Bush* Seeks Ways to Create Jobs, and Fast

[kskiska]

WASHINGTON, Jan. 9 - The stage had been set to celebrate the revival of jobs.

With a phalanx of women entrepreneurs at his side and a billboard covered with the word "Jobs!" behind him, President Bush proclaimed his confidence about the economy here on Friday. But he made only passing reference to the latest news about employment.

The reason was clear: Friday's report on unemployment in December was much weaker than either the administration or most independent economists had predicted. Job creation was virtually nil, and the unemployment rate declined only because the labor force shrank by 309,000 workers. Many of those were people who had simply become too discouraged to keep looking for work.

The problem confronting Mr. Bush is that there is little he can do between now and the elections except wait and hope that the employment picture improves. And the administration is not likely to get much more help from the Federal Reserve, which has already reduced short-term interest rates to just 1 percent.

"In terms of big levers to pull, they don't have anything," said Pierre Ellis, a senior economist at Decision Economics, a forecasting company.

more…
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/10/business/10jobs.html?hp

[aquart]

1. WPA? CCC?

[kskiska]

3. I've been wondering about that for a long time.

It would be great if Dean or Clark would propose a new WPA project.

[Lorien]

45. Renewable energy and high speed rail

wanna get out of the middle east? Hell, is * thinks we can put a man on Mars, why can't we develop clean, renewable energy for all? (Yeah, I know- if all have clean renewable energy, how do the few get rich and control the world)? A National high speed rail project-linking all major cities, with light rail connections-would put massive numbers to work and increase travel and tourism while decreasing congestion on our highways and pollution. The proposed system in Florida uses a Mag-lev monorail (clean and quiet) running down the median of our extant highways; it would be wonderful! Orlando to Miami in 1 1/2 hours! But is there the political will?

[revcarol]

47. KUCINICH already has,

long ago!! You can't put much over on "THE EYES THAT SEE THROUGH THE LIES!"

But nobody wanted to listen. Now with these horrible unemployment n;umbers coming up, maybe WE will.

[Jackpine Radical]

14. USMC? USAF?

USA? In other words, DRAFT?

[Terran]

18. Um, no

The country is broke, remember? We spent all our money on Iraq. No way Bush is going to spend billions on a make-work program; congress would never authorize the $$.

[kayell]

26. I wouldn't call the WPA and CCC make work

Have you actually taken a look at what those programs accomplished? No doubt you have seen the work that was done, possibly stayed in some, certainly driven some of the roads and bridges, had your electricity supplied by a WPA project, benefited from the parks that were built, the water projects, likely used a post office built by those project, a school, a swimming pool, or a library, or......

I have to seriously wonder why * can ask for $Trillions for a man on Mars project, yet a job creation project is out of the question. A lot of the infrastructure in this country is in trouble, some of it because the CCC and WPA work was so good and long lasting that no one had to do anything about it for years, and so the need for additional work was ignored.

[tinrobot]

30. Good point...

Our infrastructure is in the toilet.

The work projects of the 30's helped real people with roads so they could travel, dams for power/water, etc...

Maybe we need a new WPA to fix the roads, but more importantly to build solar/wind/sustainable power, mass transit, etc...

[kayell]

31. Energy focused works projects

this would really be a great thing. Increase employment, repair our infrastructure, repair our standing with the world community regarding CO₂ levels, cut our demand for imported fuel.

But NOOOO, a great and worthy inspirational project for the bushites is a flight to mars. :eyes:

[Skip Intro]

2. As he introduces new workers to the job market for cheap votes

It seems like some law of karma or phisics or something would cause the bush regime to implode long before the election, doesn't it?

[madrchsod]

4. ya right, create jobs

well the fuck heads let the sba run out of money..no new loans and a huge drop in funding the program. any loans when the funding is restored will be a fraction of what they were.so much for new fuck`n jobs,assholes.

[Dr Fate]

5. this "phalanx of women"- were they wearing bikinis?

???

[Ernesto]

6. Oh sure....

Create a bunch of meaningless jobs(the kind that only "tax & spend" democrats would) just to boost his chance of election (for the 1st time)........ "Politics according to a CIA manuel" A quote from Kevin Phillips.

[sendero]

7. He had a perfectly good chance.

If he had targeted his massive tax cut at poor and middle-class workers, who would actually spend the money instead of prop up the stock market with it, things would probably be moving at a good clip by now.

Bush* can look right in the mirror if he wants to know why there is no job creation, he's done nothing whatsoever to promote it.

