Wednesday, September 24, 2003

I'm sensing some fire in the belly

Clark sounds more like a Democrat than most elected Democrats:

I don’t think it penetrates the minds of this Administration what it must be like for a factory worker to arrive home to his family with the news that he’s been laid off. What it must be like not to know what the future holds for your children, because you don’t know what the future holds for you. What it must be like to see the government take hundreds of billions of dollars that could be used to fund job training, unemployment benefits, or jobs programs – and instead to send that money off to people who have such staggering wealth that the new money won’t make the tiniest improvement in their lifestyle. What it must be like to be told that tax cuts for the rich are necessary to create jobs for working people, and then to see jobs fall month after month for more than 30 months. If that doesn’t break your heart, you don’t have a heart.

In the eight years before Mr. Bush, the economy created nearly 21 million private-sector jobs. In the three years under Mr. Bush, the American economy has lost more than 3 million private-sector jobs. Under Mr. Bush, we have lost 2.5 million manufacturing jobs. We have lost another half million jobs in telecom and high tech. Unemployment has jumped from 4 percent to 6 percent. Last year, more than 1.4 million Americans sank into poverty; 700,000 of them were children.

Three years ago, we were told we were getting a compassionate conservative. What we got instead were massive tax cuts for the rich, staggering deficits for the country, and the worst job losses since the Great Depression. That's not compassionate or conservative; it's heartless, it's reckless, and it's wrong.
And if you elect me President, I'll put it right.

Today, I’m announcing a Job Creation Plan that will direct $100 billion over two years to strengthen homeland security, assist states with education and health care and create American jobs. This Job Creation Plan is part of my overall approach – one that I will be explaining over the course of the campaign – to invest in people and economic growth, while returning to a path of long-term fiscal discipline.

My Job Creation Plan is a clear alternative to the failed policies of Mr. Bush. In his first month in office Mr. Bush told America: "A tax cut now will stimulate our economy and create jobs." Two months later, he said: "We can proceed with tax relief without fear of budget deficits.”

He was wrong twice. His tax cuts did not create jobs; they helped create the worst job losses in 70 years. His tax cuts not only created deficits; they helped create the worst deficits in history.

The Washington Post yesterday ran an item that explained how President Bush, urging the country to support his most recent tax cut, went to visit Timken Company, a company that makes steel bearings in Canton, Ohio. Mr. Bush predicted to factory workers that his tax cut would bring "more money for investment, more money for growth, and more money for jobs." A month later, Mr. Bush signed his $350 billion tax cut, and just last week Timken announced it is cutting 900 jobs.

The workers have no jobs, and this White House has no plan. They say tax cuts for the rich will create jobs. They say drilling in the arctic will create jobs. They say a new energy plan will create jobs. They say easing environmental regulations will create jobs. They are flailing. They are desperate. They know they have a problem, and they know they don’t have a solution. They came into office with one answer to everything. Tax cuts for the rich. But three years later – tax cuts for the rich have made us poor.

The most effective way to help an unemployed worker is not to run out and borrow billions of dollars to give to millionaires. That’s what they’re doing when they pass these massive tax cuts for the rich that deepen the deficit. They’re borrowing billions of dollars to give to millionaires. It ought to be obvious by now – it just doesn’t work. In the area of economics, this White House still needs some basic training.

My Job Creation Plan will directly fund job creation in a fiscally responsible way. Fiscal discipline requires not only reducing the deficit. It requires moving money from areas where it isn't advancing national goals, and directing it to areas where it is. So I will reduce the tax cuts Mr. Bush gave the richest households - those making more than $200,000 a year, and directs that money to three job-creating funds.


Click here for Clark's Job Plan.

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