Milton Friedman.
I read the following Wall Street Journal Opinion and this piece managed to capture my thoughts.
The opinion piece puts a square focus on the job term, 'saved or created'. And, what I find interesting, there is no government office that tracks and counts jobs saved. According to Tony Fratto, Deputy Assistant and Deputy Press Secretary to former United States President George W. Bush, "We would never have used a formula like 'save or create[.] To begin with, the number is pure fiction -- the administration has no way to measure how many jobs are actually being 'saved.' And if we had tried to use something this flimsy, the press would never have let us get away with it." Is Tony Fratto calling bullshit on the BIG O?
Politico sure paints a rosy picture of Obama's big "Saved or Created" speech from June 7th: "President Barack Obama announced Monday that he is ramping up stimulus spending exponentially in the next three months, allowing the administration to “save or create” 600,000 jobs — four times as many as during the first 100 days since he signed the bill.
“We’re in a position to really accelerate,” Obama said, unveiling plans to boost spending on national parks, summer youth jobs, veterans medical centers, police and teachers. [Great, more government jobs]
Hmmm, lemme see: 600,000 / 4 = 150,000. So, according to Obama, he has "saved or created" 150,000 jobs in his first 100 days in office which is about 46,000 per month. BUT, the numbers don't lie, according Bureau of Labor Statistics in May 787,000 jobs were purged from the rolls. I guess, according to Obama and his figures, the actual numbers for may would have been 833,000.
Remember, PORKulus is to "save or create" jobs, mostly in the 'green' industry. Yet Suzlon Rotor Corp. in Pipestone will cut its workforce in half because of weak demand for its wind turbine blades -- even as state and federal officials are still pushing renewable energy sources.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment