Posted on 03/20/2004 10:28:47 PM PST by Nachum
John Kerry's financial fortunes may be linked to a ketchup empire, but in his political notebook, what's sauce for the goose isn't sauce for the gander. The Democratic Presidential nominee, who has been railing against outsourcing, is walking on a sticky wicket on the issue. There are outsourcing footprints all over Kerry's pristine all
H J Heinz & Co, the family business of Kerry and his wife Teresa, has spread its ketchup operations across the world. Of the 79 factories that the food processor owns, 57 are overseas. Heinz makes ketchup, pizza crust, baby cereal and other edibles in such countries as Poland , Venezuela , Botswana , Thailand , and most of all, China and India .
That's not all. Campaign finance reports reviewed by the Congressional publication, The Hill, reveal that executives at 25 companies identified by CNN's Lou Dobbs as prime outsourcers have contributed more than $370,000 to Kerry's presidential campaign. Among them are executives of Citigroup (who contributed $68,250 to Kerry), Morgan Stanley (gave $38,000) and Goldman Sachs (gave $50,300).
Direct investments and trusts controlled by Kerry list assets of $124,026 to $636,000 in companies that outsource jobs, according to his financial disclosures. Trusts held by Teresa Heinz Kerry hold at least $8.5 million in outsourcing companies. Among them are General Electric, IBM and AIG which have big operations in India and China .
All this has led analysts to believe that Kerry's anti-outsourcing stand is just election season posturing. "Our view is that this is just a lot of political talk. Restrictive legislation will be limited, and the outsourcing trend will continue to be robust," Lehman Brothers analyst Louis Miscioscia wrote in a recent research note to investors.
Ashish Thadhani, an analyst with Brean Murray & Co in New York who tracks Indian outsourcing companies has also given a thumbs-up to firms such as Infosys, Wipro, and Cognizant, saying they are good bets for investors if their horizon looks beyond the current political debate.
Meanwhile, domestic critics have excoriated Kerry for his duplicity and doubletalk. If Kerry is true to his word, he would be bringing back Heinz operations to the US and create American jobs. By the same token, the nearly seven million US workers who are employed by foreign companies such as BMW, Toyota and Honda would also lose their jobs if these firms pulled out.
"I don't think Kerry should shut down the Heinz 57, but he might drop the rhetoric and talk about trade responsibly," says free market maven James Glassman, who has taken a public stand against the anti-outsourcers. "He should support not trade's contraction but its expansion, like George W Bush, Bill Clinton and every president since Herbert Hoover." It looks unlikely though that Kerry will pay attention to such advice till after the election.
Meanwhile, Bush continues to stick by the free trade principles despite facing pressure on the political and economic front. With the job growth lacklustre, it's a tough and risky act against an opposition determined to twist every dismal number to its advantage.
But supporters of free trade also argue that the administration has not been sufficiently aggressive in telling the American people about how lowered barriers have helped the economy over the last decade.
Bush, they say, needs to talk about the jobs and cost benefits free trade has brought to America .
Flip flop John Kerry's ratings took a drop
long about a Saturday night...
Kerry was a flippin' an a floppin'
reelin from his scheeming....
yeeeah yeaahh
But he's a Union guy so why would he take jobs away from union workers?
| H J Heinz & Co, the family business of Kerry and his wife Teresa
No -- count 'em -- no member of the Heinz family has been employed by, or been on the board of directors of, the H.J. Heinz company since H.J. Heinz II retired in 1987. Neither John Kerry nor Teresa Heinz Kerry have anything to do with the company. Neither is a significant shareholder. She is not on the board, or in management. Neither is John Kerry. None of her foundations are significant shareholders. Nor does the company contribute to, or support, her foundations in any way. This is all crap made possible by the fact that her name is Heinz. And even that is only because she was married to one. He (John) wasn't a factor in running the company either. She sits on a big pile of family money. But none of it comes from the company. It's all inherited wealth from a long time ago. |
Campaign finance reports reviewed by the Congressional publication, The Hill, reveal that executives at 25 companies identified by CNN's Lou Dobbs as prime outsourcers have contributed more than $370,000 to Kerry's presidential campaign. Among them are executives of Citigroup (who contributed $68,250 to Kerry), Morgan Stanley (gave $38,000) and Goldman Sachs (gave $50,300).
Direct investments and trusts controlled by Kerry list assets of $124,026 to $636,000 in companies that outsource jobs, according to his financial disclosures. Trusts held by Teresa Heinz Kerry hold at least $8.5 million in outsourcing companies. Among them are General Electric, IBM and AIG which have big operations in India and China.
Heinz has 50% of the soy sauce market in Indonesia. Making and selling soy sauce in Asia is not "outsourcing." It is "earning profits around the globe," something we used to think was good. Now it's "unpatriotic." What a crock.
Kerry will outsource our votes
to foreign leaders
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Awww Jeez, not this again.