Kerry Promises Effort to Halt Flow of Jobs Out of the US

NYTimes ^ | Feb 16, 2004 | Stolberg

[hotpotato]

GREEN BAY, Wis., Feb. 16 — Seeking to cement his position as the front-runner in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, Senator John Kerry crisscrossed Wisconsin on Monday, promising voters he would stanch the flow of jobs overseas.

On the eve of the Wisconsin primary, Mr. Kerry was trying to deflect criticism of his 1993 vote for the North American Free Trade Agreement.

At a town-hall-style meeting in Wausau, a woman told Mr. Kerry that she had lost her job last year. Saying that his views on the trade agreement, Nafta, "are still throwing some red flags in my mind," she asked, "Am I going to have a job?" Advertisement

Mr. Kerry replied that the problem was not Nafta per se, but rather the Bush administration's failure to press compliance with nonbinding treaties that would raise labor and environmental standards overseas, making American companies more competitive. He pledged a 120-day review of every trade agreement, Nafta included, if elected.

"We're going to identify every single imbalance or place in which there is an unfairness that has not been addressed, and we're going to address it," Mr. Kerry said, adding, "I'm not going to throw out Nafta completely. I'm going to fix it."

The twin issues of jobs and the trade agreement are very much on the minds of people in Wisconsin, where Mr. Kerry has taken pains to remind voters that 75,000 jobs have been lost since President Bush has taken office. One of Mr. Kerry's rivals, Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, has been critical of Nafta, and is making it an issue.

[hotpotato]

For those looking for a protectionist government, here's your guy.

[tet68]

Oh great, more border guards with their guns facing in,
remind you of anyplace?

[Paul Atreides]

What about the flow of old girlfriends out of the U.S.?

[A CA Guy]

Kind of the leftist version of Buchanan?

[KevinDavis]

That is what we need a government official in how to conduct a private business.

[stevem]

Does this mean Heinz is going to move all foreign operations to the US?

[dighton]

What does Kerry's wife, ketchup heiress Teresa Heinz, make of this? Not the intern, but the outsourcing. Well, the missus's Pittsburgh-based family business has 22 factories in the United States and 57 on foreign soil. Even Heinz is out-sauce-ing its ketchup to foreigners.

-- Mark Steyn.

[LoneRangerMassachusetts]

If John F'n Tax 'em Kerry gets elected, watch business flight increase. Between taxes and law suits, who wants to invest their savings in the United States?

[sinkspur]

There is nothing Kerry can do. Protectionism won't work.

Siemens is moving 15,000 programming jobs to subsidiaries in India and Asia.

Not Kerry, not Bush, not anybody, can stop a company from moving work from one subsidiary to another.

This "enforcing treaties" stuff is nonsense. How is he going to enforce them?

[Afro_conservative]

And I promise to give you the moon and a bridge is for sale in Afghanistan for a dollar. What a nimrod go back to cheating on your wife and getting 75$ haircuts.

[Ciexyz]

He voted for it -- now he's backtracking. AGAIN! Like he backtracks on every other issue.

[Theresawithanh]

I found this quite interesting - did anybody read the Mark Steyn column where he said Kerry had phone banks set up in Canada calling democrat voters in the United States?

[cavtrooper21]

Did I hear a donkey braying?

Kerry won't do a damn thing if elected except push the US even farther down the slide of moral degeneracy and economic collapse...
He gets too much money from the PRC to do any kind of "reciprocal" trade policy

[GeronL]

Senator John Kerry crisscrossed Wisconsin on Monday, promising voters he would stanch the flow of jobs overseas.

and did he give any details of how to do this?? lower minimum wage?? cut red tape??

[hotpotato]

Yep. Businesses will pull up roots completely and relocate elsewhere... just like what's happening in California.

[cripplecreek]

Our worst nightmare would be John Kerry being as "successful" as bill clinton at stopping that flow.

[Revolting cat!]

The party in the pockets of big biz as much as the Stupid Party has found THE election issue and it's going to run with it. Laugh (cluelessly) while you can!

[Dan from Michigan]

How many times do I have to say this.

Kerry is THE PROBLEM. He voted for NAFTA, GATT, cosponsored MFN for China.

Now that he's running for president, he's trying to be some populist hero. He had his chance and failed miserably.

[Ciexyz]

He voted for Nafta, and now he feels our pain. What a crock of sh**.