Calif Bill wrote:

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
Calif Bill wrote:

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
plantsman wrote:

Bull! to Newsmax. I don't care how they cook the books on this one,
jobs
are not being created in Tennessee and more are going way south or
far
east
every day. In just my area of NE TN, in the past ten years, we've
lost
something to the tune of better than 6,000 manufacturing jobs and
over
1,000
more engineering and support jobs for the area's industry. That's
almost a
quarter of all industrial jobs here. Even Burger King has taken down
their
"Help Wanted" signs. I'm a Republican but if the Bush team succeeds
in
measuring burger flippin' as a manufacturing job, them I'm going to
reconsider my vote come November. Real estate here is a mini-mansion
buyers
market, as so many white collar folks have had to pull up and
relocate
when
their $100K+ jobs evaporated due to cutbacks. It's still not over,
more
layoffs are expected as the area's largest employer, Eastman
Chemical,
sells
off one of their divisions and potentially 2,000+ people will be
impacted.
We've got Bechtel mechanical and chemical engineers delivering pizzas
and
working for the newspaper in an effort to keep from having to move
away
and
loose their butts on their homes. It is the pits! My former
employer
(industrial equipment/supply) (I retired in July due to illness) went
from
having over thirty people working to only about eleven, due to the
fallout
from Eastman basically stopping in their tracks. They're not
optimistic
about surviving as a company. Several competitors and related
companies
have already bellied-up. Everyone from car dealers, furniture
stores,
and
everyone except Wal-Mart has been impacted.

David S.
Kingsport, TN



Cheap labor...the dream of Republicans everywhere. If you want a sea
change, do what you can to ensure Bush does not steal a second term.
The
Bush-ites don't give a crap about working men and women.

What is Kerry or Edwards going to do to get 2,000,000-3,000,000 new
jobs?



After four years of Bush, just stopping the negative outflow of our
life's blood would be a miracle.

Answer the question, or shove your opinions up your arse! The bleeding
started under the last President. What's your candidate going to do?



* A New ‘State Tax Relief and Education Fund’. The Bush economic
approach has left states with nearly $90 billion in budget deficits,
forcing lay offs, education cuts, and tax increases. This fund will help
states struggling to bridge deficits resulting from Bush’s economic
policies with an additional $25 billion a year for two years to stop the
education cuts, tuition increases and tax and fee raising that are
inhibiting our economic growth and causing layoffs. This fund includes
Kerry’s proposed $5 billion to stop state cuts in health care that hurt
workers and patients, $5 billion for homeland security to stem layoffs
of police officers and fire fighters, and his commitment to fully fund
the No Child Left Behind education law.
* Tax Breaks to Expand Manufacturing Jobs in the U.S. Over 2.7
million manufacturing jobs have been lost since President Bush took
office. John Kerry will save jobs by ending the unpatriotic practice of
U.S. corporations moving offshore simply to avoid paying their fair
share of our nation’s tax burden. To create new manufacturing jobs
Kerry will:
o Get the Crane-Rangel-Hollings legislation enacted, which
provides a corporate rate reduction to manufacturers who produce goods
in the United States;
o Propose a new jobs tax credit to encourage manufacturing
companies to stay and expand in America. When a manufacturing company
creates jobs above their 12 month average, the payroll taxes of the new
employees will be refunded for two years.
o Immediately restore and double funding for the Manufacturing
Extension Partnership that President Bush slashed by 80%.
* Job Creation Summits. Ours is a large and complex economy and John
Kerry believes that we must understand the challenges to economic
prosperity in each sector. He will hold economic policy summits once a
week for the first six months of his Presidency to develop targeted
strategies to create jobs in key regions and key industries.

(2) USING AMERICAN INGENUITY TO CREATE A STRONG ECONOMIC FUTURE. We must
fight for our economic security not only by stimulating job growth today
but also by ensuring that our research, our technology investment, and
our spirit for innovation are paving the way for high wage jobs in new
industries.

