NEW UNEMPLOYMENT REPORT SHOWS MORE JOB LOSSES AFTER WEEK OF REPUBLICAN CONVENTION THAT IGNORED ECONOMY
North Carolinians can't afford more of the same

Today's news that the economy lost another 84,000 jobs in August, the eight straight month of job losses, underscored the disconnect North Carolinians saw from the Republican convention this week, where in three days of programming there was no talk of the economic challenges the American people face.

Today's Labor Department report confirmed the eighth straight month of job losses, and that the economy has lost 605,000 jobs so far in 2008. The unemployment rate also ticked up in August to 6.1 percent, from 5.7 percent in July, its highest level since September 2003. [Forbes, 9/05/08]

Yet on the campaign trail, John McCain has repeatedly said that the fundamentals of the economy are strong and that we've made great economic progress under President Bush. Even in his acceptance speech last night from St. Paul, Minnesota, McCain went back to the same old, tired rhetoric of the Bush Administration.

Former Republican speechwriter Michael Gerson told MSNBC that the "policy was the problem…rather typical for a Republican, pretty disappointing," and that it "didn't do a lot of outreach to moderates and independents on the issues that they care about."

David Gergen, who advised Presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton, told CNN that the substantive part of the speech did not work well, and "was mostly a rerun, retread of a lot of old Republican ideas that have brought us to where we are now." As Gergen pointed out, "it's hard to separate yourself out from President Bush when you essentially have the same economic policies as President Bush."

"John McCain and Sarah Palin offer more of the same failed economic policies of the last eight years," said North Carolina Democratic Party Chair Jerry Meek. "You have to wonder if 605,000 jobs lost in the last eight months are what McCain referred to when he said the fundamentals of our economy are strong.”

“With North Carolinians struggling to make ends meet, McCain's plan offers more tax breaks to corporations that ship American jobs overseas while providing no direct relief at all for more than 100 million middle class families,” Meek said. “McCain just doesn't get it. That's why we need to elect Barack Obama president to bring working families the change we need right now."

The McCain-Bush economic plan includes making the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans permanent, $200 billion in tax giveaways to oil companies already making record profits and to big corporations that ship jobs overseas, but not a dime to more than 100 million middle-class families.

To read more about Barack Obama's plan to jumpstart our economy, provide middle class Americans tax relief, create jobs, support small businesses, and address the mortgage crisis, visit http://www.barackobama.com/issues/economy/.

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