Show Us The Jobs

[struggle4progress]

By Jonathan Tasini
TomPaine.com
February 2, 2005

<snip> Let's go way back in history--three years--to the Bush administration's so-called "Jobs and Growth Plan." (Do journalists on the administration's payroll come up with those Orwellian slogans?) The administration's Council on Economic Advisers claimed the plan would create 5.5 million jobs by the end of 2004. In his State of the Union address a year ago, the president himself said that, due to his tax cuts, "Productivity is high, and jobs are on the rise." And then he said, "For the sake of job growth, the tax cuts you passed should be permanent."

So understand, the president was trying to make you believe that his tax cuts mean more jobs. Rubbish. Here's what he claimed originally for his phony plan: The tax cuts alone would yield 1.4 million jobs, along with another 4.1 million jobs that would result from other policies. But pesky facts cause problems for this administration.

Since the tax cuts took effect in July 2003, the administration's projected monthly job growth was only met or exceeded three times. In every other month--according to a new study by the Economic Policy Institute -- the projection was way off by tens of thousands of jobs. In more than half of the 18 months the tax cuts have been a factor, the job projections fell short by more than 200,000 jobs. July 2003 marked the biggest shortfall with 351,000 fewer jobs recorded than the Bush administration projected as a result of its tax cuts.

The Economic Policy Institute found that all but two states--Hawaii and Wyoming--failed to make the projections put forth by the administration. Twenty-nine states--both blue and red states--have fewer jobs than when the recession started in March 2001. The other states experienced job growth so anemic that the added jobs could not keep up with the expansion of the workforce as a whole. Overall, the promise of 5.5 million jobs fell 3.1 million jobs short--one of the worst job-creation records in the past century (the Let's go way back in history--three years--to the Bush administration's so-called "Jobs and Growth Plan." (Do journalists on the administration's payroll come up with those Orwellian slogans?) The administration's Council on Economic Advisers claimed the plan would create 5.5 million jobs by the end of 2004. In his State of the Union address a year ago, the president himself said that, due to his tax cuts, "Productivity is high, and jobs are on the rise." And then he said, "For the sake of job growth, the tax cuts you passed should be permanent."

So understand, the president was trying to make you believe that his tax cuts mean more jobs. Rubbish. Here's what he claimed originally for his phony plan: The tax cuts alone would yield 1.4 million jobs, along with another 4.1 million jobs that would result from other policies. But pesky facts cause problems for this administration.

Since the tax cuts took effect in July 2003, the administration's projected monthly job growth was only met or exceeded three times. In every other month--according to a new study by the Economic Policy Institute -- the projection was way off by tens of thousands of jobs. In more than half of the 18 months the tax cuts have been a factor, the job projections fell short by more than 200,000 jobs. July 2003 marked the biggest shortfall with 351,000 fewer jobs recorded than the Bush administration projected as a result of its tax cuts.

The Economic Policy Institute found that all but two states--Hawaii and Wyoming--failed to make the projections put forth by the administration. Twenty-nine states--both blue and red states--have fewer jobs than when the recession started in March 2001. The other states experienced job growth so anemic that the added jobs could not keep up with the expansion of the workforce as a whole. Overall, the promise of 5.5 million jobs fell 3.1 million jobs short--one of the worst job-creation records in the past century (the Let's go way back in history--three years--to the Bush administration's so-called "Jobs and Growth Plan." (Do journalists on the administration's payroll come up with those Orwellian slogans?) The administration's Council on Economic Advisers claimed the plan would create 5.5 million jobs by the end of 2004. In his State of the Union address a year ago, the president himself said that, due to his tax cuts, "Productivity is high, and jobs are on the rise." And then he said, "For the sake of job growth, the tax cuts you passed should be permanent."

So understand, the president was trying to make you believe that his tax cuts mean more jobs. Rubbish. Here's what he claimed originally for his phony plan: The tax cuts alone would yield 1.4 million jobs, along with another 4.1 million jobs that would result from other policies. But pesky facts cause problems for this administration.

Since the tax cuts took effect in July 2003, the administration's projected monthly job growth was only met or exceeded three times. In every other month--according to a new study by the Economic Policy Institute -- the projection was way off by tens of thousands of jobs. In more than half of the 18 months the tax cuts have been a factor, the job projections fell short by more than 200,000 jobs. July 2003 marked the biggest shortfall with 351,000 fewer jobs recorded than the Bush administration projected as a result of its tax cuts.

The Economic Policy Institute found that all but two states--Hawaii and Wyoming--failed to make the projections put forth by the administration. Twenty-nine states--both blue and red states--have fewer jobs than when the recession started in March 2001. The other states experienced job growth so anemic that the added jobs could not keep up with the expansion of the workforce as a whole. Overall, the promise of 5.5 million jobs fell 3.1 million jobs short--one of the worst job-creation records in the past century (the president's best chance to burnish his record is to compare himself to Herbert Hoover). <snip>

http://www.civilrights.org/issues/poverty/details.cfm?id=27892

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