"Timken Layoffs Potentially Devastating " (Bush visited last year)

"CANTON, Ohio -- Timken is slashing a quarter of its employees in Canton, and as workers facing layoffs consider their future, the ripple effect is already beginning.

"How can I afford to get married, afford a house payment, maybe kids, if I don't have a job?" said Timken employee Shawn Higgins.

Timken is Canton's biggest employer, and it is reported that 1,300 jobs are to be cut...

Ironically, it was a little more than a year ago when President George W. Bush visited Timken's world headquarters heralding his tax cut and job creation plan. Now this very company's job cuts will be a major blow to the economy in Canton."

From:

http://www.newsnet5.com/news/3310895/detail.html

and tell them all about how the economy is improving because of his taxcuts

they obviously didn't understand the message the first time...

meanwhile...

‘A Serious Jobs Crisis’
In his State of the Union address, George W. Bush pledged to help Americans gain the skills they need to find work, but critics wonder where those jobs will come from
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4017131/site/newsweek/
By Jennifer Barrett
Newsweek

Updated: 6:01 p.m. ET May 17, 2004Jan. 21 - When President George W. Bush talked about the economy in his State of the Union Address, he sounded upbeat and optimistic. “The economy is strong, and growing stronger,” he said, citing the 8.2 percent economic growth in the third quarter of 2003 and all-time-high home ownership. “Manufacturing activity is increasing. Inflation is low. Interest rates are low. Exports are growing. Productivity is high. And jobs are on the rise,” he added.

But for many Americans, the number of new jobs isn’t rising fast enough. AFL-CIO president John Sweeney complained Tuesday that, despite signs of economic growth, “good jobs are scarce, unemployment is high and working families are struggling to pay the bills.”

---snip---

How serious is the jobs crisis?
We have lost 2.3 million net jobs lost overall, since Bush took office. We have around 15 million people who are either unemployed and want to work or are working part-time because they can’t get full-time jobs. That number really hasn’t changed much in the last several months. We have substantial job loss and a lot of people who are unemployed, or underemployed, or who have dropped out.

Maybe Paul O'Neill could bail him out of this one.

While he is selling his permanent tax cut policy he should tell these people who participated in one of his many photo-op moments, perhaps in good faith, how their job loss is pure "genius of capitalism". Maybe that will make them feel better knowing that the people who are closing this plant heartily support his economic policies.

imaginable - but so far haven't been able to find it in his speeches. He thought he heard this on TV coverage of bush's visit to Topeka yesterday. If it's true, it just FIGURES!

"...the great thing about Topeka is that people know how to salute the flag and say things are gonna get better."

Did he really say this? We haven't found it yet, and tried googling it, but no dice. My husband still insists he heard it somewhere.

I was stopped in my tracks, though. "...salute the flag and say things are gonna get better." Is THAT his recipe for a better America???

I'd love to find proof of that quote. It goes into my "great quotes" collection if it's true.

just like Arbusto and Harken!

Bush is getting the blame. You can help blame him if you want. Edit: forgot the link. Here you go.
http://www.timesreporter.com/browser_detect.php

I've been very worried about Ohio. Could you put up the link to that poll?

reading...

How exactly could the unions be to blame? Fascists.

Corporate press releases always say its the union's fault. People usually don't look beyond that. Last year when Bush was here, the company was a model for American enterprise. This year it's no longer profitable. This is so much bull. The company is still making bundles of money. They can make more outsourcing. It's all about greed.

Not that I think that unions are infallible, mind you--our teacher's union here in Chicago totally hosed its membership in the last contract on the subject of class size, and even tried to cover it up. In addition, the HMO co-pay doubled. Of course, I guess they had to give something up to secure the things they did get from the city.

Don't get me started on education...

Even so, bush wins this one. As he should. All roads lead to Rome... All of this stems directly from HIM.

It might be fun if we could start generating this meme about - don't let bush visit your factory! He came here and a year later they're laying people off! THAT would be a good seed to plant in the back of people's minds.

And by the way, welcome to DU!

Who or what do you blame for the loss of Timken jobs?

President Bush 30.89 % (80)
The company 15.44 % (40)
Global economy 11.97 % (31)
The union 24.71 % (64)
All of the above 15.06 % (39)
Other 1.93 % (5)
Total votes: 259

A Bush defender said that Bush shouldn't be blamed for the actions of the "invisible hand of the economy."

Another Farker said that if Bush was going to take credit when the economy improves, then he's going to have to take the blame when "the invisible hand of the economy gives him the finger."

:evilgrin:

Not scrubbed yet from the White House's site.



President George W. Bush discusses jobs and the economy at the Timken Company in Canton, Ohio, April 24, 2003. In the following month, the President signed the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003. "This law reflects a common sense economic principle: The best way to have more jobs is to help the people who create new jobs, and those are the small business owners of America," said the President during the signing ceremony.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/economy/photoessay2/08.html

that this picture and the fact that the plant is closing needs to me made into a commercial. If the DNC had a spine, they would have an add running in OH by tonight. And let me tell you, I know Canton. Timken was a source of pride in the Canton area. This would be the same as Goodyear closing in Akron, or White Castle closing in Columbus. This is just going to devistate Canton. I'm concerned because I think the next to go in Canton is the Hoover Co.

And people said "get over it, how much harm could he do in 4 years".

It could be that they had plans to close at the very time the speech was being made.

England, South Africa, and Brazil. I wonder if they had lay-offs as well?

Where the Smirk goes, disaster follows.