LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden took a swipe at government critics during a speech in an appliance factory Monday, crediting the massive federal stimulus program with helping jump start the economy through tax credits aimed at spurring private investment and job creation. Without dropping any names, Mr. Biden appeared to target Kentucky Republican senatorial candidate Rand Paul and other candidates critical of government intervention in the economy. Biden spoke to factory workers at a sprawling GE facility where the company is making a $600 million investment to expand production with three new energy-efficient product lines. That investment is backed by $24.8 million in tax credits the company received as part of the economy recovery act to retrofit and retool the facility. “So those who talk about this is big government, this is big government giving a little bit of help to jump start America to lead the world in the 21st century,” Mr. Biden said. Mr. Biden said tax credits being doled out as part of the stimulus program will produce nearly $5.5 billion in private-sector investments that will spur job creation. GE plans to add some 830 jobs at its sprawling Appliance Park campus in Louisville through 2013, thanks to the new products. Production of new hybrid electric water heaters is to begin in 2011, followed by a new line of washing machines in 2012 and matching driers the following year. The work force stands at about 4,100 at Appliance Park, down from a peak of nearly 23,000 in the 1970s. Mr. Biden criticized political candidates who he said think the government should “sit on the sidelines” as the nation’s economy tries to rebound from its worst downturn since the Great Depression. “I love those guys who say that government should stay out when we’re in deep crisis, like some of the people you’re hearing from in this state and other places,” Mr. Biden said. Mr. Paul’s campaign manager Jesse Benton took his own swipe at the vast economic stimulus package, which has a long-term cost of $862 billion. “Government is not very good at creating jobs,” he said in a statement Monday. “President Obama’s stimulus package cost $413,000 per job created and those jobs largely went to political cronies. “Private businesses create useful jobs because the consumer votes every day to reward the businesses that are able to distribute what the public desires in a timely and inexpensive manner.” Mr. Biden said the economy has started a turnaround, noting the U.S. added 495,000 private-sector jobs in the first five months of this year. He said the country was “hemorrhaging jobs” when he and Obama took office in early 2009. Mr. Biden praised the local congressman, Democrat John Yarmuth, for supporting the stimulus program. But Biden misidentified the Louisville Democrat, who was on stage with him, referring to Yarmuth as “Jim.” Near the end of his speech, Mr. Biden was interrupted when the president and CEO of GE’s appliances and lighting division, Jim Campbell, collapsed off a stool on stage in the plant where GE dishwashers are made. Paramedics and a doctor rushed on stage, but Mr. Campbell walked away under his power in the stuffy plant.
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