Over the past 200 years, America’s economy has been one of our nation’s greatest strengths — an engine that has produced remarkable technological innovations and provided us with one of the highest standards of living in the world.

Carl Levin believes that President Bush  has unfortunately been a poor steward of our economy. Since President Bush has been in office, we’ve lost millions of manufacturing jobs, median household income hasn’t kept pace with inflation, and millions more Americans are now in poverty. Our government has squandered the huge budget surpluses which existed when President Bush took office and turned them into huge deficits. And all the while, when most families have been hurting, trillions of dollars of tax cuts have been given mainly to the wealthiest Americans among us who need them the least.

That’s why Carl Levin supported an economic plan that would have generated a million real jobs, not more trickle-down economics that has repeatedly failed to work. Carl supported targeted tax cuts focused on lower and middle income families as well as small businesses. The plan also would have reduced our growing federal deficit, while still funding critical programs like education, environmental cleanup, and Social Security.

Instead, President Bush continues to dig an even deeper deficit ditch. They’re not helping working families who are having trouble making ends meet; they are not helping our children and grandchildren who will be left with the growing burden of the huge national debt; and they’re not helping our states, many of which are in the midst of the worst fiscal crisis in decades.

Carl Levin will continue to push for economic policies that promote manufacturing and trade policies that would create a level playing field for our manufacturers. Carl believes we need to adopt a comprehensive plan to revitalize our manufacturing sector, which would create jobs and bolster economic growth. Read more about Senator Levin’s plan for creating new manufacturing jobs here.