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Treasury Secretary John Snow Visits St. Louis

(Dept. of Treasury website)
(Dept. of Treasury website)

By Kevin Lavery, KWMU

St. Louis, MO – Snow's visit came as the Labor Department announced the creation of 57,000 new jobs in November and an unemployment rate below six percent.

But manufacturing remains in decline and some worry President Bush's lifting of steel tariffs will hurt local steelmakers.

Snow says the president always viewed the tariffs as temporary and that they did serve a useful purpose:

"The industry has used that time period to restructure; to improve productivity and over that period of time, prices have risen and demand has strengthened," Snow said.

As the secretary spoke, protestors outside blamed the administration for the loss of nearly 78,000 jobs in Missouri since President Bush took office.

Liz Smith Currie with the group Missouri Progressive Vote, says that's inexcusable:

"Look around us - we have crumbling buildings; we have holes in the pavement," Smith Currie said. "We could create jobs today by putting people to work, and they want work. You know, cutting taxes is not getting us out of this recession."

In October, Snow predicted U.S. businesses would create two million new jobs by November 2004.

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