The Hindu Business Line : Kerry promises sops to keep jobs in US

ACCEPTING the Democratic Party nomination to be the Presidential candidate in the November 2 elections, Senator John Kerry made it known that his administration will spare no effort in keeping jobs at home and that American workers would never have to subsidise the loss of their own job.

"What does it mean in America today when...a steel worker that I met in Canton, Ohio saw his job sent overseas and the equipment in his factory was literally unbolted, crated and shipped thousands of miles away along with that job? What does it mean when workers I've met have had to train their foreign replacements?" Mr Kerry told thousands of cheering delegates at the FleetCentre in Boston.

"We value jobs that actually pay you more than the job that you lost. We value jobs where when you put in a week's work, you can actually pay your bills, provide for your children, lift up the quality of your life... We value an America where the middle class is not being squeezed, but doing better," he remarked going on to lay out his economic plan to build a stronger America.

The first two aspects would deal with incentives to revitalise manufacturing and investments in technology for future good paying jobs.

"Third, close the tax loopholes that reward companies for shipping jobs overseas. Instead, we will reward the companies that create and keep the good-paying jobs right where they belong in the good old USA. We value...an America that exports products, not jobs," Mr Kerry said.

"... We will trade and we will compete in the world. But our plan calls for a fair playing field," the Senator from Massachusetts said.