Retooling Industry - What the Candidates have said

This one is a very tough topic to get a handle on because each of the candidates has a different perspective on what they mean by RETOOLING. Below you will find what each candidate has said about this and in some cases how they plan to pay for it, in other cases it is not much more than a promise of what they intend to do but not anything on how they plan to do it. You will have to decide where you fall in this tangled web. I will also offer some questions you might want to ask or some observations on what is missing or potential pitfalls because of what they have left out of the statements.


What Senator Obama has said:

Obama and Biden will increase fuel economy standards 4 percent per year while providing $4 billion for domestic automakers to retool their manufacturing facilities in America to produce these vehicles.

• Where is the $4 billion dollars coming from?
• Retool to what?
• He is also talking about being oil independent which could mean some different type of fuel or vehicle but what kind?
  

We can't afford more of the same timid politics when the future of our planet is at stake. We are already breaking records with the intensity of our storms, the number of forest fires, and the periods of drought.By 2050, famine could force more than 250 million from their homes. And if we do nothing, sea levels will rise high enough to swallow large portions of every coastal city and town.This bipartisan legislation establishes an economy-wide cap on greenhouse gas emissions. It helps states, cities, and towns invest in technologies to reduce energy bills for homeowners, increase energy efficiency, construct green buildings, and expand public transit. It invests in green technology to help our automakers to retool and our fossil-fuel industries to become clean. The bill provides real financial relief to working families. Importantly, the bill restores our great nation's international leadership role, while including provisions to ensure that all major emitting nations also take serious action to solve this global problem.

• The global warming folks have been saying this for over 30 years and it has yet to manifest anything substantial to support their claims. When a hurricane hits an unpopulated area nothing is said even if it is a category 5 or several category 3, 4, etc. It is only a disaster when it hits a populated area but that doesn't mean the storms are any worse than before only that this time they hit a populated area.
• In 1980 these same claims were made that said the ice caps would melt and New York would be washed away but here is is 2008 and New York still stands and not a sign of the oceans raising even an inch.
• The last time I checked the stores were filled with food and the farms were producing plenty of food to feed us even with the periodic floods and freezes that ruin a portion of some crops. I do see that at some point in time due to the growing population of the world that we will need to expand into unoccupied areas of the planet in order to create additional farms in order to supply more food to accomodate the new population numbers. So far the only folks that are starving are the folks living in areas that are torn by war and have an ongoing genocide but that has nothing to do with global warming it has to do with greed and lust for power.
• Again there are lots of promises here but no indication of where the money is coming from in order to pay for these wide ranging programs.
• Note that this is a typical political ploy to first instill fear of something bad happening if you don't do this thing right away so the politician can sway your vote without ever telling you how he came to this conclusion or how he plans to accomplish this thing and pay for it.
• Again there is no indication here of just how this bill is going to provide aid to families, how it will be paid for or how it will improve our international standing. Someone should remind Senator Obama that he is running for President of the United States and not President of the World as this bill seems to indicate.

And so today, I'm announcing a manufacturing agenda that will lift up hardworking families, strengthen innovative companies, and foster our common prosperity. The first part of this agenda is investing in clean energy - because that isn't just how we'll get gas prices under control, combat climate change, and free ourselves from the tyranny of oil; it's also how we'll expand American manufacturing, create quality jobs, and grow our economy.That's why I'll invest $150 billion over the next ten years in the green energy sector. This will create up to five million new green jobs - and those are jobs that pay well and can't be outsourced. And I'll be a President who finally keeps the promise that's made year after year after year by providing domestic automakers with the funding they need to retool their factories and make fuel-efficient and alternative fuel cars. My own state of Illinois is home to the oldest, continually operating Ford assembly plant outside Michigan, so I understand why it's so important to bring our auto industry into the 21st Century. And that's what we'll do when I'm President.

