PRESS RELEASE
Campaign 2004:
It's Down to LaRouche and Kerry
May 1, 2004 (EIRNS)—On Jan. 25, 2004, the eve of the New Hampshire Presidential primary election, Lyndon LaRouche said, at a Manchester, New Hampshire campaign event, "There are only two candidates for the Democratic side, who have any significance whatsoever, for the voters and citizens of the United States: I'm one of them; the other one is obviously Senator Kerry. You can forget the rest."
Immediately following are updates on the policies of Senator Kerry, Lyndon LaRouche, and President George W. Bush on the most important breaking developments.
The Economic Breakdown:
What To Do About It
January 2004
As of early January 2004, the total U.S. indebtedness (government, corporate, household, etc.) was over $36 trillions (reported at end of third quarter 2003) which is three and one-half times the U.S. Gross Domestic Product; meantime, the economic contraction is so severe, that some 2.7 million U.S. manufacturing jobs have been lost in the past 2.5 years, with U.S. domestic consumption at record levels of import-dependence. As of January, the dollar had fallen 22% in one year, relative to the euro.
Bush: In his infrequent remarks on the U.S. economy, the President spoke of its "success," given the blows and pressures against the United States, from such negative impacts on the economy as that of the 9/11 attack, the expenses of waging war on Iraq to "protect freedom," and such factors as OPEC limiting oil output. Treasury Secretary John Snow presented the Bush Administration assertion of the "recovery" underway in 2004, on a Jan. 11 ABC-TV show. Snow said, "We're in a good recovery. And with a recovery, jobs come. That's the nature of a recovery. We have very high productivity in the American economy today, which is slowing the job creation process."
LaRouche: The LaRouche campaign circulated the candidate's economic policy statement, "On the Subject of Tariffs and Trade (Jan. 12, 2004): "The subject of this report, is certain urgently needed, radically new policies, respecting the regulation of tariffs and trade. These will be a crucial part of the changes, in our nation's thinking and practice, which must be made soon, if there is to be any realistic hope of a durable reversal of the presently inevitable, and early bankruptcy of the U.S. economy. This collpase, unless reversed by an early turn to the philosophy or practice of President Franklin Roosevelt in comparable circumstances, would mean a collapse of the present world monetary-financial/economic system into a relatively much deeper trough than during 1928-1933."
Kerry: Tacitly accepting the Administration premise that the economy is working and will continue to work, Kerry focussed his own economic proposals on the need to be "fair" and not serve special, rich interests the way Bush does. Kerry also focussed on Bush's lies about job losses. On Jan. 7, Kerry announced his "10-Point Workers' Bill of Rights," calling for "fairness" in tax policy, in the workplace, in retirement plans, overtime pay, etc. He said he would create a White House Director of Family Economic Security. Kerry denounced Bush for what Kerry called Bush's "Special Interest Bill of Privileges."
In his Jan. 20 reply to Bush's State of the Union address, Kerry said, "This President only hears the special interests and lobbyists; he doesn't see what is happening in our economy." Kerry faulted Bush for standing by, while "we've lost more jobs than at any time since the Great Depression."
March 2004
Internationally, the show-down between the IMF and Wall Street against the nation of Argentina, over unpayable debt obligations, characterized the bankrupt state of the entire financial system. On March 9, the IMF and Argentina made a time-buying agreement, with nothing settled. In the United States, the month of March saw dozens of states, counties and municipalities heading into the final quarter of the fiscal year (ending June 30), with lawmakers in emergency sessions, unable to deal with the financial crisis of how to continue government functions. For example, in January, Pittsburgh was officially declared in "financial distress"—the state terminology for bankruptcy-equivalence.
LaRouche: During the month, LaRouche conferred with state lawmakers in Kentucky (March 8), Pennsylvania (March 29), and elsewhere, on the urgency of understanding the economic crisis. In Harrisburg, LaRouche said at a meeting with Pennsylvania legislators, "We're going to have to react to this crisis, with the mental outlook of Franklin Roosevelt's entry into the White House in 1933.... We would take emergency measures of the type that Roosevelt did—more drastic, but the same principle, in order to make sure that nothing collapses; that pensions are paid, that jobs continue, and essential services are continued. We would then, under bankruptcy reorganization, launch a large-scale infrastructure-building program. What I've shot for, for the next four years—$6 trillion of investment in basic economic infrastructure: the generation and distribution of power; large-scale water systems; large-scale transportation systems, both for communities as well as for the nation. To reactivate the states, with Federal credit to states, for creating public utilities in states, restoring public utilities, with the cooperation of legislation passed by the states.... This will create a core of jobs. The objective is, a 10 million net increase in jobs in the United States, during that period."
