Bush Distances Himself from Aide on Exporting Jobs

Reuters ^ | February 12, 2004 | Adam Entous

[Deliberator]

HARRISBURG, Pa. (Reuters) - Under pressure from fellow Republicans, President Bush distanced himself on Thursday from one of his top economic advisers who said the outsourcing of U.S. jobs to workers overseas may benefit the economy.

"The (economic) numbers are good. But I don't worry about numbers, I worry about people," Bush told students and teachers at a high school in Pennsylvania -- a pivotal state in this year's election and one of the hardest hit by factory job losses during his presidency.

Without mentioning by name the chairman of his Council of Economic Advisers, Gregory Mankiw, Bush said he was concerned "there are people looking for work because jobs have gone overseas" and vowed to "act to make sure there are more jobs at home" by keeping taxes low and by retraining displaced workers. Bush offered no new initiatives to curb outsourcing and aides said he opposed restrictions on free trade.

With political concern about unemployment heating up ahead of the November presidential election, critics have seized on Mankiw's characterization of "outsourcing" by U.S. companies as "something that we should realize is probably a plus for the economy in the long run."

Democrats said his comments and the council's annual report were evidence that the Bush White House is insensitive to the plight of out-of-work Americans.

Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle predicted Mankiw would quit.

But Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York said, "This is the economic report of the president and not the economic report of Mr. Mankiw ... We cannot allow our Republican friends to shift the blame and the burden to Mr. Mankiw."

Senate Democrats said they would propose new protections for workers whose employers send their jobs overseas. Their proposal would require that outsourcing companies disclose their plans to their employees and to the Labor Department.

On Wednesday House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois joined the bipartisan chorus of criticism from the U.S. Congress and the campaign trail, saying of Mankiw: "His theory fails a basic test of real economics."

The White House has rebuffed any suggestion that Mankiw resign. "That's kind of laughable," spokesman Scott McClellan said, adding: "Our economic team is doing a great job."

U.S. Commerce Secretary Don Evans defended the comments, telling CNBC: "What he praised was free trade and open trade. Every president since Herbert Hoover (1929-33) has said that free and open trade - as long as it's fair trade - is good for our economy."

At issue is the practice of a growing number of U.S. companies to move all or a portion of their operations to places like Mexico, India and China, where labor costs are lower and goods can be produced more cheaply, in order to improve corporate profits.

Nearly 2.8 million factory jobs have been lost since Bush took office and the issue looms large ahead of November's vote, where victory in rust-belt states like Pennsylvania could be key.

Underscoring its political importance to Bush's re-election, Thursday's visit was his 25th to Pennsylvania as president. He narrowly lost the state in the 2000 election, and analysts say he may have hurt his chances of winning it this year when he scrapped U.S. tariffs on steel imports in December to avert a trade war with Europe.

© Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved.

[IonInsights]

Democrats said his comments and the council's annual report were evidence that the Bush White House is insensitive to the plight of out-of-work Americans. Sad but true.

[Bikers4Bush]

"Bush offered no new initiatives to curb outsourcing and aides said he opposed restrictions on free trade."

Translation, he hasn't done anything about it, doesn't have a plan to do anything about it and has no intentions of doing anything about it.

So nice to see that the welfare to work programs that were put in place to get people off welfare and into jobs like, oh say answering phones at call centers are a complete waste of money since we apparently don't want to keep those jobs here.

Idiots.

[steve50]

Democrats said his comments and the council's annual report were evidence that the Bush White House is insensitive to the plight of out-of-work Americans. Sad but true.

Not much of a fan of Lou Dobbs but he had an AEI perp on last nite and absolutely tore him apart on the weasel words he was trying to spin this "outsourcing" with. Looks like this may be a major campaign issue.

[NYDave]

"<> Yes, yes, yes. The only reason Bush did a complete 180 is because it's an election year. Kerry, et. al. are giving lip service to the problem, but once the election is over, it will all be swept under the rug. They're all too beholding to the corporate interests who own them.

[FITZ]

But I don't worry about numbers, I worry about people," Bush told students and teachers at a high school in Pennsylvania

Words aren't good enough --- instead of signing every 'free-trade' agreement to ship out American jobs, he needs to quickly do something to get jobs to stay here.

