Jobs and the Economy

A great Democratic public servant once said "I believe in free markets, free capital and free people. None of them can exist without economic, racial, political and social justice." I share his convictions.

Listening to the President's State of the Union address this year, the Nation heard him say that the economy is doing well and continuing to grow. As people look at their friends and neighbors who face outrageous gas prices, often having to ration their gas use just so that they can afford to go to work, they look around and ask "Who is doing well?"

The Bond Rating Company, Moody's answered that question, the day after the State of the Union address. Moody's found that while it was true that the economy as a whole was growing, the people whose incomes were growing with the economy were primarily those in the top 20% Income Group in the United States. That is, the people who are doing well in this economy are those who earn over $130,000 a year. The other 80% of Americans, the great majority of this nation are not doing well.

What is particularly troubling is the consolidation of wealth in the hands of a few, creates the very thing our forbearers revolted against in 1776; a privileged elite based on wealth. Capitalism without a conscience is greed. Just this past week, The New York Times carried an article which referred to the governing principle of our current administration as "slash and burn capitalism."

Everyday, working people, Republican and Democrat alike, are being cast aside from jobs to which they have devoted their lives, all for short term profits. It happens in every industry in Maine; it happens in the Mills and it happens in the Banks, and every one is effected. Make no mistake, capitalism in a freemarket economy cannot be beaten as an engine of economic growth. It is also true that a growing economy EVENTUALLY buoys all ships. However, it is important to note that unchecked capitalism does not buoy all ships equally. It is also important to note that our form of capitalism, capitalism tempered by democracy, is not intended to operate as a lottery - with the winners winning big, at the expense of everyone else, who falls farther behind. Unfortunately, when capitalism is allowed to operate outside the boundaries of good social policy, it takes us back to a time of robber barons. This Republican Administration likes to call it "rugged individualism" but it really is nothing more than the breach of the social contract.

That is not now, nor has it ever been the American way. The Maine way, has always been to expect, and respect, hard work. When our neighbors need a helping hand, whether it be pulling a truck out of the snow bank, letting them borrow a cup of sugar so they don't have to drive to town, or helping stack wood for some of our elderly, Mainers always lend a hand. That is the essence of life in Maine and exemplifies the social contract. While this administration professes to respect those family values, it has turned away from the American family. While our families toil to stay ahead of the bill collector and the tax collector, this administration has given huge subsidies and large tax breaks to mega corporations who care nothing about those values.

Today, large multinational corporations have turned their back on the social contract, by shipping our jobs overseas in the name of free trade. While we recognize the importance of competing in the global economy, we also know about fair play and ensuring that the rules do not favor anyone in the competition. Under this administration however, corporations ship our jobs to countries that do not have the same Environmental, Industrial or Human Rights Standards as we do under the banner of "free trade". If this Administration continues to incent them to do so, with favorable tax incentives and a beneficial tariff structure, there is only one thing that can happen - our own middle class will be diminished as jobs, technology, and investments in our manufacturing and industry flee our State for those countries with more favorable (profitable) Environmental, Industrial and Human Rights regulations.

I am unwilling to countenance the destruction of my friends' and neighbors' jobs and way of life along with those standards which generations of Americans have worked so hard for. I will not, will not, allow this Administration to diminish our children's future. I support "FAIR Trade" with a level playing field so that everyone can compete under the same rules for manufacturing, importing, or exporting to our Country. Under those conditions, no one in the world has a better labor force, work ethic, or ability to compete than we do here in Maine.

Large multinational corporations have abandoned our social contract in return for short term gains. Corporations are entitled to profits, but they are not entitled to obscene profits. When the Oil Companies of this nation declare a $17 Billion Dollar Profit for the first quarter of 2006 alone, they have given up any sense of acting responsibly in our society. It is not right that people cannot afford to fill up their trucks so that they can go fishing, while at the same time the President of Exxon Mobil, takes home a $300 Million bonus. We should never forget, corporations are constructions of the State, licensed and privileged to do business at the pleasure and under such conditions as the legislators permit. And our legislators are there to make laws and create conditions that benefit all of the people, not just those who can afford their own private lobbyists. Windfall profits such as these, profits that come at the expense of our citizen's standard of living, should be taxed and that tax used to provide a more competitive industrial and manufacturing base for all the people.

Almost half a trillion dollars has disappeared into the Bush administration's war on Iraq. This administration spent $243 Million taxpayer dollars to build 150 clinics in Iraq. While that was a noble intention, the fact of the matter is that those clinics have never been finished, but the $243 Million is gone. It is gone to some corporation's bottom line, while the task remains undone. Not only do our troops continue to die in this war based on false pretenses but this Republican administration has failed us by permitting corporations to squander the people's money in outrageous "no bid, no performance" contracts. It is time for us to look homeward, at rebuilding our nation's roads, schools, bridges, railways, utilities, and communications infrastructure. Its time for us stop creating special projects for special interests that result in unregulated spending of public money for the benefit of corporate profits overseas on projects of dubious nature.

Smart policy decisions require looking at both the short-term intended effects and the long-term unintended consequences. Now, as an unintended consequence of the war in Iraq, our students are going to school in trailers or facilities that are decaying. Our rail lines have fallen into disrepair, and our bridges and roads have been worn out with use and lack of attention. We may, or may not, be safer from attack, but every day there seems to be less industrial infrastructure for them to attack - certainly this is true in Maine.

There is a constant theme that ties the many parts of this perspective together and it is simple:
Today as never before, our nation's social fabric is under assault. Under this radical Republican administration's push for globalization of our markets, under the banner of "free trade", the technology, design, engineering, infrastructure and manufacturing which made our nation great and provided good paying jobs for our Maine citizens are being exported at a record rate. The access to overseas markets, absent the ability to manufacture goods or services for those markets, does nothing but harm the middle class while providing profits for Big Business. This transfer of American jobs and industry is seen in the empty factories which stand in the middle of almost every town in Maine. Instead of good paying jobs manufacturing the things we need, Maine now has become a state where a large population works for low wages and no benefits in big box retail stores distributing low cost goods made in foreign countries. Even the modest earnings from these jobs are now spirited out of our community for the benefit of corporate shareholders providing little in terms of benefit or reinvestment in the local marketplace.

It is the duty of our Senators and Congress to stop this destruction of our way of life. To do the job, we need a Democrat majority in the Senate. That is why I am running, that is why I am asking for your support.