Michele Bachmann (R)
Michelle Bachmann is a member of the U.S. House of Representatives representing Minnesota’s Sixth Congressional District. Representative Bachmann is a founder of the Tea Party Caucus. Prior to serving in Congress, Representative Bachmann served in the Minnesota State Senate from 2000-2006. Representative Bachmann holds a J.D. from Oral Roberts University and an L.L.M. from the College of William and Mary.
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Michele Bachmann Responds to President Obama's Jobs Speech
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Michele Bachmann has suspended her bid for the presidency.
Gov. Rick Perry and Rep. Michele Bachmann want the United States to take inspiration from China’s economic model. As the Campaign for America’s Future reported:
Rick Perry warned that China, with an economy that's thriving largely because it's got the manufacturing sector we used to have, risks ending up "on the ash heap of history."
On the other hand, Michelle Bachmann extolled China success as an example of the kind of capitalism we should be practicing. (Again, if we had the manufacturing sector that China has — you know, the one we used to have...)
Check out the entire article and videos here.
In last night’s CNBC Debate, Your Money, Your Vote, the GOP candidates faced off on economic and fiscal issues. What did they have to say about manufacturing issues?
Rick Santorum:
The reason I put forth this manufacturing plan is not just so we can say "Made Here in America," that we can create opportunities for everyone in America, including those that don't have that college skill set, people who built this country, like my grandfather, who was a coal miner. So -- so that is a very important part that Republicans, unfortunately, are not talking about.
We need to talk about income mobility. We need to talk about people at the bottom of the -- of the income scale being able to get necessary skills and rise so they can support themselves and a family. And that's what manufacturing does, and that's why I'm laser-beam focused on it.
Mitt Romney:
I've been in business all my life, 25 years. I consulted to businesses around the world. I've been in business where we competed around the world. I understand free trade; I like free trade. I know that America can compete with anyone in the world. Newt is right about -- about our capacity to manufacture and compete heads-on versus the Chinese.
But I've also seen predatory pricing. I've seen people price their goods at an artificial level for an extended period of time, such that they can drive other people out of business. And then when the other people are out of business, they can raise their prices. That's what China's doing, by holding down the value of their currency.
Let the currencies float. If the U.S. currency, for instance, is being inflated, let it float. Let us float. Let us have a market mechanism determine the value of our respective currencies, as opposed to the Chinese government continuing to put an advantage to their -- their producers. This -- this is no longer a time for us just to sit back and say we're going to let them steal our jobs.
Michele Bachmann:
Well, the Chinese have been bad actors. Recently we found out that they dumped counterfeit computer chips here in the United States. We're using some of those counterfeit computer chips in the Pentagon in some of our weapons systems. This has national security implications.
Newt Gingrich:
... first of all, you've got to decide, how are we going to be more competitive and how are we going to be the lowest cost? And there's a new Boston consultant (ph) that says, by 2015, South Carolina and Alabama will be cheaper than the Chinese coastal provinces to manufacturing.
Second, in terms of dealing with China strategically, I think we're going to have to find ways to dramatically raise the pain level for the Chinese cheating, both in the hacking side, but also on the stealing and intellectual property side. And I don't think anybody today has a particularly good strategy for doing that.
Michele Bachmann participated in the Republican Presidential Forum on Manufacturing in Pella, Iowa yesterday. She had this to say about manufacturing jobs:
In other words, we need the federal government to get off our back when it comes to taxes, you're taxing us to death, you're making us uncompetitive because United States manufacturing is 20% more difficult, less competitive you might say than their nine leading competitors around the world. Next, the regulatory burden is out of control. Steve Jobs recently said this to President Obama, he said you're killing us with regulations. It's true. Tort reform is a must do. It costs our GDP two percent of GDP just to deal with tort reform and lawsuit abuse.
Congresswoman Michele Bachmann recently toured traffic signal manufacturer OMJC Signal Inc. in Waterloo, Iowa. Bachmann said she would support manufacturing jobs by cutting government spending and cutting regulation, and said that doing so would allow OMJC to “grow, grow, grow, grow, grow.” OMJC’s portable, solar-powered signals are used in highway construction projects. CEO Arlen Yost was quoted as saying that his company has benefits greatly from federal infrastructure investment in the midst of the recession, generating 80 percent of its revenue from government contracts.
Michele Bachmann responded to President Obama’s jobs speech today, calling it an expansion of government spending. She also said that the payroll tax cut would take more funds from social security. Instead, Bachmann wants to see massive cuts to the government and a rollback of regulations. She laid out a nine-point proposal to rebuild the economy:
1) Repatriate American business dollars earned from overseas,
2) Massively cut spending and the size of government,
3) Repeal Obamacare, which is the government takeover of America’s healthcare system,
4) Cut taxes, including corporate taxes,
5) Repeal Dodd-Frank,
6) Repeal job killing regulations,
7) Increase exports by finalizing free trade agreements,
8) Spur new investment in America, inspire innovation,
9) Provide job creating energy solutions, including decreased regulations on developing new energy supplies from our abundant domestic energy resources.
The way forward needs to be based on permanent solutions grounded in the private sector. That is how we will once again restore economic prosperity to our country.
You can watch the full speech here.
Eight candidates for the Republican Presidential nomination faced off against each other last night at the Ronald Reagan Library in California. During the 1-hour, 45-minute debate, the candidates all spoke about the need to create jobs and attacked President Obama for failing to do more on that front.
However, not a single candidate made mention of manufacturing jobs. In fact, the debate transcript reveals that there was not a single mention of the word “manufacturing.” The closest any of the candidates got to this topic was when Jon Huntsman was asked if he agreed with Mitt Romney’s plan to label China a currency manipulator. His weak response, which we’ve included below, was not what we should expect from the candidate who wants to be seen as the intellectual alternative:
Q: Governor Huntsman, as you know, Governor Romney's new economic plan calls for the U.S. government to officially label China a currency manipulator, But "The Wall Street Journal" editorial page says such a move would cause a trade war, perhaps.
You're a former ambassador to China. You have served four U.S. presidents. In your view, what does Governor Romney not get about China?
HUNTSMAN: He doesn't get the part that what will fix the U.S- China relationship, realistically, is fixing our core right here at home, because our core is weak, and it is broken, and we have no leverage at the negotiating table.
And I'd have to say, Mitt, now is not the time in a recession to enter a trade war. Ronald Reagan flew this plane. I was in China during the trip in 1984. He went on TV, he spoke to the Chinese people -- I'd love to do that too, in Chinese itself -- and he talked in optimistic, glowing terms.
And it reminds me about this, Ryan, we are the most blue sky, optimistic people on earth. We're going to find solutions, and I have an offer for the two great governors over here.
And I hate to rain on the parade of the Lone Star governor, but as governor of Utah, we were the number one job creator in this country during my years of service. That was 5.9 percent when you were creating jobs at 4.9 percent.
And to my good friend, Mitt, 47 just ain't going to cut it, my friend, not when you can be first. We've got to remember, that to beat President Obama, we have to have somebody who's been in the private sector, understands the fragility of the free market system, has been a successful governor as it relates to job creation, and knows something about this world.
I've lived overseas four times, I've been an ambassador to my country three times, I think I understand that.
The American people are angry at Washington for not doing enough to create jobs. Anybody who wants to run the country needs to listen to what the people want: jobs, jobs, jobs.
Read the transcript here.
