DBunker Buster: Kerry Wrong on Manufacturing

George W. Bush ^ | April 28, 2004

[RWR8189]

Kerry's Claim: President Bush has overseen the largest decline in manufacturing in over eighty years

The Truth: The monthly survey of business managers shows that manufacturing activity has now been expanding 10 months in a row. (Institute for Supply Management, 4/1/04) Manufacturing declines began in the 1990s before President Bush took office. The manufacturing sector began to falter in the mid-to-late 1990s as the combination of the Asian financial crisis, growth differentials with key trading partners and the surging US dollar began to bite. (The Boom and The Bubble: The U.S. in the World Economy by Robert Brenner, Verso, 2002) The President’s six-point plan targets the costs that make it more difficult for U.S. businesses to compete in the global marketplace. (NAM Press Release, “Wartime Budget Recognizes Costs Faced By Businesses, Need for Sustained Economic Growth,” 2/2/04) Companies planning to hire new workers outnumbered those expecting layoffs by a ratio of 5 to 1. (NAM Press Release, Annual Survey Finds Members Expect Hiring Picture to Improve,” 2/23/2004)

[rj45mis]

The sad truth is that many will not even bother to check the facts and it certainly is unlikely to make headline news. The liberals will sacrifice their children's future to defeat W in November.

[Physicist]

There's one pro-Kerry ad that gives me fits. It goes on about how many "jobs Bush has shipped overseas" (I can't even put those words together with a straight face), showing an oxygen furnace of a steel mill. The camera pans back to reveal--horrors!--Chinese characters written on it.

Excuse me, but wasn't Bush the one who slapped that recovery-bruising tariff on steel imports? The mercantilists and socialists ate that up, but still get to blame Bush for the steel industry's woes. A two-fer.

[satchmodog9]

It's ok, their kids are safe in daycare.