or his supporters you ask …

By

Nita McCann

The Natchez Democrat

Given the thousands of jobs the Miss-Lou has lost in recent years, perhaps it should be no surprise that the average person on the street has a ready answer when asked what he would like to see the president do to boost the economy.

&uot;Create more jobs &045; and better jobs,&uot; said Terry New of Natchez, referring to jobs with living wages.

&uot;Create more jobs and keep the ones we have from going to other countries,&uot; said Richard Green of Natchez.

&uot;If all the jobs go to Mexico and other countries, there’ll be none left for Americans.&uot;

Delanea Pickett, also a Natchez resident, said that for her part, she would like to see tax cuts repealed for the richest Americans.

But which candidate, President George Bush or Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry, has done or will do the most to boost America’s economy? Both Democratic and Republican leaders in Adams County think they know the answer.

Johnny Junkin, a member of the Adams County Republican Executive Committee, credits tax cuts Bush advocated to Congress with &uot;beginning to re-ignite the economy.&uot; While many of those effects haven’t reached the Miss-Lou yet, he said, they will.

&uot;It all boils down to job creation and tax cuts,&uot; Junkin said. &uot;The government doesn’t create jobs &045; the private sector creates jobs.

&uot;That’s the concept &045; to return money to the people who have paid taxes and are the ones creating jobs. If you take money and put it into the hands of bureaucrats and government do-gooders, that doesn’t do anything.&uot;

So when people say Bush’s tax cuts have only benefited the rich, Junkin doesn’t buy it. &uot;Anyone who tells you the tax cuts are only for the upper brackets,&uot; he said, &uot;is ignoring the facts.&uot;

Kirk Bartley said he’s frustrated that Bush hasn’t taken Kerry to task &uot;for getting up there and saying, ‘Tax cuts are for the rich.’&uot;

The reason that is, Bartley said, is because the top 5 percent of earners earn 33 percent of the income but pay 56 percent of taxes, and create jobs besides. Setting up poor versus rich, he said, boils down to Democratic rhetoric.

&uot;I never got a job from a poor man,&uot; Bartley said.

The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, negatively affected the economy, and presidents do not dictate much of how the economy will go, Bartley pointed out.

Still, the Bush tax cuts and low interest rates are boosting the economy and will help boost Natchez’s as well.

&uot;Real income growth since spring 2003 has jumped 4.8 percent,&uot; Bartley said, adding that &uot;industrial production is up over 5 percent, Š interest rates are at a 45-year low.

&uot;We’ve got 1.69 million more employed (people),&uot; he said. &uot;The math is there.&uot;

Republican County Chairwoman Sue Stedman said tax cuts and lower interest rates during the George W. Bush years are what’s needed to spur the economy.

&uot;Interest rates are at the lowest level I can remember,&uot; Stedman said. &uot;And tax cuts put more money in the hands of the people, makes them want to expand their businesses and creates opportunity.

&uot;Our economy turns on supply and demand. When you enable people to increase purchases, that’s going to boost your economy. It’s just basic economics.&uot;

Stedman doesn’t deny the nation and the Miss-Lou have lost jobs in recent years, but she said Bush didn’t create the recession &045; he inherited it. And for the nation as a whole, she said, &uot;the country has come out of it.&uot;

A side note: When it comes to government spending, Junkin said, what Bush has proposed for his second term is &uot;miniscule&uot; compared to that of Kerry’s proposals.

&uot;President Bush has proposed spending more in education, but that goes hand-in-hand with economic development,&uot; Junkin said.

Jane Gardner of the local Democratic group Patriots for a Democratic America said Kerry will improve the economy through such measures as raising the minimum wage to $7 an hour by 2007 and not pandering to the pharmaceutical industry.

&uot;I think Senator Kerry is the best choice for president in all areas, including the economy. The middle class is disappearing in America because the Bush Administration’s policies all cater to the very rich,&uot; Gardner said.

Bush, she said, hurt the economic bottom line by underfunding No Child Left Behind by $27 million and underfunding Pell Grants. Health insurance premiums and the cost of medicines have both risen during the Bush years, she said.

Gardner said Kerry has supported bill to offer tax incentives to companies making energy-efficient cars, lessening dependence on oil, and would fund alternative energy sources.

Gardner also said many increases in spending proposed by Bush for 2005 would be reversed the next year, including spending for education.

In addition, she said, &uot;Bush’s 2005 budget proposes a cut of $93 million for employment service one-stop career centers. &uot;The president released a signed report in early 2004 that promised to create 2.6 million new jobs this year,&uot; she said. &uot;Only 296,000 jobs were created.&uot;

Meanwhile, she said, the United States has spent $138 billion on the war in Iraq.

Casey Hughes, also of Patriots for a Democratic America, pointed out that Kerry proposes to keep middle-class tax cuts while cutting out such benefits for the rich.

&uot;And he will provide tax incentives to companies that will stay here,&uot; Hughes said. &uot;Right now, it is the other way around.&uot;

&uot;We feel Kerry would stand up to large corporations, especially those exporting jobs when people here are adequate for those jobs,&uot; said Morris Walters, chairman of the Adams County Democratic Executive Committee.

Hughes said she applauds Kerry’s proposals regarding health care, from catastrophic coverage to letting the public buy into the same coverage as federal employees to letting people buy into Medicare before age 65.

&uot;Health care is such a mammoth part of our economy,&uot; Hughes said.

Under Kerry’s plan, she said, the federal government would take over providing health care for poorer children. In turn, states would pay for adults who can’t afford health insurance.

&uot;Kerry also wants to let us negotiate with drug manufacturers for reduced rates for everyone,&uot; Hughes said.