Posted on 03/09/2004 2:19:10 PM PST by yonif
President George W. Bush hit back at Democratic critics of his administration's job-creation efforts on Tuesday, branding them as "economic isolationists" who would raise new trade barriers and damage the US economy.
The comments came as part of what appeared to be a co-ordinated administration effort to respond to growing political pressures over the anaemic pace of US job growth, which has helped push Mr Bush's likely Democratic opponent, John Kerry, ahead of the president in several recent polls.
In a speech in Virginia, Mr Bush said: "There are economic isolationists in our country who believe we should separate ourselves from the rest of the world by raising up barriers and closing off markets. They're wrong. If we are to continue growing this economy and creating new jobs, America must remain confident and strong about our ability to trade in the world."
Robert Zoellick, the US trade representative, similarly warned Congress on Tuesday that "given the fact we're now in a stage of an economic recovery, the absolutely worst thing we could do would be to turn to economic isolationism".
Mr Zoellick told the Senate finance committee that increasing US exports to countries such as China and India, encouraging foreign investment in the US, and helping workers adjust to the loss of some jobs abroad were better responses than "bureaucratic interventions that will increase prices to our people".
Mr Bush's comments came less than a week after the Senate passed legislation aimed at preventing US government contracts from being carried out by workers in developing countries.
The administration has been uncertain over how to respond to the continued slow pace of job creation. Mr Bush has sought to distance himself from recent remarks by a senior economic adviser, Gregory Mankiw, that outsourcing of jobs is just a part of trade and therefore good for the US economy. But the administration now appears set to mount a more robust defence of companies that move US jobs abroad.
"US companies with foreign affiliates now account for about 58 per cent of our exports," said Mr Zoellick. "So the companies that do business overseas are also exporting overseas."
"I think the challenge is: How do you help people in a way that doesn't hurt or kill other jobs?" he said, pointing out that the US currently runs a $60bn annual trade surplus in the service sector, which has seen a growing number of jobs moved to lower-wage countries.
Amen and Amen brother Bush! Go tell it on the mountain!
The Bush political team is beyond woeful if they think defending companies that move US jobs abroad is a viable election year strategy. The Democrats will have a field day with this, I can almost hear James Carville right now. This issue is a political killer for Republicans, no matter how you slice it.
Oh, yeah, That's a winning strategery.
"Those engineering jobs, those are just jobs Americans don't want to do! And our retraining programs will allow our unemployed programmers to develop exciting new careers as...um...uh...Hey, look over there!"
Of course they are; the owners have directed it to be so. Those who are positioned to profit from most any outcome don't really risk much by having the future materialize slightly askew of their ideal plan.
Mr Zoellick told the Senate finance committee that increasing US exports to countries such as China and India, encouraging foreign investment in the US, and helping workers adjust to the loss of some jobs abroad were better responses than "bureaucratic interventions that will increase prices to our people".
One fairly straight forward answer is to get the government off the backs of our manufacturing and exports businesses.
Repealing income and payroll taxes, would give our companies the same advantage that foreign operations have in receiving subsidies rebating VATs their nations impose on their products coming here.
Replacing the income/payroll tax with a National Retail Sales Tax acts the same as applying a revenue tariff on all foreign imports which come into our country today virtually free from any taxation.
Repealing the business taxes in this country removes the tax burden our own exporters & manufacturers with even the costs involved with business taxation. Thus our own export products leave this nation free of not only taxes, but of the costs associated with complying with those taxes.
One very large step to improving trade balances and increasing job markets as well for our one people lay within changing how national taxes are imposed.
Rep. Bill Archer, Chairman, House Ways and Means Committee 106th Congress:
- "A recent survey was done, in Europe and Japan, of the major corporations and I was astounded at the results. They were asked, 'If the US abolished its income tax and went to a sales tax, would that have any impact on your decisions?' Eighty percent of the corporations said they would build their factories in the United States of America. Twenty percent said they would move their international headquarters to the United States of America."
That represents the potential of a lot of jobs, and helping to stem the flow of them out of the country.
And some cut off their limbs, such as a nose, to spite their face.
Excellent point! A good memory is a politican's worst enemy!
Also, it seems to me manufacturing jobs went overseas a decade or three ago. I doubt there is a major outsourcing crisis, it's just election year media hype. Similar to 9-11 ad "outrage" and pretending the economy is a huge negative when it's now booming.
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