Meg Whitman, a probable candidate for governor of California, frames every question as how it effects that state—its rate of unemployment, its small businesses. “We have to avoid, at all costs, tax increases,” she says. Then she rolls out her suggestions
•Make the R&D tax credit permanent.
•Small business access to capital through lending.
•Demand that banks that get federal support lend to small businesses.
•Reduce business taxes—”we have the second highest rate in the world”
•Pass permanent reductions in marginal tax rates for the middle class.
Whitman also wants as many green projects as possible, but defines down the projects that matter. The current Barack Obama-supported plan for green spending “is not a stimulus plan. If these programs are not shovel-ready, they are not stimulus ready.”