[0rganism]

22. ding ding ding! We Have A Winner!

At least bush is proving once and for all that "supply side economics" is just so much bullshit.

[coloradodem2005]

8. They're truly desparate aren't they?

In the end it is going to be the job market, and if it is not good, Bush will feel the wrath of the electorate.

It's the job market, stupid!

[lovedems]

9. My husband and I were laughing our butts off when we saw the clip

of his little speech on the news. Behind him was a big banner that had "JOBS" written all over it. We thought that was so funny! He obviously gets bad advice when it comes to banners! It was a priceless moment that the dems could use in a campaign ad!

[Journeyman]

20. But you have to admit. . .

BushCo keeps a passel of signmakers busy.

[snippy]

28. The JOBS banner should be used in an ad with the "Made in USA" banner.

[Cocoa]

10. I have an idea

more tax cuts. The first two worked so great, another one would be even better. Maybe we could start getting 2,000 jobs per month!

[jab105]

12. Imagine if the nearly $3 trillion on tax cuts over the last 3 years...

would instead have just been given to us...heck, that's more than I get paid now...a much better deal than a paltry 1,000 jobs in a month...that is pathetic!!

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

11. Yes, but they're spinning while they're trying to stop the bleeding

Great article, and the message I got from it is "of course you're screwed, but without GWB, it would have been much worse"...

"Without the passage of the president's plans, by the second quarter in 2003, the unemployment rate would have been nearly one percentage point higher," Treasury Secretary John W. Snow said earlier this week. "As many as 1.5 million fewer Americans would be working, and real G.D.P. would have been as much as 2 percent lower."

My prediction is that if voters successfully remove Bush from office in November, we will see a scenario much like the current one in California. We'll find out just how bad things are and how much it's going to hurt to fix them. It won't matter if the President is a better or more honest person than Bush. The dirt that will be the hardest of all to clean is the dirt that's been swept under the rug for the last three years because no one in the Bush administration came up with a way to blame it on Bill Clinton.

Of course, the alternative...four more years...is worse, but when Bush starts "reacting" instead of "deflecting," and when you can see the visible flop sweat all over the man as it was in his immigration speech earlier this week, you've got to know that meltdown is somewhere around the corner.

I believe the only way that he can win the election without the fight of his life would be to offer irrefutable proof that Howard Dean is Osama Bin Laden. He could go to Vermont, drag him back in chains, and proudly stand before the assembled press corps and say "Ladies and gentlemen...(dramatic pause)...we GOT 'im (thunderous applause and cheers)." Wearing the flight suit that he wore on the USS Abraham Lincoln, of course, with a "Mission Accomplished, Bee-yatch" banner behind him. Then the Bush campaign could show the same footage over and over and over again of Howard Dean being inspected for lice.

Other than that, I'm getting the feeling that Lou Dobbs really has his finger on the pulse and the unemployed / underemployed / outsourced masses have had enough of this crap.

[coloradodem2005]

13. If what you say is true, Bush is screwed.

Though, I don't see how things could have been worse with Gore. They would have been hard but not this hard.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

16. It's all about moral fiber

You're right...a major reason things are as bad as they are is that Bush is an irresponsible party animal from a family of power and privilege who attained his position by being "groomed" and not as the result of having talent, a strong work ethic, or the good sense to surround himself with decent people. It's just like Elvis shooting the crap out of TV screen after TV screen in the company of his Memphis Mafia. The guy could burp and 50 lackeys would say "That's right, E!"

Rove and Cheney and Rumsfeld like having a village idiot for a prop because he can do the photo ops and they can work on their agenda. Read Time Magazine's "Person of the Week" article on Karl Rove from November 7, 2002:

http://www.time.com/time/pow/article/0,8599,388523,00.html

Particularly chilling in January 2004 is the first paragraph, where the author relates the story of how much Bush hated to travel and give speeches but "He did it because Karl Rove told him it was a good idea."

Some things never change.

I guess what I mean from my original post is that "the new guy" (if we are so lucky) will be stepping into a royal mess, will probably make more than a few mistakes while trying to clean it up, and will not have any painless solutions to offer in the very short term. I'm sure that no one here is anticipating a quick fix to a situation that has gotten so far out of hand. I'm just a little surprised when Bush is pimping for jobs when he stood there two days ago and said "there ARE jobs. Americans don't want them."

I don't know how Gore would have handled it. I think that if things had gotten out of hand it would have been less about "Kenny Boy" and Haliburton and WMD and more about a guy who wanted to do the right thing finding that something went sideways on him. I think that Americans might have been angry or disappointed but probably not as betrayed as they're feeling right now. We'll never know.