• Again promising to invest another $150 billion dollars but no indication of where this money is coming from.
• Hmm, tyranny of oil companies ... the last time I checked the oil companies that are American owned only control about 2% to 6 % of the world's oil supply. Also, these companies are owned by the shareholders which are you and me. Your 401k is investing in these companies so you get part of those profits anytime you get a check from your 401K.
• Someone needs to remind Senator Obama that the President does not control the purse strings of the federal government, that is the province of the U.S. Congress so stating that he will fulfill all of his promises is massive misrepresentation of the facts and ment to give you a false sense of what his power actually is. I suspect that Obama does not know just what the limits of the President's powers are.
• It is not the job of the federal government to bring any industry into the 21st or any other century that is the decision for each individual company to decide for themselves.
• I am beginning to wonder if Senator Obama has ever read the Constitution or knows anything about the country he wishes to be the president of? He is beginning to sound like someone who wishes to rule and not govern at all.

There are few more important unions in this country than the UAW. You created the auto industry. You secured good-paying jobs for generations of workers. And you built the American middle class - the backbone of our economy. So I know someone once said what's good for GM is good for America. But it's time we also recognized that what's good for the UAW is good for America.We need to help you compete with workers around the world by helping the auto industry compete with car companies all over the world. Yes, that means raising our fuel standards so we can make the fuel-efficient cars that are the future of your industry. But it also means giving you the help you need to retool your plants so we can build these cars right here in America. And if we can do that, we'll create thousands and thousands of jobs in the process.

• The UAW did NOT create the auto industry, Henry Ford did when he first came up with the assembly line concept to manufacture his first car. Other intrepeneur's that came after him followed his lead and the industry was born. I think that Senator Obama needs to go back to school because he obviously knows nothing about the industrial revolution.
• The UAW also did not build the American Middle Class because they were well established long before that organization ever came into being. The only thing the UAW did was to organize the workers into a group that finally was able to pressure employers into paying them a decent wage instead of sweatshop wages and for that we all owe them a debt of grattitude but let's not go overboard here. What Obama is doing here is smoozing the UAW workers so he can get their votes and the support of the union.
• Why does the federal government need to get involved with the building and retooling of privately owned manufacturing plants?
• What you are looking at here is an attempt to subsidize another industry, we all have seen what it did to the farming industry and how much it increased the national debt. It is looking more and more like an Obama administration is looking to absorb every industry into the federal government so they will have complete control over the population so we will no longer be free to choose when and where we work, who our doctor is and when we can see them, maybe even where we are to live and what if any car we can own. This is a very dangerous path to be going down.
• Exactly what jobs is he talking about because if there is a union then you can't get hired unless you are a union member and you can't get into the union unless you have a job. The classic catch 22.
  

The first step in doing this is to phase out a carbon-based economy that's causing our changing climate. As President, I will set a hard cap on all carbon emissions at a level that scientists say is necessary to curb global warming - an 80% reduction by 2050. To ensure this isn't just talk, I will also commit to interim targets toward this goal in 2020, 2030, and 2040. These reductions will start immediately, and we'll continue to follow the recommendations of top scientists to ensure that our targets are strong enough to meet the challenge we face. In addition to this cap, all polluters will have to pay based on the amount of pollution they release into the sky. The market will set the price, but unlike the other cap-and-trade proposals that have been offered in this race, no business will be allowed to emit any greenhouses gases for free. Businesses don't own the sky, the public does, and if we want them to stop polluting it, we have to put a price on all pollution. It's time to make the cleaner way of doing business the more profitable way of doing business.There is no doubt that this transition will be costly in the short-term. To make it easier, we will provide assistance to Americans who need help with their energy bills. We'll help families make their homes more energy efficient, and we'll help workers and factories retool their facilities so they can compete and thrive in a clean energy economy. And once we make America more energy efficient and start producing more renewable energy, we will save money and bring energy costs down in the long-run. But we must act now.Once we make dirty energy expensive, the second step in my plan is to invest $150 billion over the next decade to ensure the development and deployment of clean, affordable energy.

