John Kerry, 'Benedict Arnold' Stockholder
Although Sen. John Kerry has lashed out at what he calls "Benedict Arnold CEOs" for sending jobs to foreign countries, he is cashing in on these very companies.
"Such holdings, through trusts Kerry inherited, account for a big part of his portfolio, at least $125,000 and as much as $650,000," BusinessWeek reports.
"It's a silly comparison," insisted aide Michael Meehan, who said the senator had no say in his investments in such outsourcing companies as General Electric, Procter & Gamble and Verizon. "Senator Kerry has a plan to crack down on companies who send jobs overseas."
The magazine reported this week, "The investments raise the question: Can Kerry coerce U.S. companies to keep jobs at home when investors - including those handling his money - are buying the bottom line that comes with offshore sourcing?"
Charles Lewis, executive director of the nonpartisan Center for Public Integrity, noted, "It does have the specter of hypocrisy."
Kerry the Reaganite
As Rich Lowry wrote for National Review: "Kerry wants to repeal a provision that allows companies to defer paying taxes on profits from overseas operations and — in order to keep corporations from getting too hard hit by a more onerous tax burden — also to cut the corporate tax rate. Imagine that — lower taxes for the treasonous! Kerry thus makes a huge intellectual concession: that businesses respond to incentives, that taxes and regulations affect their behavior and that tax-cutting Reaganites have always had a point. ...
"Teresa Heinz Kerry owns millions in stock in the Heinz Company, the ketchup and pickle empire. Of Heinz’s 79 factories, 57 are located outside North America, and 72 percent of its work force is offshore. John Kerry is, by his own logic, married to a woman implicated in acts of treason. Kerry’s defense of the nation from dastardly betrayal should begin at home."
Many economists defend outsourcing, and H.J. Heinz Co., which has donated to President Bush's campaign but not Kerry's, says all its ketchup sold in America is made in America. Still, it would be nice if the NAFTA supporter Kerry would stop flip-flopping at least on this issue. |