I just think that if Bush CARED about fixing it, he'd already be working on the fix. And I don't mean dog-and-pony-show, "watch me while I pull a rabbit out of my hat" fixes.

You don't bring a plastic turkey centerpiece into a room full of hungry soldiers unless you're only interested in a photo op.

[Lorien]

46. Things would have been "hard" with Gore?

How so? 9-11 never would have happened, because anti-terrorism was a big part of Gore's focus (I attended two rallies where he talked at length about it while the public yawned). He would have implemented the plan Sandy Berger left behind to disarm Al-Qeida, not shelved it to gather dust, as Condi did. he would not have bankrupted the Treasury for an unnecessary war and would not have given giant tax breaks to the richest 1%. Things would have been nearly utopian in America by comparison to what we have today.

[mrdmk]

55. Both Bush Eats Meat and Jen 6 have a point.

I agree with both Bush Eats Beef and Jen 6 in that things would have different with a Mr. Gore Jr. administration than a Mr. Bush Jr. administration. Given that Gore had a moderate agenda compared to the radical right agenda of Bush. Of course we now have Mr. Gore saying he would have campaigned more aggressively, pushing light onto his agenda. Then we had Bush more or less stumbled verbally through his election with a lot of organized people in the background helping him. Then there is the media, but I do not want to go there. Gore may have been a better president but we will never know.

The mess after this administration is enormous. There has been ongoing communication from one administration to the next ever since the beginning of this nation and I fear this communication will be lost on the onset of a new administration. These people have shown time and time again they are not team players with people of this nation more or less people of this world. This will only compound a fix for the problems we are having and have a bunch of neocons standing around saying, “I told you so”.

[fearnobush]

59. Did you see the emotion and dispair in Lou Dobb's Face

Friday night. I could of sworn he was about to scream and lash out at those WTA wall street Bush pundits he had on the show, He smashed their bull shit arguments for liberal trade and anti-job protectionism. He was brilliant, and Dean like. I wish every person in the media could see through all the Neo-Conn WTA bull.

[Lostmessage]

15. Where are the Walmarts being put up at?

That is where the jobs are going to be created at right?

[MikeG]

17. Bush has created plenty of jobs - in India.

[DoYouEverWonder]

29. Actually the jobs are going to Iraq right now

I know someone who just got offered $180,000 plus a $500,000 life insurance policy to go there for one year.

[mrdmk]

56. Cannot spend $500,000.00 after

You are dead!

[Gman]

19. The backdrop should read

I Need Jobs Dammit!

[radfringe]

21. job creation in the hole

can you say JobLOSS Recovery?

Bush* Inc. would have to create 3,000,000 jobs just to break even
=======================================

Employment picture remains cloudy
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/auto/epaper/editions/saturday/news_f3ff68d4d1c3101200ff.html
By David Sedore, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 10, 2004

The nation's unemployment rate fell to 5.7 percent in December from 5.9 percent in November, but the economy gained only a thousand jobs, confounding observers who had expected much stronger growth and raising concerns about the economic recovery.

Although the rate is the lowest in 14 months, the decline was caused by more than 300,000 disappointed job seekers' abandoning the workforce. Analysts had expected the nation's payrolls to grow by as many as 150,000 jobs in December, traditionally one of the strongest months for job growth because of the holiday shopping season.

Moreover, job creation has been one of the most closely watched measures of the depth of the economic recovery from the 2001 recession, and of consumer spending. Critics repeatedly have chided the Bush administration for producing a "jobless" recovery that can't be sustained.

---snip----

At the heart of investors' concerns is the fact that December's jobless rate fell from the previous month only because 309,000 fewer people were looking for work.

Even more striking was the unexpected drop of 38,000 in retail jobs, apparently the product of weak holiday sales. Manufacturing dropped by 26,000 jobs.

Further, the government revised already lackluster job growth figures for November, downward to 43,000 from 57,000; and October, to 100,000 from 137,000

[NickB79]

58. What happens when the unemployed abandon the workforce?

Seriously, I want to know. Is that code for "they went on welfare" or "they became homeless and took up living out of their cars"?

On second thought, maybe I don't want to know. Ignorance may be bliss in this instance.

[Born Free]

23. unemployment rate declined only because the labor force shrank by 309,000

"unemployment rate declined only because the labor force shrank by 309,000 workers"

Sounds like that many ran out of benifits, they didn't give up looking for jobs as many suggest, just no longer in the system because they are not collecting any benifits.

