Strib editorial: Few new jobs/Symptom of failed policy

[question everything]

(snip)

The disappointing numbers should be deeply chastening for the campaign of President Bush and deeply troubling for voters who have suffered the most incompetent economic stewardship in memory. To review: The Labor Department said the economy created only 32,000 jobs in July -- as against 200,000 jobs that economists predicted -- and downgraded its previous estimates for May and June. The nation's unemployment rate inched down to 5.5 percent, but only because thousands of "discouraged workers" quit looking for work.

To put those numbers in context: The nation is now almost three years into an economic expansion, and yet it still has fewer jobs than it had when the recovery began in late 2001 -- something that has never happened in postwar history. Job creation in this expansion has averaged about 12,000 jobs per month, as against roughly 250,000 in every previous recovery. The unemployment rate remains stuck at 5.5 percent -- almost exactly where it stood when the recession ended three years ago.

(snip)

But voters expect their leaders to respond to such shocks, and at every turn this administration has responded badly. Instead of sending rapid rebates to middle-class consumers who would spend the money quickly -- as many economists advised -- Bush insisted on a long-term tax package designed mainly to cut taxes for the rich. Instead of rushing fiscal aid to cash-strapped states -- as many members of Congress urged -- the White House pushed tax policies that have aggravated state budget cuts.

Bush boasts that the economy has created more than 1 million jobs in the last year. He conveniently omits his prediction that it would create 4 million jobs if Congress passed the tax cuts he proposed. The result is that Washington now faces sustained budget deficits going forward, with only meager economic stimulus to show for them. "The president cannot be faulted for his willingness to use all of the economic resources at his disposal," economist Mark Zandi of Economy.com wrote recently. "The president can be faulted, however, for how he has used those resources. The economic bang for the buck has been modest at best."

More..

http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/4915437.html

[scarletwoman]

1. The Strib has been consistently offering well-argued editorials

Strib editorials have been making skillfully-pointed critiques of bush* maladminstration politcies for the last two years or so, they are an excellent resource for well-reasoned arguments against bushco.

As a Minnesotan, and former longtime resident of Minneapolis, I am proud of my old hometown paper. :-)

sw

[Moderator]

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