• One wonders what data the Senator is using to determine that any carbon based economy is creating any climate change at all. There are an equal or greater number of scientists and studies that profoundly disagree with this whole concept.
• The President does not have the authority to set caps on anything only the Congress has that power. Once again this guy is displaying his complete lack of knowledge on what the President can and cannot do.
• Again he cannot implement anything immediately because it has to go through the legislative process in the Congress.
• Just what scientists is this guy talking about because most of the scientists in this field don't buy this global warming theory. This arguement looks to be based on the fact that he wants to spend trillions of dollars on more government programs that don't work. He would be on better ground if he just based this on health concerns instead of this global warming theory.
• The most destructive pollution does not go into the sky but seeps into our groundwater. California tried this same ploy with the Clean Air Initiative and what happened is that they beaurocracy built a multi million dollar office in Orange County with fines levied against small and medium sized businesses. The large defense plants moved out of state and left 500,000 workers unemployed and the big polluters remained untouched. Also the air in the sky is free and no one owns it. The government controls the airspace but nothing else, you cannot own the air nor the clouds in the sky.
• Once again Senator Obama is giving away money to poor folks and promising to spend billions in what appears to be an attempt to initiate some kind of control of a private industry but never attempts to tell us where the money is coming from nor does he even address the issue.
  

When I arrived in the U.S. Senate, I wanted to do whatever I could to make real progress toward energy independence. I reached across the aisle to pass a law that will give more Americans the chance to fill up their cars with clean biofuels. I passed a law that will fuel the research needed to develop a car that will get 500 miles to the gallon. I even voted for an energy bill that was far from perfect because I was able to ensure that it contained some real investments in renewable sources of energy. And I've fought to eliminate the tax giveaways to oil companies that were slipped into that bill - oil companies that have spent half a billion dollars lobbying Congress in the last ten years while their profits have risen to record highs.And I did something else. I knew that America hadn't raised the fuel standards for our cars in twenty years. Even though we had the technology on the shelf. Even though Japanese car companies that make more fuel-efficient cars are running circles around our own car companies. Even though we send hundreds of millions of dollars a day to some of the world's most dangerous regimes for their oil.So I decided to try something new. I reached across the aisle to come up with a plan to raise our fuel standards that won support of lawmakers who had never supported raising fuel standards before. And I didn't just give a speech about it in front of some environmental audience in California. I went to Detroit, I stood in front of a group of automakers, and I told them that when I am President, there will be no more excuses - we will help them retool their factories, but they will have to make cars that use less oil.

• I could find no bill that Obama created that passed nor did any of them indicate that the bill would finance research for a vehicle that would get 500 miles to the gallon of anything. The only bills he sponsored that deal with this are linked here. All of these bills are still stuck in committee. H.R.1506, S.768, S.875
• Actually oil company profits are in the 6% range which is far below what the rest of the oil industry and other industry profit margins are. In fact most of that profit is used to fight legal battles with environmental groups that are determined to prevent any drilling of any kind anywhere. Another large portion of the profit is spent in research and exploration. What is left is around 1 to 2%. The actual profit the oil companies make at the pump is around 6 cents per gallon while the government takes down around 18 cents per gallon. I would think that Senator Obama would be more angry at the high tax at the pump than he was at the profit the oil company makes which is 1/3rd what the government makes.
• Japanese cars are better at gas mileage than American cars because they are lighter and when you get in a wreck on the highway your rate of serious injury is 5 times that of an American car. Gas mileage without safety is not worth it.
• The federal government has no business paying for a private industry to retool their manufacturing plants. Is Obama also going to pay for the retooling of every other industry in this country as well?
• Where is the money coming from?
• Once the government gets their foot into the door of a private company it is only a matter of time before they start telling that company how to build their product and then what product they can build and who they can hire and then what they can pay them. This is a really BAD idea.