[KayLaw]

24. Right

I wish one of the networks would do an investigative show on these people who just give up. Where do they go? How do they survive? Do they become homeless? I suspect many have spouses and decide to try to get by on one income or live with other family members. Either way, it means they must cut way back on spending.

[Mari333]

25. He can stand on his hand and wipe his ass with his feet

whilst juggling a ball on his nose, and it wont do a damned thing to create jobs, because for all the brouhaha and theatrics even the cab driver who drove me home the other day from the hospital said
"That sumbitch says he's creating jobs..bullshit..ya jobs at McDonalds and Burger King thats all.."
This is a guy who lives in a trailor park on the outskirts of Kalamazoo MI, with his wife , as he told me.
I wholeheartedly patted him on the back for his insight.
If he knows, a lot of people KNOW. Bush is theater and it isnt working.

[dbt]

27. We need to build more mansions!

Big, sprawling mofos with 32 rooms minimum, acres of formal gardens and spartan servants' quarters below the stairs.

Jobs could then be created: cooks, maids, butlers, footmen, gamekeepers, etc. This would serve* to continue the shot-in-the arm that the building of these Xanadus would give to the construction industry.

Additionally, "going into service" would give the little chirren something to look forward to when they grow up--not to mention the fact that a lifetime of faithful duty would undoubtedly result in a generous pension from grateful upper-class families, thus eliminating the need for Social Security!


:evilgrin:
dbt
* All puns fully intended...

[Flubadubya]

33. That would be Bush's WPA...

White People's Autocracy! That oughta work real well. :evilgrin:

Props to ya DBT! Howdy from Hope.

[dbt]

51. Hey, Flub!

Where ya BEEN, anyway?????

:hi:
dbt

(Gotta new Arkie or two on-board since I've seen you.)

[leftchick]

32. He doesn't need to create jobs...

With the help of the complicit whore media all he needs to do is create the illusion of jobs. It has worked with absolutely everything else he has created in this presidency. The illusions: war on terra, no child left behind, tax relief for middle class, clean air initiative.... and on and on. Every fucking one of these illusions are aided and abetted by our national pravda media. He doesn't have to do a fucking thing..... :grr:

[fearnobush]

60. Amen to the Truth. Fight the Bogus Bush Media NOW... or lose

all hope in November. IT's the media stupid. We should be protesting in front of Fux, MSRNC -(MSNBC) RNN - (CNN) etc.. etc.. I wish we the people had real BALLs to stand up against the media and fight for the truth, call them on there bullshit and lack of credibility. Our media today, at the level of press, radio and cable (Pacifica excluding) is nothing more than a boring national debate club and a re-report of "Filtered" news from the AP. This has got to end now. You know they laugh at us all over the world.

[indepat]

34. Just wait: we have only seen a smattering of the economic havoc

to ultimately be created and played out by the tax and other domestic policies and the foreign policies foisted upon this nation by this Administration and a compliant Congress.

[dusty64]

35. You mean he's not

proposing another giant tax giveaway to the superwealthy and corporations? I thought that was their answer to everything. Oh I forgot, raping the Arctic Refuge will create 750,000 jobs also.

[snippy]

36. That is coming in the budget proposal.

[2cents]

37. Remember "WIN" buttons?

Maybe they'll wear "DUH" buttons --"Defeat Unemployment Handily"

[TOhioLiberal]

38. Not fast enough....

to save his sorry behind.

[ldf]

39. expect business to step up to the plate

and start creating jobs.

afterall, they have been on a three year layoff frenzy, pumping existing workers for more output, so they can increase the bottom line.

and yup, that jobless recovery has certainly done miracles for wallstreet.

bush set the climate for that, and business will probably show their thanks. not by creating enough jobs, but by creating just enough jobs to present the appearance of a job recovery. culminating in some really positive statistics right before the election.

business knows who butters their bread.

it's all in the game plan.

edit for spelling

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

40. For Bush to score points, the jobs...

...will have to be in the sectors that sent jobs packing to India and beyond. They cannot be Wal-Mart jobs or "service" jobs or "health care jobs." There's a fine line between emptying bedpans for minimum wage and stocking Wal-Mart shelves for minimum wage and I think the American public is smart enough to see that line.

