League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Los Angeles County, CA June 5, 2012 Election
	Bruce Margolin Answers Questions Candidate for United States Representative; District 33

The questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters of California Education Fund and asked of all candidates for this office.
Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

Questions & Answers

1. In this time of high unemployment, what are the most important steps that should be taken to improve our nation’s economy?

Economic democracy is a precondition of political democracy. The current economic inequality means that democracy is also out of balance. There is truth to Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis' warning that "We can have democracy in the country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both."

We can make sure that everyone pays their fair share back into the system and use the increased revenue for true job growth and economic justice. Our government must transform into one that is responsive to the practical aspirations of people for education, jobs and retirement security.

My overlaying platform for smart tech based reform and my ultimate goals for public education, and the Veterans Administration, all offer ample opportunities for job creation in both public and private sectors.

Congress should be debating every day the best way to create jobs and how to provide better basic services and infrastructure. We must upgrade our aging roads, bridges, mass transit and rail, water and sewage lines, as well as expand and update our broadband internet--these are the basic parts needed to manufacture goods and get them to market.

China spends 9% of its GDP on infrastructure, and Europe spends about 5% of GDP, while the US is spending 2.4% and looking for cuts.

We have a critical opportunity to create jobs and restore our crumbling infrastructure with the creation of a new WPA + rebuilding America's schools, libraries, roads, bridges, water systems, sewer systems, mass transit systems, hospitals, universities, and more with an eco-sustainable focus.

With a new eco-focused WPA, our government will become an engine for sustainability and environmental stewardship. We can create millions of new jobs incentivizing the designing, engineering, manufacturing, installation and maintenance of millions of wind and solar micro-technologies and insulation in tens of millions of American homes, businesses and industries, reducing our utility bills, our environmental impact and our reliance on carbon and nuclear-based energy.

2. How should the federal budget deficit be addressed, now and into the future? How should budget priorities for defense and domestic programs be adjusted?

The federal budget deficit should be reduced by
1.Ending all foreign wars and occupations.
2.Reducing the bloated and excessive military budget. 3.Ending the Failed War on Drugs
4.Ending corporate welfare programs
5.Tapping the great resource of our nation's wealthiest citizens.

3. What are your priorities with respect to our nation’s energy policy? Should there be an emphasis on clean energy and reducing carbon emissions, and/or on reducing our dependence on foreign sources?

A Manhattan Project level of commitment to resources and effort needs to be put forth in order to move our nation onto a public solar grid; to do so would be no more ambitious nor any less attainable FDR's New Deal Infrastructure advances nor JFK's goal of traveling to the Moon. The Sun is our most infinite resource, it gives and gives and never asks for anything in return.

1.Current energy policy causes a great imbalance in the U.S. economy. America's attachment to oil was responsible for an energy trade deficit of nearly $260 billion in 2010 + half of the total U.S. trade deficit.
2.Current energy policy results in waste. Today, the U.S. economy wastes a staggering 87% of the energy it consumes.
3.Current energy policy creates chronic instability in our economy.

Oil and gas interests spent $145 million and electric utilities spent $144 million last year to lobby for public policies that prolong America's dependence on fossil fuels.

4. What, if any, changes should be made to federal health care policies or programs?

The HR-4789 Bill, know as the Medicare You Can Buy Into bill was introduced by Alan Grayson in 2010, it immediately had 50 co-sponsors and quickly gained 32 more co-sponsors before being sent off to quietly die in the Ways and Means committee.

The idea behind this 4 page bill known as the Medicare You Can Buy Into Act is simple and practical. It would easily allow all citizens and permanent residents to buy into the Medicare system at cost. A system which our tax dollars have already paid for, one which spans from Anchorage to Key West, no need to reinvent anything, it already exists, we already paid for it.

Medicare You Can Buy Into is the simplest and most cost effective way forward on healthcare. Simply put, it wouldn't cost anything to add more people to the Medicare system, if they each covered their own costs of participating in the program.

5. What, if any, changes should be made to federal rules on campaign financing?

A constitutional amendment to undo the Citizens United ruling, and/or a re-visitation to the unfortunate ruling by the Supreme Court, should be the first order of business for removing the undemocratic influence of money in politics.

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Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates' statements are presented as submitted. References to opponents are not permitted.

Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: April 17, 2012 21:46
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