Provisions from S. 767, the bipartisan Fuel Economy Reform Act introduced by Senators Obama, Lugar, Biden, Specter, Bingaman, and Smith, were included in the bill approved by the Commerce Committee today. The legislation requires automakers to achieve significant annual improvements in fuel economy. The legislation also authorizes the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration to establish different standards for different types of cars, providing increased flexibility to automakers and leveling the playing field for the US companies that sell a broader mix of vehicles than their foreign competitors. Senator Obama has proposed increasing fuel economy standards by 4% annually as the long-term goal. Obama has also committed to improving the health of the domestic auto industry, by providing assistance for legacy health care costs, as it produces more efficient automobiles.“I am committed to working with my colleagues to ensure that NHTSA discretion is carefully defined to ensure that we achieve the maximum fuel economy possible,” added Obama. “We must also address the key transition concerns of autoworkers by sustaining existing protections and establishing retooling incentives.”

• Note: This bill is still in committee and has been since 2007 – official status as follows: 3/6/2007: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. (text of measure as introduced: CR S2701-2703) Therefore, it means nothing unless it is signed into law. Many Senators submit thousands of bills for all manner of things but most die in committee.

We also know that, absent some assistance, the significant costs associated with retooling parts and assembly plants could be prohibitive for companies that are already struggling and shedding workers. Our goal is not to destroy the industry, but to help bring it into the 21st century. So if the auto industry is prepared to step up to its responsibilities, we should be prepared to help.That's why my proposal would provide generous tax incentives to help automakers upgrade their existing plants in order to accommodate the demands of producing more fuel-efficient vehicles.

• This is in direct contradiction to his stated goal of taxing the rich which means the folks that are responsible for upgrading their companies, hiring new employees, and expanding their markets. You can't have it both ways, you are either going to tax the people that create the jobs and bring additional revenue to the country or you aren't. So which is it Senator Obama?

The Big 3 automakers rightly argue that their retiree health care costs, expected to be $6.2 billion in 2006, hurt their ability to invest and compete.The Health Care for Hybrids Act would address the unique challenges of the U.S. auto industry and reduce our country’s dependence on foreign oil at the same time. This bill would set up a voluntary program in which domestic automakers could choose to receive federal financial assistance to cover 10% of their annual legacy health care costs through 2017. The companies that participate in the program would be required to invest at least 50% of their health care savings into manufacturing fuel efficient cars, such as hybrids and advanced diesel vehicles in the United States, or helping domestic parts suppliers retool their manufacturing plants to produce advanced parts.These investments would help domestic auto manufacturers and parts suppliers meet the growing demand for fuel efficient vehicles. More American hybrid cars also ensure that there is competition in this growing market and would also help keep car prices low.

• The federal governmant has no business subsidizing the health care for an industry that has been negotiating insane deals with unions for over 20 years and for that reason they have the retirement situation they have.
• Senator, where is the culpability of the unions in this? After all they are the ones that have forced the companies to make these types of retirement plans. The union workers for these companies are paid insane wages and everyone knows it but you have already smoozed the unions to get their support so now you want to use taxpayer's money to pay for a private industry's bad contract on retirement.
• Senator Obama seems to be very generous with our money maybe someone should tell him that it's NOT HIS MONEY.
• Does this guy know anything about the manufacturing industry at all? Every company operates on JIT (Just In Time) that way they don't have to keep large inventories of spare parts on hand that could become damaged, lost, or stolen. This has saved them millions of dollars every year. These companies only keep enough spare parts on hand for emergencies and to complete existing orders.

