Bush Says Jobless Rise Is Reason Enough for Tax Cut

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Seriously , will someone explain to me just how this ccut will increase
jobs. The last one did not and I assume rapid inflation caused by war costs
and decreased income will also not help people get jobs. This cut may
increase the wealth of some -- like those who got large bonuses while their
workers were being laid off.

I wait.

Dave

  Says Jobless Rise Is Reason Enough for Tax Cut

May 2, 2003
By DAVID STOUT 




 

WASHINGTON, May 2 - Back on land today, President Bush
seized upon the latest unemployment statistics and tried to
turn them to his political advantage.

The Labor Department report that the nation's jobless rate
rose to 6 percent in April is "a clear signal to the United
States Congress that we need a bold recovery package so
people can find work," Mr. Bush told a gathering of workers
at a military plant in California, a state he lost to Al
Gore in 2000 by a margin of 53 to 42.

Mr. Bush, speaking at United Defense Industries in Santa
Clara, in Northern California, said the unemployment
figures should be studied by lawmakers in both parties and
be seen as a lesson that "the best way to create growth is
to let people keep more of their own money."

With Congress expected to renew the tax cut debate next
week, the president called on lawmakers to approve "at
least $550 billion" in reductions over the next decade if
they "are interested in job creation."

Mr. Bush has come down from his original goal, $726 billion
in tax cuts over the next 10 years. He has also signaled
several times, as he did today, that he will fight for far
more than the $350 billion that the Senate has so far
indicated it will support.

Since the House has approved $550 billion in reductions,
the two chambers will have to negotiate their differences.
The White House's effort to win tax cuts of $550 billion,
or more, is complicated by the fact that a few Republican
senators say $350 billion is more to their liking.

With all that no doubt in mind, Mr. Bush left the aircraft
carrier Abraham Lincoln today, where he had spent the
night, and journeyed to Silicon Valley, where he declared
that big tax cuts were the surest way to whittle down
deficits by stimulating the economy.

Mr. Bush was lustily cheered by the United Defense
Industries workers, especially when he praised the exploits
of the Army's Bradley fighting vehicle, which is made at
the plant and which Mr. Bush said had played a big role in
toppling the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq.

On Capitol Hill, Democrats sought to deflate the
president's message. Even before he spoke in Santa Clara,
they released Labor Department figures showing that since
he took office in 2001, the San Jose area had lost 165,000
jobs and the San Francisco area 109,000 jobs.

The president pledged to make the statistics better.
"Behind every statistic is someone's life," he said.

A reminder of how times have changed was the decision to
have Mr. Bush stop at a military contractor's plant here,
rather than at a computer or software company of the kind
that gave Silicon Valley its name and that came to
symbolize the overheated economy of the late 1990's.
So-called dot-com companies have been among the hardest hit
in the recession and the halting recovery.

Mr. Bush spoke at greater length on the economy today than
he did on Iraq and terrorism Thursday evening from the deck
of the Abraham Lincoln as it neared the California coast.
His emphasis on the economy today showed a readiness to
battle for his tax package, once he gets back to Washington
after a weekend at his Texas ranch.

As for the political capital from images of the president
landing in a jet warplane on the Lincoln, House Democrats
circulated news reports that the carrier had had to slow
its approach to San Diego to accommodate Mr. Bush - thus
putting off the crew's homecoming by a day. The Democrats
did not note that despite that delay, Mr. Bush appeared to
have been warmly greeted and loudly cheered by the crew.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/02/politics/02CND-BUSH.html?ex=1052921734&ei=
1&en=cce91f5229025e86



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