Making Our Economy Strong for Working Families
Common Sense Ideas & Solutions
It’s time to put Missouri back to work. With unemployment rates at their highest in a quarter century and more than 15 million Americans looking for work, Missouri families and small businesses are struggling. Middle-class Missourians who have worked hard and saved responsibly their whole lives have seen their nest eggs wiped out and their home values plummet.
It’s going to take a while to dig our country out of the economic hole that a decade of failed Washington leadership and reckless spending got us into, and we have to put families first again.
Robin Carnahan understands that the heart of our economy is on Main Street—not Wall Street—and the importance of the jobs created by small business and the purchasing power of middle America. Robin has the commonsense values we need to help pick up the pieces of our broken economy, rebuild the American dream and ensure the mistakes of the past are not repeated.
As Missouri’s Secretary of State, Robin has gotten results. For Missouri consumers, especially seniors, she hasn’t been afraid to crack down on financial fraud and abuse when folks in Washington were asleep at the wheel. Robin has held big financial firms and small time scam artists accountable and recovered more than $10 billion for tens of thousands of wronged investors.
Robin has also worked hard to save money and bureaucratic hassle for small businesses. She’s succeeded in cutting red tape and increasing efficiency to streamline business’ interaction with government. A small business owner herself, she knows what it’s like to wade through bureaucracy and paperwork to get things done. That’s why Robin worked across party lines to help pass the bipartisan “Red Tape Reduction Act” and create the online Missouri Business Portal, a “one stop shop” to help small business owners find the resources they need. Since taking office, Robin has saved Missouri businesses nearly $12 million just by cutting their registration fees through the use of online filings.
If elected to the U.S. Senate, Robin will use the same commonsense approach to getting our economy working again for middle class families and small businesses, pushing for policies that:
- Stop the giveaways and bailouts. Robin believes it’s time to stop the giveaways to big corporations that ship our jobs overseas and start creating jobs here at home. Robin will fight for strong incentives and protections for manufacturers and small businesses to spur job growth in Missouri and across America.
- Support small business: Small businesses are our nation’s jobs and innovation engine, and Robin will fight to support them by cutting red tape, simplifying the tax code, and making sure they have the resources they need to thrive. Since over 60 percent of new jobs are created by small businesses, more help for small firms and start-ups means more jobs and security for Missouri families.
- Strengthen our financial system and hold Wall Street accountable: While the recently-enacted Wall Street reform law takes important steps to strengthen oversight of our financial system and protect consumers, Robin believes more must be done to ensure Missouri families are never again left holding the bag for Wall Street’s recklessness. As Secretary of State, Robin stood up to big banks and financial institutions and got back over $10 billion for wronged investors and she will always hold Wall Street accountable.
- Ensure low taxes for working families: Missourians work hard every day to provide for their loved ones and build a better future for their families. We don’t ask for bailouts or handouts, just a fair shake. Robin will fight to make sure Missourians can keep more of what they earn with commonsense tax relief for families and small businesses, which will help create new jobs and boost earnings.
- Invest in education and job training: Providing opportunity for our children to succeed is right for our families and fundamental to our country’s future. For America to compete in the global economy, it will require something from all of us. It’s time we get serious about investing in educating our people for the jobs of the future. Why? Because we know it’s a smart investment that will unleash a new wave of innovation and productivity, create jobs and drive our nation’s long-term economic success.
- Make college tuition affordable: Higher education is another important key to job creation, so we must do more to give every boy and girl who wants to go to college the ability to access that dream. In Missouri, students and families are struggling more than ever to afford skyrocketing tuition costs. Robin believes that no qualified student should be denied a college education just because they cannot afford it. And no college graduate should be forced to carry the burden of an unsustainable amount of debt.