Bush: On March 3, Treasury Secretary John Snow, speaking at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., repeated his statements on the U.S. economic recovery. The question was then put to him by a LaRouche Youth Movement member of the audience: "I have come across two great sophists in economic history. One was Adam Smith. The other, sir, is you. My question is, if you were able to speak with President Kirchner of Argentina, right now, what would you tell him? Would you say to him, 'Listen to the banks; pay the debt'; or would you say, 'Save the people!' "
Snow responded: "What would I tell President Kirchner, if I were to talk with him now? The same thing that I have already told him: 'You have made certain arrangements with the IMF, and your creditors. You need to hold up your end, you must see it through to the end, no matter what happens. If you do this, the United States will support you; if not, well, I won't come between Argentina and her creditors.' "
On March 26, Vice-President Dick Cheney addressed the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, boasting of the great success of the Bush tax cuts in getting the economy going, and of the prospect of recovery and new jobs.
Kerry: Senator Kerry and his campaign ignored the stand-off policy crisis in Argentina in March. On March 26, Kerry gave Part One of his three-part "Economic Program"—which he filled out at events later in the week. Part I of Kerry's plan was presented as a jobs program—not by emergency infrastructure programs, but by using tax incentives to keep jobs at home. He wants to eliminate the tax deferment policy for U.S. companies overseas, whereby they can defer taxes until they repatriate the earnings, often avoiding taxes altogether. This tax increase would be matched by a tax cut on businesses that stay in the United States, although he also would raise taxes on the highest brackets.
April 2004
Bush: On April 2, President Bush said, "The economy is strong; it is getting stronger." Speaking at a small-businessmens event at a West Virginia univerity, Bush said, "The tax relief we passed is working." He praised new the Labor Department statistics announced April 2, which claimed that 308,000 new jobs were created in March. On his weekly radio show April 3, Bush called these figures a "powerful confirmation" of his tax-cut plan for recovery.
Bush repeated this theme later in the month—for example, campaigning in Pittsburgh April 19. He appeared with Sen. Arlen Specter (R), and said, "The steel industry is strong. Business investment is rising. Disposable income rising. Inflation is low and home ownership is at an historic high. The tax relief we passed is working."
LaRouche: On April 3, LaRouche issued the statement, "Terror on World-Wide Main Street: President Bush's April 2." It began, "April Fools' Day came a day late this year. On Friday, April 2, the pack of ghouls and goniffs otherwise known as President George W. Bush, Jr.'s campaign strategists, pulled one of the dumbest publicity stunts in modern history, with the way in which they, and Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, orchestrated the fraudulent reports intended to convince the world's dumbest suckers that there is an ongoing uptick in the already stumbling, bumbling, broken-down U.S. economy."
Kerry: The Senator's first reaction to the April 2 Bush jobs statement was, "It's welcome news. I hope it continues." Then, over the weekend, Kerry caught himself, and re-emphasized the massive job losses throughout George W. Bush's Presidency. On the April 3 weekly Democratic radio reply to Bush's radio address, Kerry ignored the Bush jobs hoax report, and repeated his proposal to create jobs by putting penalty taxes on businesses taking jobs overseas, and cutting taxes domestically. He elaborated these themes on April 7, in a webcast from Georgetown University, billed as a major economic policy address, titled, "Fiscal Responsibility: a Stronger America." Under a banner of pledging to create "10 million jobs," Kerry ignored any idea of job-creation through infrastructure or needed economic activity, and instead called for a combination of punitive taxes on jobs shipped overseas, and otherwise, tax cuts for for "99% of American businesses and 98% of Americans," combined with "fiscal discipline." He said, "We will impose spending restraints."
Kerry continued these themes. On April 17, he spoke at a University of Pittsburgh rally, delivering his message, that "fiscal responsibility" by government is the key to economic recovery.
In a speech in Michigan April 28, billed as his third major policy address of the campaign, Kerry said, "Manufacturing should not—and must not—be a ghost of America's past." In order to bring it to life, he unveiled his plan to for government-backed investment to help create manufacturing businesses: a grand total of $200 million dollars during a Presidential term!
LaRouche vs. Kerry: On April 1, at a campaign event at Howard University in Washington, D.C., a Howard alumna asked Kerry, "From my travels and reading the foreign press from Russia, Europe, etc., it is clear that we are facing the end of the dollar system and Greenspan and his friends are just faking the figures. I have heard your plans for tax cuts, tuition credits, etc. You may be well-intentioned, but unless you address the collapse of the financial system, all of this will be moot. Several people have been calling for a new financial architecture and to look at the FDR precedent to protect the 'forgotten man'.... People are suffering. So I wanted to come here today to hear what you had to say, although my candidate is Lyndon LaRouche." To which Kerry replied, "As soon as you said the phrase, 'New Financial Architecture,' I knew whom you represented."
