Wesley Clark says jobs aren't coming back

[onehandle]

Dec. 18, 2003  |  BERLIN, N.H. (AP) -- Democratic presidential hopeful Wesley Clark said Thursday that even though the economy appears to be getting back on track, jobs aren't coming with it and President Bush doesn't appear to know how to fix the problem.

As Clark criticized the Bush administration for lacking a program to create jobs, the Labor Department reported that new claims for unemployment benefits fell sharply last week and reached their lowest level since Nov. 1.

"I keep hearing about recovery," Clark said during an interview with radio station WMOU. "You don't see the signs of recovery. People are very concerned with holding onto their jobs and keeping their lives together."

http://www.salon.com/news/wire/2003/12/18/clark_jobs/index.html

[Wetzelbill]

1. I'm inclined to agree

[SlavesandBulldozers]

2. from the same man that brought you

"Let India have the software jobs." That's not to say I don't like Clark, he's in competition for my Number 1 pick, it's just evident that he's learning these domestic issues as he goes.

[deminflorida]

8. He changed is stance on this and stated the the tax code must

be reviewed for incentives that need to be repealed for companies outsourcing American jobs. More than I can say for Howard Dean who still stands on a platform of increasing taxes on the middle class of America.

Please note: Howard Dean stands for increasing Taxes on Middle Class America, Democrats need to think about that and they need to think about it now.

[DoveTurnedHawk]

9. He Actually Didn't CHANGE His Stance

He's always maintained we need to close the tax loopholes. He just clarified his off-the-cuff statement during the debate.

DTH

[Melodybe]

13. Sorry to disagree but...

Dean says working families deserve tax relief. Quite spouting this McGovern/Mondale raising taxes junk. You are completely ignoring his economic plan, just because he wants to roll back the repubs tax plan does not mean that the middle class will be picking up the tab. Read his speech from today and tell me where it says that middle class taxes will go up? In fact what he is suggesting will do the exact opposite. Quite doing Rove's work for him, I don't come here and belittle any of the candidates (except Lieberman) so please don't belittle mine.

[dionysus]

17. patently false

to quote Dean

The New Social Contract I am proposing will include fundamental tax reform to ensure that every wealthy American individual and corporation is paying their fair share of taxes – and that the tax burden on working families is reduced.
Not paying your fair share is equivalent to turning your back on being an American. And that’s what American companies that move to offshore shelters are doing. They’re avoiding $70 billion a year in taxes – enough money to bring a real tax cut to every family.

[0007]

22. Fucking "A"

[mikehiggins]

10. Truth hurts, friend.

Unless you can come up with a workable plan to recover software jobs from India/China, why knock Clark for being honest about what's going on.

He's pointing out that we have to innovate and push forward, instead of trying to hold onto the past. Maybe next time, under a Clark administration, we will be smart enough to protect these new industries and technologies and stop selling them wholesale on the world market.

How much of the world computer revolution began in China or India? They had to get it somewhere, and the US was always happy to peddle anything that wasn't plainly defense related (and much that was).

It would be nice to think we could reclaim those jobs, just like it'd be nice to think we could reclaim the auto-industry jobs and the textile industries jobs and all the rest. It isn't going to happen.

Clark is telling you the truth but you seem unwilling or unready to accept it.

[SlavesandBulldozers]

14. it certainly does hurt

ok, fair enough, Clark is being honest by the fact that software jobs are not coming back. It's not his fault, i can appreciate that. I can also appreciate the fact that he lacks tact by saying "Let India have our software jobs." This lack of tact could carry over into other debates as well. Imagine Clark arguing a pro-choice platform, I don't know if "Let them get abortions" is quite the best way to deliver it.

[Zero Gravitas]

18. What are we supposed to instead then?

work in McDonalds? sell each other insurance? work on the estates of the 1% who are benfiting from selling us out?

[SlavesandBulldozers]

20. i agree with you

as an unemployed tech, believe me I'm in your corner. My point is that Clark made a tactless statement with "Let India have our jobs." I will state again that I love Clark as a candidate, he is clearly intelligent ALL-AROUND, not just militarily. But this statement bothered me when I saw it.

Furthermore, from a military standpoint outsourcing software jobs to India poses a serious national security problem, if not now - in the future - as we outsource more and more confidential technologies to companies with no particular allegiance to the U.S. Clark should know better than to brush the matter off with such callous disregard, it seemed like almost a Shrub-like level of disregard.

[alfredo]

15. I took that statement as 'don't cry over spilled milk.'

He goes on from there saying that there is other technology to explore. Let's face it, do you think there is big money in programming yet another patch to XP, or in development of new energy efficient technology? We will never be able to compete on price with the third world, and we will never get rich by sitting in a cubicle fixing problems with existing technology.

[WhereIsMyFreedom]

21. Better than working at Walmart or McDonalds

We're shipping out our those software jobs much faster than new other high-tech jobs are being created. The end result is unemployment or downgrading ones job to barely livable wages. Programming jobs may not make you rich, but it's a comfortable wage.

I don't know what Clark meant by that comment, but I hope he doesn't believe that this is acceptable.

[Toucano]

24. Bingo!

Thank you Alfredo! You get it and you explain it well!

Cheers!

[Pale_Rider]

3. The Republican answer to illegal immigration ...

... is to reduce a sizeable portion of Americans to paupers. Then those Americans will displace illegal immigrants in low and non-paying jobs.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[cmd]

6. I don't think so

Jobs will come back, but not the good paying ones that the middle class depends on. The corporations who bought the presidency won't stand for that.

[bahrbearian]

7. Democrats won't be successful if they can't be honest.

What is that suppose to mean?..

[mikehiggins]

12. Is sarcasm still allowed on this board?

You are being sarcastic, aren't you?

Aren't you?

Jeeze, I hope you are.

[mikehiggins]

5. Cute. I get a pop-up that I can't kill

when I follow that link. Something from some booze company that I can't shut down without killing the link.

I'm not blaming onehandle for that. I think Salon is probably tired of people reading their stuff for free.

Screw them.

As to the jobs thing, Clark isn't saying anything we haven't all suspected for a long time. It's amazing that anyone would think it newsworthy at this point in the game.

Sort of like saying "Bush is an incompetent bungler who shouldn't be trusted with the keys to Daddy's car, let alone the front door of the White House." You know, something lots of people have figured out already.

[Melodybe]

11. He is correct!

I hope that he keeps talking about this, WE CAN NOT LET THE MEDIA BRAINWASH PEOPLE INTO THINKS THE ECONOMY IS GETTING BETTER!

I like Clark, he is a good man.

[w4rma]

16. Gen. Clark is exactly on target, IMHO. (n/t)

[ignatius]

19. A report from the Economic Policy Institute calculates that in the

last seven major recoveries, dating back to 1949, labor compensation at this point in the cycle is typically 61% of the new growth in output, and in no case less than 55%.

In the current "recovery"(bought and paid for by tax cuts that have helped increase the deficit to $500 Billion, IMHO), labor compensation is 29 PERCENT of total income growth.

What get's the lion's share this time around..corporate profits.

That helps explain the stock market performance. Bush's cronies are getting more and more of the pie, while stiffing the workers.

The good news is that there are more workers than cronies, if they can only see the light through their carefully fostered fear courtesy of the very administration that is screwing them.

www.commondreams.org/views03/1209-06.htm

[SemperEadem]

23. There is a recovery for company/corporation owners

and a recovery for the average working citizen... and the numbers for the former are better than the number for the latter. The govt is throwing welfare money at corporations at the same time, inticing them to ship their operations to India while they pink slip all of their American workers and talk about how tough this economy and this recovery are for them.