.
Tommy P
9:01 am on Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Creating incentives has a funny way of getting more of something. When you make things more taxing, you get less of it. Our nation has the highest corporate taxes in the world, even GM is leaving!
When taxes are lowered, its not just investors that benefit, but the people they employ as well. When I started my business I was not a multimillionaire rich person. I could have found a job, but instead I looked the risks and rewards, taxes included, of being the last person paid (starting a business). Our business could have failed, and I could have lost money, most business do just that fairly quickly. We have been fortunate, hard work, some luck, timing and we are growing profitably. Most investors are regular people, either in the markets (ie 401k/pension) or directly in their own small business like yours.
We shouldn't be picking winners and losers. Companies like Solyndra shouldn't have received $500,000,000+ of government money. Sure they employed a few people, but the program was little more then a welfare program and a giant fraud. A fair level playing field, with low taxes ensures good ideas are rewarding in the market place. It ensure the government has plenty of revenue to operate.
I complete with one of GE's business units, despite the fact they made $14,000,000,000+, I paid more in Federal income tax, and its safe to assume you did too.
We don't need boondoggles to prolong this recession, we need economic growth to get us out of it.
Henry Macwhirr
1:55 pm on Monday, May 21, 2012
LaRouche was vilified for years for saying that it was a catastrophic mistake to deregulate the financial system and allow it to become a giant casino, while shutting down manufacturing. He began saying this in the 70s, and was called every name in the book. Now that he has been proven to be correct, those candidates like Diane Sare, who have had enough guts and independence of mind to publicly associate themselves with him, deserve our support and our votes.
Tommy P
2:39 pm on Monday, May 21, 2012
Ron Paul pointed out the same folly.....
Allan E. Fineberg
3:43 pm on Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Mr. Macwhirr, your comments are always so incisive in their brilliance. By the way, you live in California, I see. Certainly not insular in your perspective.
JamesTS
2:40 pm on Monday, May 21, 2012
LaRouche is the party with signs showing Obama as Hitler right? Crazy people. No thanks.
Henry Macwhirr
9:15 pm on Monday, May 21, 2012
Well, let's see: Obama asserts the right to order assassinations of US citizens without charging them with a crime, as he did with Al-Awlaki and his 16-year old son. He asserts the authority to detain US citizens indefinitely, under the NDAA, without trial. He asserts the authority to launch wars against other nations without asking congress for permission. He has put forward a policy to deny life-saving medical procedures to elderly citizens as a cost-cutting measure. Which of these policies, in your opinion, is most unlike those of Hitler?
Art Vatsky
4:54 pm on Monday, May 21, 2012
Rich people do create jobs but they are usually in other countries. Also those profits are banked in other countries to minimize the taxes they pay here. The American middle class has become used to buying imported items, sometimes because they are cheaper, other times because they are better. The jobs and businesses we need are the ones like construction and infrastructure jobs. Plumbers, electricians, roofers, auto technicians, medical technicians, painters and public service workers. I mean, who ya gonna call when there is a pothole in front of your house, a leak in your basement or a hole in your roof (or heart)?
And put back Glass-Steagall. Those bankers are outta control.
Allan E. Fineberg
5:14 pm on Monday, May 21, 2012
Mr. Vatsky says: "Rich people do create jobs but they are usually in other countries." I disagree. I think that the working class creates jobs. It's time for workers to unite and sweep capitalism, along with its economic and social inequities, its racism and misogyny, its theism and its anti-intellectualism, into the garbage heap of history. www.slp.org
Gary Rabinowitz
5:52 pm on Monday, May 21, 2012
@ Allan Fineberg: with folks like you increasingly providing the content and comments, the patch is quickly degenerating into a convention of the crazies. I recommend Comrade Fineberg that you go live in a state or country more suited to your ideological leanings, since you clearly despise the people, culture & predominant religions of this area, state and nation that we are so blessed to call home. Go now, Mr Fineberg, the pseudo-intellects you count as friends will say amen to you and your lunatic ramblings. The obscure and esoteric "jokes" ("spaghetti monster"? haha, get it?.....) that amuse "intellectuals" like you are over the heads of us plain Bergen County folk......GXR
Ridgewood Mom
7:54 pm on Monday, May 21, 2012
If a bridge is to be built, we need both builders and engineers.
Art Vatsky
5:26 pm on Monday, May 21, 2012
Allan: I am not sure I am ready for such a deep discussion. All I can say is that the people we want to be and the people we are are not often the same and that human faults tend to persist in one way or another. Well-funded lobbies press Congress to write laws with loopholes/advantages for the wealthier among us. Art V
Allan E. Fineberg
5:31 pm on Monday, May 21, 2012
How all too sadly true.
Big Ben
9:07 pm on Monday, May 21, 2012
Anybody but Obama and those who support him.
Allan E. Fineberg
4:14 pm on Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Mr. Macwhirr, your comments are always so incisive in their brilliance. By the way, you live in California, I see. Certainly not insular in your perspective.
paul smith
12:52 pm on Saturday, May 26, 2012
Allan- Who are the Pastafarians endorsing? inquiring minds want to know.
B@B
3:10 pm on Saturday, June 2, 2012
TommyP, were you as outraged about the $9 billion of taxpayer money that went missing in Iraq? Not spent, MISSING. I just want to know how selective your outrage is.
Tommy P
3:57 pm on Saturday, June 2, 2012
Not selective. I am not familiar with the $9m, but if it happened, yes. I am also bothered by the $2,300,000,000,000.00+ (trillion) lost by the military according to Donald Rumsfeld on Sept 10, 2001.