DDN Editorial "Kerry's talk on jobs misleading"

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Sen. John Kerry and his supporters harp — especially in Ohio — on the loss of American jobs to foreign workers during the Bush presidency.

"We’re going to change that," he says.

The drumbeat continued at the party convention last week and here in the state over the weekend. It is campaign baloney.

The loss of those jobs is not President George W. Bush’s fault. It results from the birth of the global marketplace. To the degree the losses have been fostered by U.S. policies, those policies — favoring free trade — have been adopted on a bipartisan basis with the full support of Sen. Kerry. He is a self-described free-trader.

This is the most truth we've had from the editorial board in regards to Mr. Kerry in quite some time.

The President of the United States has no ability to create or destroy jobs. The best that he can hope to do is provide the economy with enough stability that businesses thrive. Blogger Bill Hobbs has noted that small businesses (LLCs specifically) have grown at an amazing rate in this economy. The problem with the numbers that Kerry has been tossing around is that they do not include the folks who are now self-employed. My initial web search was unsuccessful for finding statistics regarding Ohio specifically, but I have no reason to believe that Ohio has bucked this particular trend.

If anybody is to blame for losing jobs in a state it is the governor and the state legislature. Ohio ranks 47th for its business tax climate. We have a corporate income tax rate that is the 14th highest in the nation (same source). The President has nothing to do with either of those statistics.

Mr. Kerry says he's going to change that. It is misleading.