Companies like Cisco, HP (sorry Carly) and others...the ones that people "wanted to work for" three years ago...would have to "show their thanks" to Bush by creating REAL jobs, with a REAL wage, and I can't see that happening in time to get Dubya out of the dog house. I do see a very convenient opportunity to create contract positions in droves with a one year duration and a one-way ticket to India on the back end. Seriously, you've gotta know that's one of the options on the BushCo table, just like a "guest worker" program that will only happen...if it does at all...AFTER he's well into his second term. There's been a pretty strong negative backlash to Fiorina's "God Given Right" fatwah, but I guess I must have missed her apologetic retraction? Oh, that's right...she hasn't OFFERED one.

Bush is out on a limb. He put on the kneepads for corporate America but knowing who these people are...I expect less of a show of gratitude and more of a "you're on your own" stance. I see more CEOs speaking out and stepping up to the plate to claim their "God Given Rights."

American business and American CEOs did not drop the soap. George W. Bush dropped the soap by overestimating the "you wash my back and I'll wash yours" principal, because there's no loyalty to be found in treachery. He has between now and November to decide if he's willing to risk picking it up in favor of just rinsing off and going home to Crawford.

Meanwhile, you can read plenty of articles on the Web news sites like CNN and Fortune saying that "the economy will not decide the election" and "Bush's incumbency and the recovery of the economy are sure signs that he will be re-elected." All we can do is get out and vote and drag everyone we know to the polls with us.

[tridim]

41. The only thing that will create jobs is hope

and a restoration of the American Dream. Until Bush is gone, we're all screwed. Well, all of us except for FOB and CEOs.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

42. Wow, some cold chills on that one

...brought back memories of Neil Young's loving tribute to George Bush Senior, "Rockin' In The Free World"...

"We've got a thousand points of light for the homeless man, we've got a kinder and gentler machine gun hand...got department stores and toilet paper, got styrofoam boxes for the ozone layer...got a man of the people says "Keep Hope Alive"...got fuel to burn, got roads to drive...Keep on Rockin' In the Free World"...

My own personal American Dream is George W. Bush on his ranch in Crawford, forever. That's what I'm hoping for. And you are 100% correct...on that day, no matter how difficult the road to taking this country back may be, we can take down the "Dubya Detour Sign" and get ON the road.

[pippin]

43. phalanx of women entrepreneurs

Probably got them from central casting. Now he's into using women as props. Whatever will they think of next.

[4dsc]

44. RESIGN!!!

I bet that would get the economy moving again!!

[Yavin4]

48. Man, You Gotta Be Fast Here At DU

I was going to post, "Bush could get more jobs by qutting his".

[abelenkpe]

49. I will never understand women

who support the republican party, ya know the party which works hard to rescind their reproductive rights and doesn't care about women making equal pay for equal work, or making sure there is affordable health care for children. Why would anyone vote against their own self interests? This phalanx of women are clearly the stupidest women on the entire planet. There has been a lot of discussion on this board about how the candidates need to appeal to the voters self interest, and in most cases I feel this is true. Except where it concerns women, and blue collar workers, and minorities, and small businesses, and well everyone except rich corporations. How is it possible to fool so many people? It is truly a marketing miracle, isn't it?

[pippin]

50. well as I mentioned above

they were probably from central casting and brought in with the other props.

but you're right, there are ofcourse stupid, male-identified, republican women. There are still a lot of women around who will follow anything in trousers right or wrong. Look at good old Pickles! and she's supposed to be a woman who read a lot?

[Rex]

52. Rummy has an idear

DRAFT DRAFT DRAFT

[The Zanti Regent]

53. But the TV Preachers keep saying that the Rapture will be in a week or 2

Wow, all those jobs vacanices opening up thanks to Jesus*

*sarcasm mode on...

[are_we_united_yet]

54. Hmmmmm

How about a big banner saying "United States Jobs Available"?

[dansolo]

57. What do they mean by "too discouraged"?

That makes it sound like people are no longer looking for work, when in reality most of these people are still looking, but are no longer eligible for unemployment benefits.

[fearnobush]

61. Exactly, Everyone. Stop the RNC Fascist media controllers Now!

CNN has turned RNC Red, blood red like fox. Msnbc, Chris Matthews, his no friend of the DNC, just ask Peggy Noonan. The only way to stop them from reporting bullshit is to apply real pressure on them. Protests in front of their head quarters, e-mails, millions of them, letters, millions of them. And the removal of Karl Rove, he has direct control in pushing the block stories, that is Bushit stories that block what little real true news that comes out. The pattern is very easy to see. Tomorrow, you will not see Paul O'neil or no Jobs in the top head lines anymore, tomorrow is will be this bogus WMD playup. This is classic Rove, I sure as hell hope our candidates know this.