Wednesday, January 30, 2008

SUPER TUESDAY: 'IT'S THE ECONOMY, STUPID'

Super Tuesday: 'It's the economy, stupid'
Primary states lost 1.5 million manufacturing jobs under Bush

Posted: January 30, 2008
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2008 WorldNetDaily.com


Group says more than 900,000 U.S. jobs have gone to China

The 24 states holding primaries in next week's Super Tuesday have lost 1,568,600 manufacturing jobs in the seven years since President Bush took office, according to statistics provided WND by the Alliance for American Manufacturing, or AAM.

"In the Super Tuesday states, "It's the economy, stupid,' is what voting is going to be all about," Kerri Houston, senior analyst at AAM, told WND.

"It's also about 'It's the defense, stupid," Houston said, "given how many U.S. defense suppliers have now been outsourced overseas."

"The Department of Defense now has graveyards full of broken-down equipment, including tanks, airplanes and missile launchers that are out of action for lack of a part," she continued.

"Republicans who have opposed unions for decades don't want to talk about outsourcing as a problem, because they are afraid the unions would come back if the jobs came back, and the Republicans are happy to see Democrats denied campaign contributions that would be coming out of union dues," Houston emphasized.

"But when the military can't find steel, tires or metal parts, and military procurement demands the Department of Defense look for a U.S. manufacturer, we're out of luck," she said. "The part the military needs may today only be made in China."

According to AAM data, the 24 Super Tuesday states have lost 914,400 jobs across all sectors to China alone while Bush has been in office.

"Jobs and the economy will be the top issues that drive voters to the polls on Super Tuesday," said AAM director Scott Paul. "The manufacturing jobs lost under the Bush administration were good-paying jobs that can't really be replaced by lower-paying service sector jobs.

"The presidential candidates would be wise to directly address these issues," Paul advised, "and let the voters know what they will do to strengthen American manufacturing, challenge China's unfair trade practices and reform our broken trade policy."

In the Super Tuesday states, Montana and West Virginia are involved in the Republican primaries only, and Idaho, New Mexico and Kansas are Democratic primary states only.

The 19 states with both Republican and Democratic primaries on Super Tuesday are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Utah.

"The whole idea of the Bush tax refund being an economic stimulus is going to be received with skepticism in the Super Tuesday states," Houston cautioned.

"The U.S. Treasury has to borrow from China the money to use in paying out the tax refund," she noted.

"Then what are people going to do – use their refund check to buy goods that are made in China?" she asked. "Unfortunately, the Bush administration is not going to mail back the jobs lost to outsourcing along with the refund checks, whenever they finally arrive."

Source: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59947

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