New Hampshire Jobs Depend on Ending NAFTA
The following is a press release from January 23, 2004, by the Kucinich campaign
***
Kucinich: New Hampshire Jobs Depend on Ending NAFTA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 23, 2004
Democratic Presidential Candidate Dennis Kucinich said today that the job losses plaguing the country can only be stopped by replacing President Bush with a president who will replace NAFTA with new trade agreements.
"Over the past three years, New Hampshire has experienced a 21 percent decline in manufacturing, steeper than any other state," said Kucinich. "The Granite State has lost 20,000 manufacturing jobs since April of 2001. That figure means that one fifth of the total manufacturing jobs in the state have been lost in a little over two years.
"The unemployment rate in New Hampshire was 4.3 percent in November 2003, up from 2.8 percent in January 2001 - a 53.57 percent increase. In total, 11,255 more workers in New Hampshire have become unemployed under the Bush Administration.
"The national unemployment rate in December of 2003 was 5.7 percent, up from 4.1 percent in January 2001. We have lost nearly 3 million private sector jobs. In the third quarter of 2003, America's gross domestic product surged at a rate of 8.2 percent, and corporate profits grew at an annual rate above 40 percent. But during this same period, wages and salaries grew by less than 1 percent. When someone calls that a recovery, they're telling you more about themselves than about the economy.
"To make matters worse, the Bush Administration has proposed ending eligibility for overtime pay, a critical source of income for 8 million workers, and the Department of Labor has issued advice to companies in its explanation of the proposal on strategies to avoid paying overtime. Among these strategies were cutting workers' base pay to subtract extra overtime pay costs and cutting workers' hours to strictly enforce a 40 hour work week. Under this proposal, 450,497 New England workers stand to lose access to overtime pay. In 2002, the number of Americans living in poverty increased by over 12 percent to 34.6 million.
"When NAFTA was signed in 1994, it was hailed by the national media and by CEOs for ensuring American 'global competitiveness.' Since then, America's trade deficit has exploded to $418 billion, and NAFTA has cost America 525,000 jobs, most of them in manufacturing. Tax cuts for millionaires have failed repeatedly to create jobs. Making permanent the tax cuts that were temporary, the ones that were supposed to give the economy a quick boost, would cost us another $1 trillion, but it won't create jobs. The Bush Administration's idea that the 'No Child Left Behind Act' or the new energy bill or limiting medical liability will somehow create jobs makes clear that jobs for this Administration are an afterthought.
"We must repeal NAFTA and the WTO and stop chasing jobs out of the country. I will make this my first act in office, and I will replace these with fair bilateral trade agreements that protect jobs. I will also create a WPA-style jobs program to provide 2 million Americans with work restoring our infrastructure."
Kucinich job program proposal: http://kucinich.us/issues/issue_jobs.htm
For more information: http://www.kucinich.us
For Congressman Kucinich's Schedule: http://www.kucinich.us/schedule.htm.
To schedule interview with Kucinich or spokesperson: interviews@kucinich.us
Campaign Press Secretary: David Swanson 301-772-0210, cell 202-329-7847, fax 301-772-7293, swanson@kucinich.us
Subscribe to this blog's feed