Seven Months of Job Losses for Americans, Seven Houses for McCain
WASHINGTON, Aug. 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following was
released by the Democratic National Committee:
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080519/DNCLOGO )
As John McCain continues his "Job-Killing John" tour in Pennsylvania
today, it's clearer than ever how out of touch he is with working
Americans. McCain is insulated from the economic struggles of most
Americans. As Americans face the consequences of seven months of job losses
and spiraling energy costs, John McCain, who owns seven houses, has said
that there has "been great progress economically." Perhaps it's not
surprising then that John McCain is so out of touch with the struggles
facing Americans today that he actually has said that the nation's economic
problems are merely "psychological" and he is calling for more of the same
failed Bush policies and politics that have already cost thousands of
Americans their jobs.
Bush-McCain economic policies have already put almost 70,000
Pennsylvanians out of work, while trade deals Bush and McCain support have
cost Pennsylvania more than 44,000 jobs. Under Bush, median income in
Pennsylvania has been nearly stagnant. Meanwhile, 1.2 million
Pennsylvanians are without health insurance -- that's 10 percent of the
state -- including more than 200,000 children. In the first quarter of 2008
alone in Pennsylvania, almost 6,000 homes received a foreclosure filing.
While Americans are facing the effects of failed Bush-McCain economic
policies, McCain puts corporate profits before American jobs, from his
support for failed Bush's economic policies to unfair trade agreements to
business deals that hurt working Americans -- like his support of
European-owned EADS over American company Boeing and entanglement with
German company DHL in Ohio, which may cost Ohioans 8,000 jobs.
BUSH-MCCAIN ECONOMY A DISASTER FOR PENNSYLVANIA
NAFTA Net Displacement Was One Million Workers and a Net Job Loss of
Over 44,100 in Pennsylvania. A 2006 Economic Policy Institute study found
that NAFTA had displaced just over 1 million jobs in this country, and net
job loss of 44,173 in Pennsylvania. [Scott, Salas & Campbell, Revisiting
NAFTA, 9/28/2006; http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/bp173]
Income Stagnant. Median household income in Pennsylvania has only
increased from $47,524 in 2000 to $48,148 in 2006, a 1.3% increase. [Joint
Economic Committee Fact Sheet, 8/29/07, (Bureau of the Census, U.S.
Department of Commerce), jec.senate.gov]
Unemployed Up 26% in Pennsylvania. The number of unemployed workers in
Pennsylvania has increased by 26% under President Bush. The number of
unemployed has gone up from 262,572 in January of 2001 and preliminary
figures for June of 2008 are 332,113, an increase of 69,541 workers. The
unemployment rate has similarly increased from 4.3% to 5.2%. [Local Area
Unemployed Statistics, (Seasonally Adjusted), Bureau of Labor Statistics,
accessed 7/25/08, data.bls.gov]
Pennsylvania Has Over 1.2 Million People Uninsured. 1,216,260 people
have no health insurance. That's 10 percent of Pennsylvanians living
without any insurance. [statehealthfacts.org, accessed 7/20/08, available
here: http://www.statehealthfacts.org/profileind.jsp?ind=125&cat=3&rgn=40]
More than 217,000 kids in Pennsylvania have NO health insurance.
[statehealthfacts.org, accessed 7/20/08, available here:
http://www.statehealthfacts.org/profileind.jsp?ind=127&cat=3&rgn=40]
In the First Quarter of 2008, Over 5,900 Homes in Pennsylvania Received
a Foreclosure Filing. 5,901 homes received a foreclosure filing in the
first quarter. [Realty Trac Press Release, 4/29/08]
BUSH ECONOMY AND TRADE POLICIES COST AMERICAN JOBS
Seven Straight Months of Job Losses in 2008. As reported by the New
York Times, "The unemployment rate spiked again in July, to 5.7 percent,
its highest level in more than four years and a strong signal that come
Election Day millions of Americans will still be hunting for work...The
nation's employers cut their payrolls for the seventh consecutive month,
this time by 51,000 jobs, the government reported Friday. For millions
still at work, hours were reduced, a hidden form of unemployment, and the
average raise was less than enough to keep up with inflation." [New York
Times, 8/2/08]
Manufacturing Jobs Have Decreased by Nearly a Quarter Under Bush. As
reported by the New York Times, "When President Bush took office, nearly 13
percent of American jobs were in manufacturing. In November, that figure
fell below 10 percent for the first time ever, and at last measure was 9.95
percent." [New York Times, 2/9/08]
MCCAIN IS OUT OF TOUCH ON THE ECONOMY, SUPPORTS BUSH POLICIES
McCain's "Economic Plans Really Are An Extension of the Bush
Administration Policies." "McCain doesn't like to hear it, but his economic
plans really are an extension of Bush administration policies...When all
the economic mumbo-jumbo is removed, that fact remains." [Boston Globe,
Editorial, 7/9/08, boston.com ]
McCain Says Economy Has Improved. During an interview in April, McCain
declared that, "you could make an argument that there's been great progress
economically." [Bloomberg Money & Politics, 4/17/08]
McCain has voted with President Bush 95 percent of the time in 2007.
