Kerry Outlines His Jobs Program in Swing Through Midwest

[Freddie Stubbs]

By JODI WILGOREN

Published: April 29, 2004


ANN ARBOR, Mich., April 28 — Wrapping up a three-day swing through a swath of the country that is both economically sinking and able to swing November's election, Senator John Kerry vowed Wednesday to revive the moribund manufacturing sector with high-tech, high-skilled, high-wage "jobs of the future."

"I believe that the best days of the industrial Midwest are not behind us; I think they're ahead of us with the right leadership," Mr. Kerry told a crowd of several hundred here at Washtenaw Community College. "We just need to harness the skills, energy and forward thinking in this room and on factory floors all across America."

Billed as his last of three major economic speeches since Mr. Kerry locked up the Democratic presidential nomination, the 45-minute presentation revisited proposals he has been promoting daily on the campaign trail, with two new ideas. He said he would create what he called Manufacturing Business Investment Corporations, modeled on the Small Business Investment Companies, to provide venture capital, and add $200 million in government money to the Manufacturing Extension Partnership and to the Advanced Technology Program, which help speed adoption of new technologies.

He argued that the region's economic problems need not be permanent. "I believe this is a setback if we treat it properly, and just that, a setback," Mr. Kerry said. "There's no reason to abandon ship."

more: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/29/politics/campaign/29KERR.html