Attacking the very notion of a "jobless recovery", Green Party gubernatorial candidate Howie Hawkins' latest video contrasts reports of renewed Wall Street profits with real New York citizens passionately questioning why we haven't seen as significant an increase in employment.
"You would think getting random people to vent to a video that will be posted all over the Internet would take some work," noted Hawkins campaign staffer Michael O'Neil, who was involved in making the spot. "But people were eager to sound off. They would laugh and say 'yeah, actually we were just talking about this before you walked up!' The brutal unemployment out there is on everyone's minds."
Hawkins and the Green Party have relentlessly campaigned for the vision of a "Green New Deal" in New York State, with goals including full employment, a sustainable green economy through public investment in renewable energy and clean manufacturing, statewide universal health care coverage, and a living wage for the minimum wage.
"Government should be the employer of last resort and stimulate the economy," asserts Hawkins. "The worst thing to do is cut state spending, cut taxes for the rich, and provide corporate welfare tax incentives to businesses. That hasn't worked for 15 years, yet Andrew Cuomo is threatening more of the same."
The video notes that Hawkins' Democrat and Republican opponents will continue to rebate $16 billion in Stock Transfer Tax revenue back to Wall Street, money which could finance a green jobs program.
"The Greens have taken up the New Deal because the New Democrats sound just like the old Republicans, and New Republicans sound like the old Know-Nothing Party," explains Hawkins. "A Green New Deal can help solve the unemployment crisis and the environmental crisis."
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