The Fuel Economy Reform Act also would provide fairness and flexibility to domestic automakers by establishing different standards for different types of cars. Currently, manufacturers have to meet broad standards over their whole fleet of cars. This disadvantages companies like Ford and General Motors that produce full lines of small and large cars and trucks rather than manufacturers that only sell small cars.In order to enable domestic manufacturers to develop advanced-technology vehicles, this legislation provides tax incentives to retool parts and assembly plants. This will strengthen the U.S. auto industry by allowing it to compete with foreign hybrid and other fuel efficient vehicles. It is our expectation that NHTSA will use its enhanced authority to bring greater market-based flexibility into CAFE compliance by allowing the banking and trading of credits among certain vehicle types and between manufacturers.

• Note: This bill like it’s predecessor is stuck in committee so it means nothing as I have stated previously. 3/6/2007: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. (consideration: CR S2703-2706)
• Wher's the money coming from Senator Obama?
• More standards = bigger beaurocracy and greater waste, mismanagement, corruption, etc.

This legislation flips the current debate about increasing fuel economy standards on its head, from a debate about whether standards will be raised to presumption that they will be raised.In order to enable domestic manufacturers to develop more fuel-efficient vehicles, the legislation also provides generous tax incentives for companies to retool parts and assembly plants. This would strengthen the U.S. auto industry by allowing them to compete with foreign hybrid, E-85 and other fuel-efficient vehicles. The bill would also allow more Americans to benefit from a tax credit for the purchase of fuel-efficient vehicles by lifting the current cap that only makes eligible the first 60,000 buyers per manufacturer each year.If this 4 percent per year improvement is maintained for 20 years, this bill would reduce gasoline consumption by 549 billion gallons. If gasoline were just $2.50 per gallon, that means consumers would save $1.372 trillion at the pump by 2028.The Fuel Economy Reform Act would also provide fairness and flexibility to domestic automakers by establishing different standards for different types of cars. Currently, manufacturers have to meet broad standards over their whole fleet of cars. This disadvantages companies like Ford and General Motors that produce full lines of small and large cars and trucks rather than manufacturers that only sell small cars.

• Note: This was a resubmitted version of the previous 2 bills and suffered the same fate.
• First Obama wants to take away all the tax breaks and incentives for business then when it suits him to gain votes from another sector of the populace he says he wants to give them. Senator, you can't have it both ways so you have to make a decision, which is it going to be?
• Anytime a politician starts talking about being fair WATCH OUT because he is about to snooker someone.

Under this system, if the 4 percent annualized improvement occurs for 10 years, we would save 1.3 million barrels of oil per day--an astounding 20 billion gallons of gasoline per year. If gasoline is just $2.50 per gallon, consumers would save $50 billion at the pump in 2018. By 2018, we would be cutting global warming pollution by 220 million metric tons of carbon-dioxide-equivalent gases.And yet, auto executives are right when they say that transitioning to more fuel-efficient automobiles would be costly at a time of sagging profits and stiff competition, and that's precisely why the Federal Government shouldn't let the industry face these challenges on their own.The Fuel Economy Act provides tax incentives to retool parts and assembly plants. But we should do more than that. We need to help the Big Three automakers with one of their largest expenses, namely, retiree health care costs, which ran almost $6.7 billion just last year. For GM, these health care costs represent $1,500 of the price of every GM car that is made, which is more than what they pay for the steel.To that end, I also have filed an amendment to this bill based on the Health Care for Hybrids Act that I introduced last year. That proposal would set up a voluntary program in which automakers could choose to receive Federal financial assistance towards their retiree health care costs. In return, the automakers would be required to reinvest these savings into developing fuel-efficient vehicles.

• Again this guy is talking about subsidizing an industry that pays it's janitors $50K a year. The federal government has no business mucking about in private industry. If a company makes bad decisions then it is NOT up to the taxpayers to foot the bill.