Kerry then said that he didn't agree that the economy is in a depression, or that things are as bad as the questioner portrayed. However, he said, the world economy faces many dangers and it would be his job to protect the United States from these dangers. "I, of course, will call together all of the greatest minds to work on these problems. For example, I am already working with Robert Rubin." As of May 1, the Kerry campaign asked Warren Buffett to consult on economics; Buffett was the Co-Chairman of the Arnold Schwarzenegger campaign, along with George Schultz.
Southwest Asia
Iraq Warfare Crisis
On April 15, the Bush Administration announced that 20,000 military personnel scheduled for return to the United States would be retained in Iraq for at least 90 days, or longer. During April, the United States lost 140 troops in fighting in Iraq—many more than were killed in the March-April 2003 blitz that toppled Saddam Hussein. All told, nearly 750 U.S. soldiers had died as of the end of April 2004, and more than 15,000 Iraqis, including civilians.
Bush: The President said on April 15, "We are not going to be run out" of Iraq; and during subsequent days, repeated his theme of "staying the course."
Kerry: On April 13, John Kerry's guest column in the Washington Post supported Bush's "staying the course," but criticized the means. The piece, titled, "A Strategy for Iraq," said that, "If our military commanders request more troops, we should deploy them." He called for seeking more "international support," saying that, "We should urge NATO to create a new out-of-area operation for Iraq under the lead of a U.S. commander. This would help us obtain more troops from major powers." He defined the mission in Iraq, as to "build a stable, peaceful and pluralistic socierty. No matter who is elected president in November."
LaRouche: On April 17, LaRouche issued a strategic document, "Southwest Asia: The LaRouche Doctrine," saying, "The immediate subject of my present policy-statement here, is the task of successfully and quickly extracting U.S. military forces back to safety, out of the hopeless Hell-hole of the presently disintegrating U.S. military occupation of Iraq."
LaRouche issued an elaborated 10-point plan, covering the relevant military and economic development policies.
On April 24, he taped a video interview on this with EIR-Arabic journalist Hussein Askary, for circulation internationally in both English and Arabic.
On April 30, LaRouche conducted a webcast from Washington, D.C., "The Keys To Peace: The LaRouche Doctrine."
Israeli/Palestinian Crisis
Bush: On April 14, President Bush announced his support for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's scheme to permanently retain arrogated Palestinian lands, and to refuse the right of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to return to their land. This drastic change of 40-years' American policy and snubbing of 40 years of UN resolutions, quickly turned into an embarrassing failure; on May 2, Prime Minister Sharon's own Likud party rejected his scheme in a referendum.
Kerry: Kerry immediately backed Bush's endorsement of Sharon's "disengagement" plan, saying "What's important, obviously, is the security of the state of Israel, and that's what the Prime Minister [of Israel] and the President, I think, are trying to address.
LaRouche: The candidate's April 17 strategic document, "Southwest Asia: The LaRouche Doctrine," stated on the Israel-Palestine conflict: "The effort to establish such a zone of mutual security in Southwest Asia, would fail, unless the U.S.A. also took the boldest action toward bringing about the realization of an unconditional U.S. commitment to immediate negotiation of a two-state peace-agreement along long-standing, predetermined lines, between the Palestinian and Israeli states. No one in Southwest Asia or much of the world besides, would believe the United States to be an honorable party unless the United States came down hard, without its present and customary equivocation, on the long-overdue establishment of a kind of Palestinian-Israeli peace consistent in fact with the principled precedent of the 1648 Treaty of Westphalia."
On April 17, Israeli helicopter gunships assassinated Abdel Aziz Rantisi, the leader of Hamas, the Palestinian organization whose former head was Sheik Ahmed Yassin, who was killed March 22 by Israeli forces.
Bush: The Bush Administration issued a standard statement of "concern" over the Rantisi killing.
Kerry: On the April 18 NBC TV "Meet the Press" show, when asked if he supported Rantisi's assassination, Kerry said, "I believe Israel has every right in the world to respond to any act of terror against it." He said that Hamas "has had years to make up its mind to take part in a peaceful process. They refuse to...and I support Israel's efforts to try to separate itself and to try to be secure."
LaRouche: LaRouche reiterated his denunciation of the support given to Ariel Sharon, saying in an interview April 24, "What Sharon is doing in the Middle East, and with the consent and backing of the United States President, and Cheney, especially: This is mass murder. This is Hitler-like crimes. And you have a long period of a long war of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory. And you [commit] cruel, monstrous oppression, actions which are comparable to those of Hitler, perpetrated in occupied territory. You create a general acceleration of deep simmering hatred, which has been going on for generations."
