We should have cut corporate taxes, Congressman Sessions says

In response to my question of whether or not lowering taxes were a quick fix or not, Congressman Pete Sessions (R-TX) says I asked him an interesting question. If you are competitive in what you do, and someone else in this competitive world does something, you respond, he says. For instance, the Soviet Union went to a flat tax, and they’ve almost doubled the amount of revenue they get, and so it’s always a competitive marketplace. All of a sudden we look up, he says, and America has the second highest corporate tax rate in the world. We should have said that in order to be more competitive, we should have cut corporate taxes. Once again it’s a level of where your competition is- that’s your marketplace. (1:14)
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Clinton says we can count on Social Security far into the future

At the CWA Conference, Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) says she was somewhat surprised to hear that Senator McCain said he would put privatizing Social Security "back on the table." Well, she says, there's not going to be any chance of that happening when I'm president. We're going to strengthen Social Security so that we can count on it far into the future. (:25)
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Clinton says she will protect Social Security

At the CWA Conference, Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) says there will be lifetime retirement security plans, she will strengthen pension benefit plans, end the use of bankruptcy for companies to "shed their pension obligations," and under her new American retirement accounts, there will be generous matching tax cuts from the government to help people to save, and I will always protect Social Security. (:35)
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Clinton says we need to shift priorities in the tax code

At the CWA Conference, Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) says when she says solutions, she says, she will rebuild the middle class, and will end 55 billion dollars in tax breaks for oil companies, drug companies, insurance companies, and Wall Street, and will give that money back to hard working middle class families instead. You will get more help with student loans, health care for all, and millions of jobs that cannot be sent overseas because they will be created right here. I will cut middle class taxes, she says, by at least 100 billion dollars a year, and I will let taxes increase on people earning more than $250,000 a year. They have had their run, it's time we shifted our priorities in the tax code. (:50)
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Will Social Security be around in 2040?

Ross Eisenbrey, vice president of the Economic Policy institute explains the annual Social Security trustees report for 2008 and the outlook of social security programs in the future. (11:18)
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Senator McCaskill Comments on President Bush's Approach to the Economy

After the State of the Union, Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) expresses surpise at the President's making light of economic issues. (0:39)
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Robert Kuttner says that OECD countries use low taxes in other countries to argue for a race to the bottom, that we could restore high tax codes without hurting the economy, and that Democrats should argue for higher taxes

Robert Kuttner, author of The Squandering of America and co-founder of The American Prospect, says that OECD countries use low taxes in other countries to argue for lowering taxes, causing a race to the bottom and cutting of social services. He says that the U.S. could restore tax codes from 1999 or 1978 without hurting the economy, because people with high income "can damn well afford" taxation rates as high as 50%. He says that Democrats should try to make such rates popular again. Kuttner spoke at an event organized by the Campaign for America's Future and the Progressive Caucus, and featuring Reps. Barney Frank (D-MA), Barbara Lee (D-CA), and Lynn Woolsey (D-CA). (1:00)
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