The Fuel Economy Reform Act also would provide fairness and flexibility to domestic automakers by establishing different standards for different types of cars. Currently, manufacturers have to meet broad standards over their whole fleet of cars. This disadvantages companies like Ford and General Motors that produce full lines of small and large cars and trucks rather than manufacturers that only sell small cars.In order to enable domestic manufacturers to develop advanced-technology vehicles, this legislation provides tax incentives to retool parts and assembly plants. This will strengthen the U.S. auto industry by allowing it to compete with foreign hybrid and other fuel efficient vehicles. It is our expectation that NHTSA will use its enhanced authority to bring greater market-based flexibility into CAFE compliance by allowing the banking and trading of credits among all vehicle types and between manufacturers.Finally, the bill also would expand the tax incentives that encourage consumers to buy advanced technology vehicles. The bill would lift the current 60,000-per-manufacturer cap on buyer tax credits to allow more Americans to buy ultra-efficient vehicles like hybrids.

This legislation flips the current debate about increasing fuel economy standards on its head, from a debate about whether standards will be raised to presumption that they will be raised.In order to enable domestic manufacturers to develop more fuel-efficient vehicles, the legislation also provides generous tax incentives for companies to retool parts and assembly plants. This would strengthen the U.S. auto industry by allowing them to compete with foreign hybrid, E-85 and other fuel-efficient vehicles. The bill would also allow more Americans to benefit from a tax credit for the purchase of fuel-efficient vehicles by lifting the current cap that only makes eligible the first 60,000 buyers per manufacturer each year.If this 4 percent per year improvement is maintained for 20 years, this bill would reduce gasoline consumption by 549 billion gallons. If gasoline were just $2.50 per gallon, that means consumers would save $1.372 trillion at the pump by 2028.The Fuel Economy Reform Act would also provide fairness and flexibility to domestic automakers by establishing different standards for different types of cars. Currently, manufacturers have to meet broad standards over their whole fleet of cars. This disadvantages companies like Ford and General Motors that produce full lines of small and large cars and trucks rather than manufacturers that only sell small cars.

• 3/6/2007:
  Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. (text of measure as introduced: CR S2701-2703). 768, S.875
• Until this becomes law it is nothing more than rhetoric and this thing is not likely to be that anytime soon because it has been stuck in committee for over 2 years now.

My Thoughts:

OK, what this all boils down to is that Senator Obama has totally bought into the Global Warming theory put forth by a few radical scientists but has not been bought into by the mainstream scientific community. What the scientific community really says is that you can't take some readings and studies over a 20 year period and apply those to a planet that is 4.5 billion years old and get anything back but garbage. Also so far none of the predictions that these so called top scientists have predicted over the past 20 or 30 years have ever come true or even been close to reality. Personally I am in the camp that says if you make a prediction and it turns out you are wrong then your credibility just went down the tubes.

On the retooling thing I find it amazing that a United States Senator would actually be pushing for spending trillions of taxpayers dollars to subsidize not 1 but many private industries simply because these companies made bad deals with unions and because of the way they have been taxed and constrained by government regulations. Make sure to don't overlook the fact that all of these subsidies are based on the Global Warming theory that he has been sold on. He makes a lot of assumptions but tells us nothing about what evidence he has to support that position other than sowing fear of a calamity to the voters.

Finally, and this is the most telling part of this whole issue. Senator Obama has never specified in any of the legislation proposed, speeces, or other public statements as to what the total pricetag is or how he intends to pay for it other than just to say that the government will give, invest, etc. all this money to whichever entity or indistry. Also he has never even addressed the problem of who is going to pay to convert existing vehicles over to the new technology, what the new technology is, and how he plans to set up fueling points or how many will be available for these "hybrid" vehicles.

No matter how you cut it as it exists in his current rhetoric this plan is a train wreck waiting to happen and will end up costing us multiple trillions of dollars in the long run and make the existing national debt look like chump change.

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What I could find in the speeches and statements from John McCain and others regarding retooling industry. He doesn’t much like the idea instead favors giving tax credits to consumers to help them purchase these vehicles, training, etc.