[brownsfan]

President Bush should be a man, be a true "conservative". What he should say is: Damn right we're exporting jobs. If you folks worked harder and cheaper, and didn't mind unsafe working conditions, maybe you'd keep a few. But, sucks to be you! Now, if you want to retrain yourself, make yourself valueable again, go for it! Or, start a business. But don't cry to me. It's your own damn problem, it's not government's job to worry about your job!

Quit waffling Mr. Bush! (There, did I do that right?)

[Bikers4Bush]

List of companies exporting jobs from Lou Dobbs.

3Com
3M

A
Accenture
Adaptec
Adobe Systems
Advanced Energy Industries
Aetna
A.G. Edwards
Agere Systems
Agilent Tech.
AIG
Alamo Rent A Car
Albertson's
Alliance Semiconductor
Allstate
Alpha Thought Global
Amazon.com
AMD
American Express
American Management Systems
American Standard
Amphenol Corp.
Analog Devices
Andrew Corp.
AOL
Applied Materials
A.T. Cross Company
AT&T
AT&T Wireless
A.T. Kearney
Avanade
Avery Dennison

B
Bank of America
Bank of New York
Bank One
BearingPoint
Bear Stearns
Bechtel
BellSouth
Best Buy
Black & Decker
BMC Software
Boeing
Brocade
Bumble Bee

C
Cadence Design Systems
Capital One
Carrier
Cendant
Cerner Corporation
Charles Schwab
ChevronTexaco
CIBER
Ciena
Cigna
Circuit City, Inc.
Cisco Systems
Citigroup
Coca-Cola
Comcast Holdings
Computer Associates
Computer Sciences Corporation
Continental Airlines
Convergys
Cooper Tire & Rubber
Cooper Tools
Countrywide Financial
COVAD Comm.
CSX
Cummins

D
Dell Computer
Delta Air Lines
Direct TV
Discover
Document Sciences Corp.
Dow Chemical
DuPont

E
Earthlink
Eastman Kodak
Eaton Corporation
EDS
Electroglas
Electronics for Imaging
Eli Lilly
EMC
Emerson Electric
En Pointe Technologies
Equifax
Ernst & Young
Evolving Systems
Expedia
ExxonMobil

F
Fair Isaac
Fedders Corporation
Fidelity Investments
Financial Techologies International
First American Title Ins.
First Data
Fluor
Ford Motor
Franklin Mint

G
Gateway
GE Capital
General Electric
GlobespanVirata
Goldman Sachs
Goodrich
Google
Greenpoint Mortgage
Guardian Life Insurance

H
The Hartford Financial Services Group
HealthAxis
Hewitt Associates
Hewlett-Packard
The Holmes Group
HSN
Humana

I
IBM
IndyMac Bancorp
Infogain
Innodata Isogen
Intel
Intl. Paper
Intuit
ITT Educational Services

J
Jabil Circuit
Jacobs Engineering
Jacuzzi
JDS Uniphase
Johnson Controls
Johnson & Johnson
JPMorgan Chase
Juniper Networks

K
KANA Software
Kaiser Permanente
Keane
KeyCorp
KLA-Tencor
Kwikset

L
Lawson Software
Lehman Brothers
Levi Strauss
Lexmark International
Lifescan
Lillian Vernon
Linksys
Lionbridge Technologies
LiveBridge
Lockheed Martin
Lowe's
Lucent

M
Maritz
Marshall Fields
Mattel
Maytag
McDATA Corporation
Medtronic
Mellon Bank
Merrill Corporation
Merrill Lynch
Metasolv
MetLife
Microsoft
Monsanto
Morgan Stanley
Motorola

N
Nabco
National City Corporation
National Life
National Semiconductor
NCR Corporation
neoIT
NETGEAR
Network Associates
Newell Rubbermaid
New York Life Insurance Co.
Northwest Airlines

O
Office Depot
Ohio Art
ON Semiconductor
Oracle
OshKosh B'Gosh
Otis Elevator Co.
Owens Corning

P
palmOne
Parker-Hannifin
Parsons E&C
Pearson Digital Learning
Pericom Semiconductor
Perot Systems
Pfizer
Pitney Bowes
Planar Systems
Portal Software
Pratt & Whitney
Primus Telecom
Procter & Gamble
ProQuest
Providian Financial
Prudential Insurance

Q
Qwest Comm.

