Ex-Clinton aides behind nominee's 10 million jobs proposal

The Boston Herald ^ | 3-27-04

[Oldeconomybuyer]

It's no surprise that John Kerry's plan to punish ``Benedict Arnold'' companies and create 10 million U.S. jobs in the process is reminiscent of former President Bill Clinton - a pair of his top economic aides helped come up with it.

Among advisers who reportedly helped craft the Kerry plan are ex-Clinton aides Roger Altman and Gene Sperling.

Altman, chairman of New York investment firm Evercore Partners, served as Deputy Treasury Secretary and Resolution Trust Corp. under Clinton. He also was president of First American Bankshares when it was sold to the notorious Bank of Commerce and Credit International, or BCCI, although the U.S. bank was not involved in the fraud that stripped about 1 million people worlwide of about $12 billion in assets.

Sperling served as chief White House economic adviser to Clinton and was a campaign aide in 1992. A lawyer and former adviser to former New York Gov.Mario Cuomo, Sperling is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

Altman is also a member of the Council.

[leadpenny]

Ex-Clinton aides are behind just about everything the puppet Kerry does or will do.

Ex-Clinton aides are probably not Ex.

[Bahbah]

I saw Altman on Fox last night. He looked like he had just crawled out of a gutter and was barely articulate. There were more "uhs" than actual words.

[LibLieSlayer]

The kerry plan is full of holes, and is quite easily debunked. It will cause a great many job losses, the Dow will tumble, and 401k's will shrink. It would be a disaster!

In the meantime the economy continues to build on the strongest recovery (fastest sustained growth rate) that we have ever experienced.

BTW, the economy is BOOMING in 95% of America, and showing signs of doing so in the parts that are lagging. IF NOT FOR AMERICA"S FAST ECONOMIC GROWTH, THERE WOULD BE NO GROWTH IN ANY OF THE WORLD ECONOMIES.....PERIOD!!! Eat that kerry!!!

LLS

[kitkat]

BUMP

[alex]

I have a strange filling that at least some parts of his proposal would have opposite effect.

He is going to tax corporate profits abroad. So, what the corporations would to avoid paying these taxes? They will find a way to reduce these profits. And the most natural way to reduce profits is to move work (and hence expenses) abroad.

Am I correct about this?

[Qwinn]

I didn't think the Clintons were that stupid, frankly.

10 million new jobs is significantly more than the population can handle. We'd be at "full employment" long before then.

Qwinn

[expat_panama]

We're at 'full employment' right now, and the bush-bashers are still babbling about a jobless-outsourced economy. Kerry may as well promise 20 million new jobs -- and (why not?) a multi-trillion dollar surplus.

[metesky]

I saw him also. I was spewing to my long suffering wife, "Look at the haircut on this dumb F! Look at Jim Angle's haircut and look at this freak! Bad haircuts and empty $2000 suits, that's what Rats have to offer!"

Even the freakiest grunge conservative looks better (and probably speaks better) than these worn out '60's retreads.

[ReleaseTheHounds]

Yeah, he looked like a gutter snipe alright... I wonder if the Kerry Campaign is prepared to admit that those 10 million jobs go "poof" when their roll-back of capital gains tax reductions is proposed.

[leadpenny]

Speaking of Clinton aides, I watched The Daily Show last night (think it was a replay from Thursday). Al Franken was Stewart's guest. Obviously he was on because his radio show will premiere on the 31st. Franken was un-funny and all he could offer was "hate Bush" material. Stewart was actually trying to feed him lines to liven things up a bit. I was almost embarrassed for Franken. What a fool!

[LibLieSlayer]

Last night Jim Angle stated that the Fed's figure for job losses through "outsourcing", amounted to 300,000 jobs lost since the President took office. This argument will be nullified in the next two months.

I also believe that we are "near" full employment.

LLS

[cincinnati65]

You hit the nail on the head with that one, and the media's figured it out. Notice how today the 10 million jobs is a "proposal" or "what Kerry wants", rather than a "promise" or a "mandate".

Obviously, this had a very low believability factor on overnight polling.

[EnquiringMind]

"Altman, chairman of New York investment firm Evercore Partners, served as Deputy Treasury Secretary and Resolution Trust Corp. under Clinton"

This plan sounds like it was hatched in Altman's "Weekly World News". (Evercore owns that one, too, along with Enquirer, Star, Globe, Sun, National Examiner).

[YaYa123]

This plan isn't a plan at all. It's Clinton redux!

Make up a number, hook it on to a plan, say it often enough and people buy it.

100,000 new cops on the street never happened, but Clinton is still getting kudos for it.

100,000 new cops on the street
10 million new jobs in the country ...blah blah blather!

[dartuser]

I heard the Kerry "bait-and-switch" corporate "tax reduction" plan yesterday. Even when this guy proposes tax cuts, they are tax increases! If he reduces corporate taxes by 5%, but removes the overseas profit exemption, I think ultimately jobs will be lost. Seems to me that if, say in the case of Heinz, 60% of their business is overseas, that is an increase in taxes paid for them, even if the rate at which they are taxed is reduced by 5%.

Now I know nothing about big business, but one metric that my (defense contractor) company uses to gage employee profitability/worth/productivity is earnings per employee. If earnings go down because more is paid in taxes, doesnt that mean the profitability of employee goes down dramatically ... by a whole bunch if a large part of the business is now taxed when it wasnt before. Seems that reducing employee count is the only way to improve that number ...

Like I said, Im no business person ... but ...

[varon]

10 million new jobs is significantly more than the population can handle.

Well, isn't that exactly what the "open borders" crowd wants in order to justify millions more pouring across our southern border?

[ex-Texan]

*BUMP*!

[appeal2]

The plan is really to subsidize the opening of 100,000 more McDonalds and Starbucks. How soon are they going to create these jobs. If unemployment is at 5.6 percent now, which is around 6.5 million people, they will create a tremendous labor shortage that will increase wages and lead to tremendous inflation. They will have to either outsource these new jobs or encourgage more illegal immigation.

[expat_panama]

I also believe that we are "near" full employment.

Past experience seems to show that when unemployment goes below the range we're in right now (click on the box) that prices go up because employers have too much difficulty in finding workers to meet demand.  When you use these numbers for earning a living to feed your family you have to know that more job openings will mean inflation and higher interest rates.

Maximum EmploymentMaximum employment doesn't necessarily mean that everyone is working. Economists have a "natural rate" of unemployment that is ultimately the goal. If the unemployment rate is pushed too low -- below 5% or so -- inflation rises because more money is in the economy, and that goes against the long-term Fed goal of stable prices.

The bush bashers feed their families by raising our taxes, so they say the numbers are just "smoke and mirrors".  There are about 138 million in the labor force, of which 5.6 percent (8 million) are unemployed.  This 10 million new jobs business is so silly it makes me wonder why they don't just say that Bush is AWOL and that he betrayed America.

Wait a second, they already did.