The auto industry and Wall Street took center stage in the presidential race Wednesday when Republican John McCain, after touring a suburban Detroit auto plant, declared in his strongest language so far that he will fight for government loans to help the U.S. auto industry retool.

McCain's support of the auto industry on Wednesday contrasts with his position last month when he visited the GM Tech Center in Warren and said he wasn't inclined to support loans for the auto industry.McCain, who also did not vote on the energy bill creating the loan program in December 2007, said then through his campaign that his proposals -- a $5,000 tax credit for consumers to buy more efficient models and a $300-million prize for battery technology -- would accomplish the same goals as the loan program. Auto industry officials said they believed that without McCain's support, the funding would get labeled a Democratic ploy. Michigan's Republican lawmakers, especially U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, are credited with convincing McCain to back the loans.

• Offering to loan a company money to help them get some upgrades or other technology developed that they normally would not be able to aquire on their own is a whole different kettle of fish then just forking over billions of dollars in taxpayer's money to do it.
• Tax credits for consumers is a nifty way to get them into a hybrid vehicle without spending billions of tax dollars to develop it then not having anyone be able to afford to buy it. This is also a good way to increase the sales of these vehicles and thus allow the industry to repay the loans they got from the government to develop it in the first place.
• Senator McCain, are you planning to offer the energy companies the same kind of a deal to develop new energy sources and to be able to convert existing gas stations to the new technology?
• I noticed that so far Senator McCain has NOT included anything to subsidize the retirement pensions the auto makers have to pay due to bad contracts negotiated with the unions.

John McCain on Tuesday proposed updating the unemployment system and retooling training programs to help people who have lost their jobs -- particularly older workers -- adapt to a changing economy."Change is hard, and while most of us gain, some industries, companies and workers are forced to struggle with very difficult choices," the Republican presidential candidate said as he espoused free-market principles in a state that leads the nation in unemployment."But it is government's job to help workers get the education and training they need for the new jobs that will be created by new businesses in this new century," McCain added. In a broad speech to Detroit Economic Club, the Arizona senator promised to rein in runaway federal spending, simplify the tax code, help U.S. industries become more competitive, and control spiraling health care costs. He also called for increasing fuel economy standards while maintaining auto safety.

• I was hoping that someone would address the retraining issue facing many displaced workers that are getting up in age and were in jobs that no longer exist. I am happy to see that mcCain is not as far out of touch as some would have us believe. It is also nice to hear thet he isn't proposing a NEW government program but instead has opted to simply upgrade the one currently in place.
• I am still waiting to hear how he plans to reign in government runaway spending, and simplify the tax code.
• I also want to hear how he plans to make companies more competitive and control spiraling health care costs without using subsidies, breaking the bank, or socializing the system.
• I am also pleased to see that he has included safety with his plan to increase the CAFE standards. I am still waiting to see how he plans to do this without subsidies.

Most of the nation's environmental laws are over 30 years old. It's time to comprehensively review them to assure they are relevant to today's needs and capabilities. That's not code for weakening our standards, it's a call for strengthening our methods for addressing the threats to human health and the environment, and for seeking ways to make them less costly. We must make regulations more flexible, emphasizing measurable results rather than means favored by bureaucrats. Flexibility will foster innovation. Our nation's clean air and water laws have improved the environment dramatically. But as far as we have come, we have serious environmental problems left to tackle. In doing so, we must resist the temptation to throw money at every problem. Rather we should build on what works, free enterprise and open markets. Rather than pork barrel programs, let's establish the necessary standards to achieve responsible goals, and then allow the private sector can harness the power of free markets to assure they are achieved as effectively and cost-efficiently as possible. As President I will give to the EPA administrator one simple battle plan: in concert with state, tribal and local officials, and the public, vigorously but flexibly enforce our vital environmental protection laws and the rules that contribute directly to the protection of human health and the environment, and retool or retire outdated regulations that serve no useful purpose toward those ends. As President, I will order a complete top to bottom review with these criteria in mind. And I will make it a priority to ensure that federal agencies abide by the laws that the government imposes on everyone else. Several years ago, mercury was discovered leaching into the ground water from, of all places, a lab operated by the Environmental Protection Agency. The federal government is the biggest polluter in the land. That's not right and it must stop.