* Make Trade Work for America. The Bush Administration has neglected
to enforce trade laws or respond to the unfair practices of some of our
nation's largest trading partners. As President, John Kerry will: order
an immediate 120 day top to bottom review of all trade agreements to
ensure that foreign nations fully comply with trade agreements they sign
with our country; vigorously enforce our trade laws to ensure our
workers are not victims of unfair trading practices; insist future trade
agreements incorporate within them core labor standards and
environmental protections; demand that other countries, such as China,
do not manipulate their currencies to gain unfair trade advantages; and
help any workers displaced by trade develop new skills and find new jobs.
* Control Rising Health Care Costs so Our Industries Can Compete.
Businesses cannot compete if they are weighed down by health care costs,
especially since the health care costs of our industrial competitors are
often subsidized by government. It costs U.S. automakers $1,000 per car
just to cover health care costs for employees. John Kerry’s plan
controls rising health care costs by helping pay for catastrophic care
cases.
* Revitalize the High Technology Sector to Pave the Way for
Industries of the Future. Kerry will fight to connect every American
family to the Internet, encourage a renewed educational focus on science
and math, bring the best practices of operational efficiency from the
private sector to the public sector, and restore the government's
commitment to scientific achievement through increases in research
funding for the Department of Energy, NASA, and the National Science
Foundation. Kerry will also strongly support programs targeted at the
next generation of innovation, such as nanotechnology and biotechnology
research.
* New Manufacturing Jobs by Investing in America's Energy
Independence. The recent massive blackout leaves no question that our
foreign oil dependence and obsolete electricity system undermine our
economy. Kerry will create hundreds of thousands of good jobs, many of
them in manufacturing, by investing in the new energy opportunities of
the future such as: producing 20 percent of all our electricity from
renewable sources by 2020; giving tax credits to manufacturers to
develop the next generation of automobiles; new energy efficient
appliances for homes and businesses; and investing in projects like
building the Alaska National Pipeline.

(3) MAKING FOUR YEARS OF COLLEGE AFFORDABLE. To be successful in the
21st Century economy, America’s workforce must be more innovative and
productive than our competitors. That means better science and math in
our schools and job training opportunities. But it also means giving
every American the opportunity of four years of college.

* Create a New “College Opportunity Tax Credit”. Kerry’s “College
Opportunity Tax Credit” will make four years of college affordable for
all Americans. He will provide a credit for each and every year of
college on the first $4,000 paid in tuition – the typical tuition and
fees for public college tuition. The credit will provide 100% of the
first $1000 and 50% on the rest. It will also make this credit
refundable for those who receive other credits.
* Pay College Tuition for Students That Give Two Years of Service to
America. Kerry’s ‘Service for College’ plan will provide the cost of
four years at a public college to young people in exchange for serving
their communities and country in national service.

(4) PROVIDE TAX RELIEF TO MIDDLE CLASS FAMILIES RATHER AND CRACK DOWN ON
UNFAIR RELIEF FOR CORPORATE AMERICA. President Bush has turned a blind
eye to struggling American families, despite the fact that today’s
two-earner families are earning 75 percent more than their single earner
family counterparts a generation ago, but they have less money to spend
due to soaring housing costs, day care, college tuition, and health
care. John Kerry would:

* Keep the Middle Class Tax Cuts to Help Families Make Ends Meet.
John Kerry believes that we should keep the middle class tax cuts that
Democrats fought for in 2001 and 2003, which increased the child tax
credit, reduced the marriage penalty and lowered tax rates. He strongly
disagrees with Democrats who want to repeal these tax cuts, which would
cost a typical middle-class family with two children an additional $2000.
* Help Americans Get Ahead.
o College Tax Cut: John Kerry will help Americans get ahead
with his new “College Opportunity Tax Credit” by ensuring college is
available for four years for every American.
o Helping Create Wealth in the Stock Market: John Kerry
opposes the dividend tax cuts in the 2003 tax bill that result in
receptionists paying higher tax rates than CEOs. However, he does
believe that middle class Americans should get more from their
investments and will lower capital gains and dividend taxes for the
middle class.

