Fisking Kerry from Debate. Question 6

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Question #6

BARROW: Senator Kerry, how can the U.S. be competitive in manufacturing given -- in manufacturing, excuse me -- given the wage necessary and comfortably accepted for American workers to maintain the standard of living that they expect?

KERRY: Jane, there are a lot of ways to be competitive.

Look at my well run campaign. It's a good bad example.

And unfortunately again I regret this administration has not seized them and embraced them. Let me give you an example. There is a tax loophole right now. If you're a company in St. Louis working, trying to make jobs here, there is actually an incentive for you to go away. You get more money, you keep more of your taxes by going abroad. I'm going to shut that loophole, and I'm going to give the tax benefit to the companies that stay here in America to help make them more competitive. Secondly, we're going to create a manufacturing jobs credit and a new jobs credit for people to be able to help hire and be more competitive here in America.

People who actually know economics have fisked this better than I can.

Third, what's really hurting American business more than anything else is the cost of health care. Now, you didn't hear any plan from the president, because he doesn't have a plan to lower the cost of health care. Five million Americans have lost their health care; 620,000 Missourians have no health care at all; 96,000 Missourians have lost their health care under President Bush. I have a plan to cover those folks. And it's a plan that lowers cost for everybody, covers all children. And the way I pay for it -- I'm not fiscally irresponsible -- is I roll back the tax cut this president so fiercely wants to defend, the one for him and me and Charlie.

What is it with all the "I have a plan" stuff that night. Geesh.

I think you ought to get the break. I want to lower your cost to health care. I want to fully fund education, No Child Left Behind, special-needs education. And that's how we're going to be more competitive, by making sure our kids are graduating from school and college. China and India are graduating more graduates in technology and science than we are.

How exactly are you going to change our popular culture in our schools to convince our kids to buckle down, work hard, and to be good productive geeks? By your good example, get rich the old fashioned way, marriage?

Besides, what evidence have you that increasing funding to our schools actually produces results? I know it is gospel in liberal camps, but so was welfare until reform happened.

We've got to create the products of the future. That's why I have a plan for energy independence within 10 years. And we're going to put our laboratories and our colleges and our universities to work. And we're going to get the great entrepreneurial spirit of this country, and we're going to free ourselves from this dependency on Mideast oil. That's how you create jobs and become competitive.