• I am actually impressed, the Senator made no promises that are outside his power as President and knew exactly what government agencies to tap in order to initiate change without going through Congress. This is the hallmark of a leader. He also is employing the people who are experts in this field in order to get the best possible answers to the existing problems so that when he does present a bill to Congress he will have already addressed the issues they will be concerned with.
• For the first time we have a government official who is calling out a government agency as a polluter and condemning them for it. If this guy gets in he is going to shake the foundations of the status quo to their very roots and that is going to be good for the American people.

Mr. President I am please to introduce a bill intended to preserve the United States' world leadership position in technology into the coming century. This legislation is intended to assure that our scientific, mathematics, engineering and technology resources are surpassed by no one. It is intended to ensure that our most precious national resources, our people, receive the best education and training through our best national product, innovation. We must allow our most creative forces to interact to achieve improved math and science education in our schools. We must assure more highly trained college graduates in science, math, engineering and technology. And we must encourage the retooling of our country's experienced minds to address the problems and the solutions of tomorrow.Specifically, this legislation uses a portion of each H-1B visa fee to provide grants for innovative programs which will improve the math, science, engineering and technology skills of Americans so that they can fill the estimated average of 137,800 new positions expected to be created in these fields each year from now through 2006. During the interim, while the American pipeline of talent is filling, the bill lifts the caps on H-1B visas to allow our American companies to continue to grow and prosper.This legislation is necessary and beneficial to our nation. Let me explain in some detail why.First, although this country can be proud of having some of the most highly regarded colleges and universities in the world, our elementary and secondary education system is not sufficiently emphasizing science and math in the curriculum. Our students are falling behind in these areas. The results of the 1998 Third International Math and Science Study (TIMSS) are instructive. In math, our 4th graders ranked 12th out of 26 countries. Not a stellar performance. But even more discouraging, by 12th grade, the U.S. math rank was 19th out of 21 countries. As a result, not enough American college students are majoring in the sciences, including computer science, mathematics and engineering to fill the escalating need for highly trained professionals.

Full Speech: http://votesmart.org/speech_detail.php?sc_id=74417&keyword=tooling&phrase=&contain=

• Again Senator McCain has identified one of the main problems we have in this country, our educational institutions and he has also identified the problem areas that are causing us to fall behind technologically.
• I am very impressed that this time he has also given an indication of how he plans to pay for this program. This idea has a lot of potential but I want to see the actual bill first before I give a firm thumbs up on it.

My Thoughts:

When John McCain first appeared on the scene for the presidency I was very unimpressed with him. As the election cycle has progressed I wanted to look closer to see if I had missed anything. Because I am also a Vietnam Vet disabled in the War I have been in the process of giving him a personal vetting that is far more critical than I have given any other candidate. Maybe I have set much higher expectations and goals from him because of this. Just before he announced his VP selection I took the time to view his video on "Faith of my Fathers" I was very impressed and for the firsat time I began to see just how deeply her cares for this country. I don't believe I could have gone through what he did. He is a leader of the first order and that is something I thought I would never have said about him. When he picked Sarah Palin I began to question his judgement until I researched her and found that in her he has found probably the perfect political match for what he intends to do from the White House. Now that I have seen and read what he has proposed and outside of a few issues I still have with him I am convinced that he is the man at the right time in our nations history. John McCain says more in a single paragraph than most politicians say in 2 or 3 pages of political speak.

I highly recommend that you check out Project Vote Smart on the web because they are the most recognized non partisan source of information on the candidates you will ever find. LINK: http://votesmart.org/index.htm