Making Corporate America Live By America’s Values. Our economy does well
when our workers are doing well. Today, Americans who are working hard
and playing by the rules are faced with higher health care costs, higher
state taxes, higher college tuition and limited job opportunities. At
the same time, many corporations are bending the rules and shirking
their fair share of the burden - and the Bush Administration is
rewarding those who break the rules with lucrative government contracts.
Kerry will fight for a government that rewards those who work hard and
play by the rules and challenges those who don’t.

* Restore Investor Confidence With Strong Enforcement by the
Securities and Exchange Commission: John Kerry will fund strong budgets
and assure strong enforcement by the SEC.
* Stop Corporations From Keeping Bank Accounts in Countries like
Bermuda to Avoid Paying Taxes. John Kerry believes that American
companies should not be allowed to set up virtual headquarters in
foreign countries that are hardly more than mailboxes just to avoid
paying U.S. taxes.
* Assure Corporations Account for Disparities on the Books. A recent
Joint Committee on Taxation report found that Enron claimed a $2.3
billion in profit between 1996 and 1999 in reports to its investors,
while reporting a $3 billion tax loss to the IRS. John Kerry believes
corporations should have to account these kinds of disparities.
* Stop Giving Government Contracts to Corporations Breaking the
Rules. The Federal government should not give lucrative contracts to
companies that have a record of accounting fraud – like WorldCom – or
are moving offshore.
* End Unfair Protections for CEOs. Executives should not be walking
away with millions of dollars in salaries and benefits while their
workers are laid off their companies are defaulting on loans. Kerry
would tighten the laws that allow corporations to take advantage of tax
deductions for performance based executive pay – even when executives do
nothing to improve productivity.
* Protect Worker Rights. Kerry believes that ensuring there is a
fair playing field for workers is important to a strong economy. He
supports increasing the minimum wage and indexing it to inflation;
improving workplace health and safety; assuring fair overtime rules; and
worker’s right to join a union.

(5) RESTORE FISCAL DISCIPLINE: By borrowing from future generations to
give tax relief to those who need help the least, George W. Bush’s
economic policies have, for the first time in history, forced the
federal government to spend $1 billion more EACH DAY than it takes in.
President Bush’s exploding deficits are destroying the solvency of
Social Security and Medicare and he has placed the enormous burden of
saving these programs on the shoulders of our children and
grandchildren. John Kerry believes that we need a smaller and smarter
government that wastes less money. John Kerry’s plan will:

Balance the Budget

* Cut the Deficit in Half: John Kerry is committed to balancing the
budget. He has put forward a sensible plan that will at least cut the
deficit in half in his first term, while investing in economic growth
and investing in workers.
* A Balanced Budget Summit: The best way to get to a balanced budget
is not in partisan bickering, but in bipartisan cooperation. As
President, John Kerry will call a Balanced Budget Summit that will
require all sides to work together to make at least temporary sacrifices
-- even in their top priorities -- as part of a concerted effort to
restore fiscal discipline and fight for our future.
* End Special Tax Breaks: To restore fiscal discipline and
strengthen our economy, Kerry will repeal Bush’s special tax breaks for
Americans who make more than $200,000.
* Cut Excesses in Government: One of the Bush Administrations
well-kept secrets is that under his watch the size of government has
actually gotten bigger – not smaller. John Kerry will reduce the size of
the Federal government by: bringing spending down to the level of GDP it
was under Clinton, requiring federal agencies to submit annual plans to
reduce energy costs by 20 percent by 2020; cut the Federal government’s
administrative costs by five percent; cut the number of political
appointees and ban providing bonuses for political appointees; cut fraud
and abuse in government programs – fraud and abuse is estimated to cost
$12 billion in Medicare alone and end rules that prevent the Federal
government from having the same purchasing authority as the private sector.


More details later.