Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean today unveiled a set of economic ideas he’d pursue if elected, including a $7-an-hour minimum wage and broader federal spending on infrastructure like schools, sewers and roads. Dean says such ideas return the Democratic Party to its “New Deal” roots and will motivate the 50 percent of Americans who don’t vote to go to the polls in 2004 and defeat George Bush. Dean says it’s time for Democrats to stand for something and stop being intimiated by Bush’s 70 percent approval ratings. Dean says too many Democrats in Washington have been too afraid to lose that they keep silent. Dean says Democrats won’t win by being “Bush Lite.” Dean also proposes renegotiating every trade agreement the U-S has inked in the past 10 years, including NAFTA, which he supported. Dean says trade agreements weren’t meant to ship U-S jobs to other countries. Dean spoke this afternoon at a union hall in Des Moines.
