Kerry campaigning in Texas told his audience that Pres Bush is a walking barrel of promises referring to the unemployment problem. Right now the unemployment problems remains at 5.6 % or 8.2 million who are looking for work. (This is much better than the last year of Pres Clinton which was 6.1%.)
He said that 3 million jobs have been lost since Pres Bush took the Presidency in 2001.
His solution that he told his listeners is to “lower the unemployment by closing tax loopholes that send jobs and revenue overseas, enforcing the terms of the trade agreements, increasing funds for education and lowering health-care costs. He also said that he would tax those making $200,000 a year rolling back the tax cuts that was implemented by Pres Bush in 2003 then create more workers.
This is quite a mouthful of solution.
I agree to what he said, but I don’t know if Mrs Kerry would agree. According to reliable sources, Mrs Kerry owns the Heinz Catsup conglomerate who have 79 manufacturing plants, of which 57 manufacturing plants are located overseas. Only 22 manufacturing plants are in the United States.
Let’s look at the real unemployment numbers as taken from the Current Population Survey taken monthly by the Bureau of Census for the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It provides a comprehensive body of data on the labor force, employment, unemployment and persons not in the labor force.
Since 2002 1.6 million have gone back to work.
Let’s also compare the jobless numbers in the first term of President Bush against the first term when Pres Clinton was President.
Clinton Bush Difference
1991 – 6.8% 2001 – 4.7% 2.1%
1992 – 7.5 2002 – 5.8 1.7
1993 – 6.9 2003 – 6.0 .9
1994 – 6.1 Now - 5.6 .5
These numbers show that there were more unemployed when President Clinton was President. Did the liberals complain then?
Let’s further look at the employment and unemployment number of last February 2004 which according to the government employment was slow. Those indicated by a + are gains and – are losses.
Manufacturing 3,000 –
Construction 24,000 –
Leisure/Hospitality 9,000 –
Retailers 13,000 +
Contractors 32,000 +
Education/Health 13,000 +
Total Gain 22,000 +
Granted that these numbers are very low, but they are still better than the first year Pres Clinton was President. Let’s compare numbers again after President Bush second term. It would be much much better than the 2nd term of Pres Clinton.
The people need facts not blowing smoke! Numbers don't lie.