Over 2.7 million manufacturing jobs have been lost since President Bush took office. John Kerry will save jobs by ending the unpatriotic practice of U.S. corporations moving offshore simply to avoid paying their fair share of our nation’s tax burden.  To create new manufacturing jobs Kerry will provide new tax breaks to manufacturers who produce goods and create jobs in the United States. He will provide relief for manufacturers that provide quality health care and retirement. John Kerry will strongly enforce trade laws to assure that American industries are on a level playing field with our trading partners. To guarantee that American manufacturing will be strong in the future, John Kerry will invest in research and development, give tax incentives to help industries upgrade, and work to assure a highly qualified workforce.

The Bush economic approach has left states with nearly $90 billion in budget deficits, forcing layoffs, education cuts, and tax increases – all of which hurt economic growth. John Kerry will create a new "State Tax Relief and Education Fund" that will help states so they don’t have to make cuts that hurt our economy with an additional $25 billion over two years. This fund will stop the education cuts, tuition increases and tax and fee raising that are inhibiting our economic growth and causing layoffs. Kerry will, also, give additional money to states by fully funding the No Child Left Behind education law and special education.

John Kerry has the courage to take on the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. However, he believes that we should keep the middle class tax cuts that Democrats fought for in 2001 and 2003. Specifically, he wants to protect the increases in the child tax credit, the reduced marriage penalty and the new tax bracket that helps people save $350 on their first level of income.  He strongly disagrees with Democrats who want to repeal these tax cuts because it would cost a typical middle-class family with two children an additional $2,000. These families are often already struggling with higher health care costs and higher state and local taxes. In fact, John Kerry wants to give more tax breaks to the middle class with new tax credits on health care and college tuition. These tax cuts are part of his plan to restore the economy and cut the budget deficit in half in four years.

Over the past two years, the cost to attend a public four-year college has increased by 10 percent, and the cost to attend a public two-year college has increased by 8 percent. Students are leaving college with more debt than ever before and many students are dropping out altogether because they cannot pay the bills. John Kerry believes that all Americans deserve the opportunity to attend college. It is critical to their future and to our nation’s economy. Those who have a college degree will make on average twice as much over the course of their lifetime and seventy percent more every year than someone who does not have a college degree.

John Kerry’s will create a new "College Opportunity Tax Credit" that will make four years of college affordable for all Americans.  He will provide a credit for each and every year of college on the first $4,000 paid in tuition – the typical tuition for public colleges. The credit will provide 100% of the first $1000 and 50% on the rest. It will also make this credit refundable so that it helps the most vulnerable students. John Kerry has also proposed a "Service for College" plan, which will provide the cost of four years at a public college to young people in exchange for serving their communities and country in national service for two years. His plan says to all students, if you work hard and give to your country, your country will make sure you can afford a college education no matter who you are.

Our economy does well when our workers are doing well. Today, Americans who are working hard and playing by the rules are faced with higher health care costs, higher state taxes, higher college tuition and limited job opportunities. At the same time, many corporations are bending the rules and shirking their fair share of the burden - and the Bush Administration is rewarding those who break the rules with lucrative government contracts. Kerry will fight for a government that rewards those who work hard and play by the rules and challenges those who don’t. He will restore investor confidence with strong enforcement by the Securities and Exchange Commission and he will stop corporations from keeping bank Accounts in Countries like Bermuda to Avoid Paying Taxes.

John Kerry believes that ensuring there is a fair playing field for workers is important to a strong economy. He supports increasing the minimum wage and indexing it to inflation. He will improve workplace health and safety while fighting for fair overtime rules and a worker’s right to join a union. He also believes that workers need more protections against corporate fraud so they don’t lose their lifetime savings because they are working hard for the wrong company.

By borrowing from future generations to give tax relief to those who need help the least, George W. Bush’s economic policies have, for the first time in history, forced the federal government to spend $1 billion more EACH DAY than it takes in. John Kerry believes that we need a smaller and smarter government that wastes less money. He has put forward a sensible plan that will at least cut the deficit in half in his first term, while investing in economic growth and investing in workers. To restore fiscal discipline and strengthen our economy, Kerry will repeal Bush’s special tax breaks for Americans who make more than $200,000. He will cut excesses in government and rein in out of control spending. And he will implement the McCain-Kerry commission on corporate welfare to undermine the special interest groups that make it hard to cut tax loopholes and pork barrel spending projects.

John Kerry supports a proposal that will allow undocumented immigrants to legalize their status if they have been in the United States for a certain amount of time, have been working, and can pass a background check. This makes sense for the economy, provides fairness to people in our communities who have worked hard and paid taxes, and will also allow us to strengthen our homeland security by bringing undocumented workers out of the shadows and into the light of greater accountability.

Women still earn, on average, only 73 cents for every dollar earned by men.  John Kerry believes that we must expand opportunities for women and work to make equal pay for equal work a reality not a slogan. He would start by improving enforcement and disclosure about payment practices.

As the top Democrat on the Senate Small Business Committee, John Kerry has been hailed as the Senate's leader on initiatives that assist women-owned businesses – beginning with the Boston Center for Women and Enterprise, a national model Kerry championed.  He has been at the forefront of defending affirmative action, helping women-owned businesses in government contracting and making start-up and venture capital available to woman entrepreneurs.  As a candidate, John Kerry has appointed women to the top tiers of his campaign, just as a Kerry Administration will have women of all colors and from all backgrounds in positions of authority across the federal government.  And as President he will work to expand the number of women-owned businesses and eliminate the glass ceiling that has kept talented women out of the top positions in government and corporate America.