PA Electoral Choices, 2016: The Economy

As with yesterday's post, this is a "double blind" study.  The candidates are once again mixed around.  I tried to boil the sometimes pages-long statements down to the most relevant parts.  I tried to be fair and give each candidate the same amount of space.  But this could only be approximate.  As with the last two posts, I will reveal who is who when this series is over.

Candidate 1:  "The current tax code is over 80,000 pages and it is written by Washington insiders...I want to eliminate the convoluted, lobbyist-created loopholes in the code." "Pennsylvania small business has been under assault...I will increase jobs in Pennsylvania by lifting federal impediments to small business development..."

Candidate 2:  "Raise the minimum wage to a living wage...and tie it to inflation...There is no reason that someone working full time in the United States of America should not be able to support themselves."  "We can rebuild America rather than spend trillions on foreign wars...We can employ Americans, retrain Americans instead of watching American workers train their foreign replacements..."

Candidate 3: [no statement on website specifically concerning the economy, budget, or jobs]

Candidate 4: "For the sake of our economy, job growth, and future generations, Washington's overspending and rising debt must be fixed." "Millions of Pennsylvania families live within their means every day; it’s time to make the federal government do the same."

Candidate 5: [congress should] "...advance policies that enable families to get ahead — like expanding tax credits that make child care more affordable."  "I support boosting the minimum wage to $15 an hour...We need to celebrate and support hard work." [I believe in] "closing the unfair tax loopholes that incentivize sending jobs overseas and put small businesses at a disadvantage."

Candidate 6: “Congress can strengthen the economy by rolling back the hundreds of thousands of regulations in place for small businesses." [I am] "against unbalanced budgets, all tax increases, and all increases in government spending"  "I am against the federal minimum wage. The federal minimum wage interferes with an individual’s ability to negotiate their own agreement."

Coming next: Gun control, the second amendment, security, and terrorism.