According to Congressional Quarterly, he also has a record of heartily
supporting Bush on some of his most controversial priorities, including the
Iraq war and comprehensive immigration reform. In 2007, as he ramped up for
his second White House run, McCain voted with Bush 95 percent of the time,
according to Congressional Quarterly, which tallied votes McCain was
present for on issues in which the administration took a position. [Arizona
Republic, 4/6/08]
MCCAIN PUTS LOBBYISTS BEFORE AMERICAN JOBS, SUPPORTS DEALS THAT HURT
WORKING AMERICANS
McCain Had Role in DHL Deal That May Cost 8,000 Jobs in Ohio. "John
McCain (http://search.politico.com/results.cfm?subject=John+McCain ) went
on the offensive Thursday in a key battleground state, hoping to blunt
criticism that he was indirectly responsible for the possible loss of more
than 8,000 jobs in Wilmington, Ohio (
http://search.politico.com/results.cfm?subject=Ohio )." [Politico, 8/7/08]
McCain Objected to Efforts in the Senate to Hold Up DHL Deal. "McCain,
of Arizona, and fellow Republican Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi objected,
saying it would be unfair to keep the Pentagon from using an air carrier it
might someday need. McCain, then the chairman of the Commerce Committee,
also objected to using a spending bill to set military policy." [Cleveland
Plain Dealer, 8/6/08]
Campaign Manager Rick Davis Lobbied for DHL Deal. "In 2003, Davis
lobbied the Senate to accept the proposal by DHL to buy Airborne Express
for $1.05 billion. Airborne Express at the time ran the airport and
package-sorting facility in Wilmington. Filings in the Senate show Davis'
lobbying firm, Davis Manafort, was hired to help both companies deal with
Congress, where objections over DHL's foreign ownership arose. Davis and a
partner earned their firm $185,000 for the DHL-Airborne Express work that
year, records show. They earned $405,000 more from Deutsche Post for work
on other issues in 2004 and 2005, Senate records show." [Cleveland Plain
Dealer, 8/6/08]
4,000 American Jobs Are At Stake Because of John McCain and His
Lobbyist Advisors. According to a June report by the Economic Policy
Institute, awarding European-based EADS the $35 billion aerial refueling
tanker contract will cost at least 14,000 jobs. "At least 14,000 jobs that
could have been generated in the United States if the contract had gone to
Boeing," found the EPI, "will not be created" if EADS receives the
contract. [Economic Policy Institute, "Bailing out on America: Air Force
Tanker Decision Will Ground at Least 14,000 U.S. Jobs," [EPI Briefing Paper
#218, 6/5/08 (http://www.epi.org/briefingpapers/218/bp218.pdf)]
Current McCain Advisors Lobbied for EADS to Get $35 Billion Tanker
Contract Over Boeing. "Top current advisers to Sen. John McCain's
presidential campaign last year lobbied for a European plane maker that
beat Boeing to a $35 billion Air Force tanker contract, taking sides in a
bidding fight that McCain has tried to referee for more than five years."
[Associated Press, 3/11/08]
EADS Lobbying Involves at Least 4 High-Level McCain Advisors. "A $35
billion contract has been awarded to Europe's Airbus consortium to build
the latest generation of tanker planes. The decision has sparked anger from
Boeing's congressional supporters and critics of outsourcing. It has also
focused attention on McCain's reliance on lobbyists in his campaign for
president because his finance chairman and several other top advisers
lobbied for Airbus last year when it was in fierce competition with Boeing
for the Air Force contract...McCain finance chairman Thomas G. Loeffler and
Susan E. Nelson, who left Loeffler's lobbying firm to be McCain's finance
director, both began lobbying for Airbus's parent company in 2007, Senate
records show. William L. Ball III, a former secretary of the Navy and
frequent McCain surrogate on the trail, also lobbied for Airbus, as did
John Green, who recently took a leave from Ogilvy Public Relations to serve
as McCain's legislative liaison." [Washington Post, 3/12/08]
Paid for and authorized by the Democratic National Committee,
http://www.democrats.org.
This communication is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's
committee.
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