Kerry assails Bush on economy

TOLEDO, Ohio – Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry Wednesday accused the Bush administration of indifference to the plight of U.S. workers who have seen their jobs shipped overseas, and offered steps to deal with a problem that has dominated this year’s Democratic campaign.

The Massachusetts senator also vowed not to cut Social Security benefits to help reduce the federal budget deficit, a repudiation of a recommendation offered Wednesday on Capitol Hill by Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan.

Kerry was joined in this by his last major rival, Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., who lauded the spotlight the Fed chairman put on deficits during the Bush administration, but said in a statement “it is an outrage for him to suggest that we should extend George Bush’s tax cuts on unearned wealth while cutting Social Security benefits that working people earn.”

With Edwards and Kerry sprinting in the remaining days before next week’s 10-state “Super Tuesday” primaries, new polls suggested the daunting task Edwards faces to keep his candidacy alive. The Field poll in California, where Edwards spent the day campaigning, showed him trailing Kerry by 41 percentage points.

Public polls showed gaps of 20 points or more in Ohio and New York, two states where Edwards has hoped to run strongly and has spent considerable time in recent days. There was somewhat better news in Georgia, where a poll showed Edwards trailing by eight points.

Kerry was on the second day of what his campaign billed a “jobs tour” to highlight what has happened economically in Ohio and other battleground election states.

“Under this administration, America’s middle class has been abandoned, its dreams denied, its Main Street interests ignored and its mainstream values scorned by a White House that puts privilege first, and we must change that,” he said at the University of Toledo.

Kerry blamed corporate greed and CEO misbehavior for part of the problem, and said workers who have played by the rules have suffered, citing a case where one firm dismissed 22,000 employees and the CEO left with a $9.5 million severance package.

If he becomes president, Kerry said, “Our government won’t provide a single reward for shipping our jobs overseas or exploiting the tax code to go to Bermuda to avoid paying taxes while sticking the American people with the bill.”

Kerry’s speech, however, underscored the challenge for Democrats as they grapple with the issue. The only new proposals he offered would do nothing to stop companies from moving jobs overseas, but would give government and workers more notification.

Kerry said he would require companies to give three months notice before moving jobs abroad to workers and to government agencies tasked with offering laid-off workers assistance and training. He also said he would require the Labor Department to gather statistics by company on the number of jobs that have gone overseas, and to report them to Congress on an annual basis, as well as an analysis of why the jobs have been moved.