US Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee was wearing a white t-shirt and black shorts while jogging along the beach with a trail of reporters following him. He would address the economy.
Huckabee called the congressional economic stimulus deal as “positive.” He said that it was positive that Congress got something done. However, Huckabee said that the plan attempts to create at least some sort of short-term confidence in the economy. He said that a long-term solution is what is needed the most.
Recently while campaigning in South Carolina in preparation for the state’s Democratic primary, US Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards has expressed disappointment.
Huckabee said that bringing about a long term economic recovery would require implementing “fair tax” that would replace income tax with a flat national sales tax. He also added the abolishment of the IRS.
The Republican hopeful would also take this chance to make a jab at rival Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney. Huckabee would add that just because Mitt Romney has years of experience in the private sector including running an investment firm that turned around companies that were in trouble, he had governed a state longer than any other candidate running for president.
Huckabee said: “I understand what it is to run a state during economic hard times as well as economic good times. I think that’s more important to be president.”
He had also given the suggestion that more importance should be emphasized on how to fix unemployment than fix companies that are failing.
“There are a lot of people who are losing their jobs,” Huckabee said. He continued: “They want to know, what are we going to do to bring jobs to America, not what are we going to do to bring huge amounts of capital to a few, and a huge job loss to a whole of Americans.”
Huckabee was asked if he thought the Iraq War would be sustainable in the current climate of the economy. He said that being in Iraq is expensive for having freedom is expensive.
The candidate would explain that unfettered terrorist activity would destroy Iraq and cause upheaval in the Middle East. Huckabee said that it would not be good for the United States.
He would say that allowing the Middle East to go up in flames would push the price of oil more.
Huckabee said: “If we really want to see the Middle East changed, take away their capacity to fund terrorism. Take away the oil dollar. There’s not enough money selling rugs and bagging sand for them to operate the terrorist cells that have come against us.”