Our economy isn’t just measured by the stock market – it is measured by whether New Hampshire workers have good-paying jobs, whether our small businesses are flourishing, and whether our companies are able to invest in the innovation that will build a strong economy for years to come.

To help our economy recover, Annie plans to tackle this crisis with her jobs plan, below.

The Kuster Jobs Plan

(1) SHUTTING DOWN TAX LOOPHOLES THAT SEND JOBS OVERSEAS.

A new study this spring confirmed that “New Hampshire has lost a higher percentage of jobs to China in the last decade than any other state in the country – especially in the high-tech industry.”

That cannot continue. We must end tax breaks for companies that move jobs overseas and instead provide tax credits for companies to create jobs right here in New Hampshire.

(2) INVESTING IN THE SECTORS THAT GROW JOBS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE

New Hampshire has all the ingredients we need for strong job growth: a well-educated workforce, laborers who know what hard work means, great higher-education institutions, abundant natural resources like timber and wood pulp, and some of the nation’s most livable cities and towns. 

We must preserve the jobs we have while also creating new ones by making smart investments in three sectors that will grow the most jobs in New Hampshire:

• Grow small business jobs by expanding capital for small-business loans and eliminating capital gains taxes on small business investment.
• Expand clean energy technologies through encouraging the development of safe, renewable energy that is already employing thousands of workers across the state – from solar panels and wood pellets to low-energy lighting and energy storage.
• Modernize our infrastructure - not just roads and bridges, but weatherization of our buildings and expansion of broadband access so everyone has access to new jobs.

(3)   REFORMING WALL STREET

The big banks must pay back their bailouts in full, and we need new protections so that the financial crash can never happen again. Annie Kuster supports the White House’s efforts to crack down on excessive executive pay at the banks that took large taxpayer-funded bailouts.

As she discussed in her April 2010 guest column in the Manchester Union Leader, Annie supported legislation that:

• Consolidates and strengthens regulatory oversight of the financial services industry;
• Rolls back massive financial corporations ability to simultaneously act as both a bank and private investor and potentially profit off of customers’ misfortunes;
• Regulates complex derivatives;
• Forces banks to pay back the costs of the bailout in full and ensured that future bank failures were paid for by the financial industry, not taxpayers;
• Provides ample consumer protection, including the creation of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.