R
Rainbow Technologies
Radio Shack
Raytheon Aircraft
RCG Information Technology
Regence Group
Rogers
Rohm & Haas
RR Donnelley & Sons
Russell Corporation

S
SAIC
Sanmina-SCI
SBC Comm.
SEI Investments
Siebel Systems
Sikorsky
SMC Networks
Solectron
Sovereign Bancorp
Sprint
Sprint PCS
Starkist Seafood
State Farm Insurance
State Street
StorageTek
SunTrust Banks
Supra Telecom
SurePrep
The Sutherland Group
Sykes Enterprises
Synygy

T
Target
Tecumseh
Telcordia
TeleTech
Tellabs
Texas Inst.
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans
Time Warner
Toys "R" Us
Triquint Semiconductor
Tropical Sportswear
TRW Automotive
Tyco Electronics
Tyco Intl.

U
Union Pacific Railroad
Unisys
United Online
United Tech.

V
VA Software
Veritas
Verizon
VF Corporation

W
Wachovia Bank
Washington Group Intl.
Washington Mutual
WellChoice
Werner Co.
West Corporation
Weyerhaeuser
Whirlpool
Wolverine World Wide
Wyeth

Y
Yahoo!

[DoctorMichael]

I saw that Dobbs interview last night too. I respect Lou's opinions since he was the Republican side during the Klintoon debacles.

He was 'fighting mad' last night!..........Which is more than I can say about most Republican legislators.

[Deliberator]

it's not government's job to worry about your job!

Nail on the head. Do I have your permission to use that on a bumper sticker?

[GraniteStateConservative]

All that's happened is that someone said a secret. The secret is still true, just not private.

[steve50]

He was 'fighting mad' last night!..........

Of couse I hear the AEI guy had a pretty nasty quote out on Dobbs so it might have been a little personal. Still it was a pleasant surprise to see a talking head not accept the weasel's talking points and really hold his feet to the fire. We need a lot more of that from our sold out media.

[RockyMtnMan]

But it is the governments job to see that regulatory barriers and antiquated tax systems are reformed in order for individuals to be competitive in the global market.

How about: NRST, Tort Reform, Tax Incentives to domestic producers/businesses, TIF (Tax Incentive Financing) programs

Don't act like Bush has his hands tied, he can do plenty. The NRST has 40 sponsers in the house and enjoys bipartisan support.

[KantianBurke]

"President Bush distanced himself on Thursday from one of his top economic advisers who said the outsourcing of U.S. jobs to workers overseas may benefit the economy."

So much for Bush's vaunted "loyalty" towards his staffers. Guess he values them as much as he values the rest of workers in this country.

[brownsfan]

it's not government's job to worry about your job!

Nail on the head. Do I have your permission to use that on a bumper sticker?

Only if you pay a royalty. By the way, take note of the reation here. I'm seeing much more of an anti-offshoring sentiment. President Bush has put himself in potentially the exact situation that Bush I put himself in. Bush I - "Read my lips, no new taxes" - result: New taxes and a loss in the next presidential election. President Bush: "The economy will create 2.2 million jobs by the Fall of this year." Result: Who knows at this point?

[lewislynn]

Damn right we're exporting jobs. If you folks worked harder and cheaper, and didn't mind unsafe working conditions, maybe you'd keep a few.

Filling the jobs Americans won't fill. Unsafe working conditions like this?:

[GraniteStateConservative]

Looks like this may be a major campaign issue.

Rove hopes it isn't.

[GraniteStateConservative]

He's run out of time by now.

[brownsfan]

Don't act like Bush has his hands tied, he can do plenty. The NRST has 40 sponsers in the house and enjoys bipartisan support.

I agree 100%, however, the free trade contingent here see ANY government regulation, tax breaks, or other inducements as "handouts". And that you are picking their pocket to do so. It's nearly irrational, but many, including Deliberator, refuse to entertain any but their reality.

[GraniteStateConservative]

Bush's economic advisors could have easily said that as they said what they said.