Facts

Jobs

Between January 2001 and January 2003, the nation lost a net 1.6 million jobs and almost 2.3 million private-sector jobs. During that same time period, 1.85 million manufacturing jobs disappeared. The number of Americans who want jobs today but can’t find them—an unacceptable 10 million—will grow even larger, according to Economic Policy Institute economist Lawrence Mishel. The Bush proposal will do very little to expand jobs in 2003, Mishel says, and will actually cause the country to lose 750,000 jobs over the next 10 years.

Trade

Unfair trade deals such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) are a central reason for the explosion of the U.S. trade deficit—the difference between what the nation exports and what it imports. Last year, the United States ran> an all-time record trade deficit in goods> and services of $435 billion, a jump of> almost $47 billion since 2000 and a completely unsustainable 4 percent of gross domestic product. The monthly goods deficit in December was a staggering $48 billion, more than a third higher than the January figure, indicating a steady deterioration throughout 2002—if the December rate continues, next year’s trade deficit will be well more than half a trillion dollars. According to the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council, rising trade deficits have cost 3 million actual and potential U.S. jobs since 1994. To maintain a domestic manufacturing base that ensures national security, the United States must address flawed trade policies that encourage U.S. manufacturers to scour the globe for the lowest wages, the weakest labor laws and the most vulnerable workers, and oppose new trade agreements such as the Free Trade Area of the Americas that harm the interests of America’s workers.

Health care

After the number of uninsured declined in 1999 and 2000, it climbed to 41.2 million in 2001, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Of that 41.2 million, nearly 33 million were from working families and 8.5 million were children. Workers who still have job-based health insurance are in danger of finding it unaffordable as employers increasingly shift the growing costs of coverage to workers— between the spring of 2001 and spring of 2002, a single worker paid an average 27 percent more toward premiums and a family paid an average 16 percent more than the previous year, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research and Education Trust .

The continually increasing cost of prescription drugs has created a crisis for retirees, most acutely for those who work in manufacturing where the number of retirees is growing and the number of active workers is shrinking. The cost of the 50 prescriptions most used by American seniors rose 7.8 percent between January 2001 and January 2002, according to Families USA. Congress must pass a Medicare drug benefit that does not force seniors to give up their trusted doctors to get decent drug coverage, as the Bush administration has proposed, and does not penalize workers whose employers offer benefits.

Retirement security

Because of corporate wrongdoing, the bust of the high-tech bubble and the recession, American stock markets lost approximately $6.6 trillion, or about 40 percent of their value, between the market peak in March 2000 and Jan. 31, 2003. Such stunning losses call for corporate governance reform, strengthened government oversight and the protection of Social Security. According to the U.S. Social Security Administration, Social Security was the only source of income for 18 percent of individuals and married couples with at least one spouse 65 or older in 2000. The Bush administration likely will borrow a minimum of $1.5 trillion from the Social Security Trust Fund before Bush’s 2001 tax cuts begin to expire in 2010, according to the Congressional Budget Office—without setting aside a single penny to strengthen and protect Social Security.

Education

At a time when states are facing budget crises and their education funding is at risk, President George W. Bush’s 2004 fiscal year budget proposal for schools increases their problems by failing to keep pace with inflation and population growth. When all programs under the federal No Child Left Behind Act are added together, Bush’s budget provides $9 billion less than Congress authorized for 2004 and $199 million less than the amount needed to maintain purchasing power at the 2002 level, according to the AFT. While showering tax cuts on the rich, Bush’s budget proposes eliminating after-school programs for 500,000 children.