The repugicans will have killed an additional 240,000 jobs in
2014 according to The Council of Economic Advisers ...
Surprise is a brief mental state experienced by humans as the result
of an unexpected event that can be pleasant, unpleasant, positive, or
negative. It is incomprehensible that anyone would be, or could be,
surprised over an event that was foretold ad nauseum would happen in the
near future; especially when it was based on hard empirical data. It
was astonishing, really, that when the December jobs report showed the
economy added only 74,000 jobs, media reported that the numbers were
“surprisingly weak,” particularly since the economy seemed to be on the
upswing. What is surprising is that for the past year economists have
warned that the true job-killing effects of repugicans’ economic agenda
would begin taking effect at the end of 2013 and no-one is saying “
we told you so,” and it is curious why not.
It is important to remember that repugicans came into the 112
th
session of Congress promising they would focus on creating jobs and
immediately began a crusade to reduce the nation’s long term deficit and
cut domestic spending. Every economist warned repugicans that taking
money out of the economy was the fastest way to kill jobs, but instead
of heeding real economists’ warnings, they launched a job-killing
crusade that has not yet reached its climax. John Boehner was warned the
first round of repugican cabal spending cuts would kill a million jobs and he said “
so be it.” The repugicans are not the least bit surprised the jobs numbers were “
lower than expected” because it was exactly what they expected and they took advantage of the December report to assail the Obama Administration.
The repugicans argue that the jobs report underscores the President’s
economic policies have failed after claiming the economy was improving,
but they leave out one very important point. The economy is indeed
improving for Wall Street, corporations, the oil and pharmaceutical
industry who recorded record profits that the nation’s economic growth
is measured by. The repugicans claim that Congress should focus on creating
jobs by gutting regulations and cutting taxes, but business owners
need paying customers that are in short supply because repugicans have been frantically taking money out of the economy to kill jobs.
For three years repugicans focused on reducing the nation’s long
term deficit that does not, will not, and has not created even one job;
yet it dominates the repugicans’ economic agenda. They have also
implemented severe austerity and cut domestic spending that does not,
will not, and has not created even one job because it takes money out of
the economy and kills jobs; cutting regulations and taxes will not
change the fact that Americans are cash-strapped. The Congressional
Budget Office
warned
on several occasions that the repugican sequester will kill 1.6
million jobs through fiscal year 2014, and cautioned its effect on jobs
would begin being felt in the fourth quarter of 2013. One can only
imagine the horrid job numbers if the economy was not in as good a shape
as it is now. The media is “
surprised by the weak job numbers”
and repugicans blame the President, but for anyone paying attention,
the weak numbers were right on schedule with repugican plans to kill
jobs and thwart economic recovery for everyone but their corporate
donors.
The last three months of 2013 gave repugicans more opportunities to
kill jobs and they used the government shutdown, food stamp cuts, and
unemployment benefit expiration to great effect. The government shutdown
cut 0.25% from annual economic growth and cost 120,000 jobs in just its
first 12 of its’ 16 day run. It hurt the housing industry by halting
IRS verifications for mortgage applications, and small businesses were
hurt by the shutdown of Small Business Administration loan guarantees.
In addition, the
CEA report by Harvard economists said the shutdown “
affected consumer spending and business investment and hiring as well” and warned “
the economic data over the next quarter or more are likely to be ghastly.”
The November 1st $5 billion in food stamp cuts (for 2014 alone) will
have their own devastating effects on jobs because each dollar of food
stamps infuses well over $1.70 of spending in the economy that creates
or sustains jobs. Most economists say food stamps (SNAP) have a “
multiplier effect of 2 to1”
that means every food stamp dollar has amplified economic benefits
primarily helping grocers and the food production industry that benefits
when recipients shop in their stores. John Boehner worked behind the
scenes in November to kill more jobs during talks between the House and
Senate to pass a still-languishing farm bill because despite negotiators
finding common ground on a bill, the Speaker demanded steeper food
stamp cuts that quashed the farm bill.
The repugicans also will have killed an additional 240,000 jobs in 2014
according
to The Council of Economic Advisers who estimated that not extending
the unemployment benefits will have a deleterious effect on hiring
because, like every repugican policy that takes money out of the
economy, it kills existing and potential jobs. In fact, every dollar
spent on programs like food stamps, unemployment benefits, and all other
domestic programs is immediately spent and put back into the economy
and not hoarded like the wealthy, Wall Street, corporations, and the oil
industry that have recorded obscene profits over the past year but not
hired. It is why the third quarter economic report was
misleading
in its alleged good news because although big business invested in
inventory that raised GDP significantly (3.6%), real growth (Gross
Domestic Income) rose only 1.4% that means Americans do not have money
to spend that is key to business expansion and hiring.
The December jobs report was not a surprise, but it was weak and
precisely what repugicans wanted and economists predicted. The repugicans
launched a campaign to gut regulations and cut taxes that has never
created jobs because it puts money in the hands of corporations and big
business and not the people who drive job creation; American consumers.
Besides 1.6 million jobs expected to be lost due to the sequester, the
government shutdown killed at least 120,000 jobs in its first six days,
and the $5 billion in food stamp cuts in 2014 will take $10 billion out
of the economy and kill more jobs. Not extending unemployment benefits
will kill 240,000 jobs on top of the nearly
one million lost
during 2013 before the shutdown, food stamp cuts, or sequester had time
to do their job-killing damage. This is the message President Obama and
Democrats have to drive home to the American people who know they are
either jobless or barely surviving much less having money to spend that
creates jobs.
Business owners
know why
they cannot hire new workers, or expand, and it has nothing to do with
regulations or taxes. They also know that as fewer Americans have money
to spend they will have to start letting workers go just to stay afloat
and that no amount of tax cuts or deregulation will bring in customers.
Despite all the damage repugicans have wrought on the economy, or the
number of jobs they deliberately killed in 2013 alone, they spent the
last three months killing nearly another million jobs in 2014 in
addition to nearly a million in 2013 and 1.6 million slated for 2014 due
to the sequester. The only people surprised by the “
surprisingly weak”
December jobs report were comatose over the past year, because the CBO,
real economists, President Obama, and repugicans knew it was coming;
only repugicans celebrated because their plans were bearing fruit.
