McCain's Failed Record of Outsourcing, Job Losses Wrong for MI
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: DAN FAROUGH
Wednesday, May 7, 2008 (517) 643-2949
McCain’s Failed Record of Outsourcing, Job Losses Wrong for MI
Citizens rally as McCain holds Town Hall at Oakland University
ROCHESTER – Workers harmed by outsourcing and bad trade deals at a rally today blasted John McCain and his failed economic record of job losses, bringing attention to the Senators support for policies that hurt working families. Organized by citizens’ watchdog groups, the rally was held as McCain hosted a Town Hall meeting at Oakland University.
“John McCain has a lengthy record of supporting policies that have shipped hundreds of thousands of Michigan jobs to other countries and pushed Michigan into an economic crisis,” Progress Michigan Executive Director Dan Farough said. “Sen. McCain’s Town Hall is a smoke-and-mirrors show to hide his record of supporting failed policies that have hurt Michigan. Sen. McCain can run, but he can’t hide from the fact that he supports policies that have led to the outsourcing of hundreds of thousands of good-paying Michigan jobs.”
McCain’s record includes supporting failed foreign trade policies that have led to job losses and the outsourcing of U.S. jobs to China and other countries. He has also supported policies against workplace safety and improved wages for workers, while rewarding companies that send jobs to other countries with tax breaks.
Last month, McCain demonstrated he was totally out of touch with working families in Michigan and across the nation when he said the country had made great economic progress during the past seven years of the Bush administration.
“You could make an argument that there’s been great progress economically over that period of time.” McCain told Bloomberg News in a report on April 17.
Yet under the Bush White House, Michigan has had the nation’s highest unemployment rate, gas prices hit all-time highs, the dollar has lost value against foreign currencies and economists across the board are warning the economy is in a recession. Michigan lost more than 375,000 jobs since Bush-McCain economic policies went into effect in 2001 – 175,000 of them from outsourcing and bad trade deals with China, Mexico and other nations, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
“What planet is Sen. McCain on,” asked Farough “Supporting tax breaks for companies that outsource Michigan jobs is terrible for our workers and their families. Sending jobs to China may be popular in McCain’s home state of Arizona, but its killing Michigan. Leaders, like McCain should fight for our jobs, not push policies that send them overseas.” ###