Thursday, January 22, 2004
A What?
A jobs-training program?
What will he do, teach them to speak Chinese?
Let's go over this again:
1. Jobs are moving overseas. This means fewer jobs here. The only job sector that's shown signs of life is the service sector. These are low-paying, non-benefit, often part-time jobs.
So unless the Bush job-training program consists of lessons on how to properly prepare and serve cucumber sandwiches and martinis, it won't help the millions of perfectly well-trained Americans who can't find good jobs because they don't happen to live in Bombay.
2. "Increased Productivity" is not necessarily a sign of an improving economy. Right now what it means is fewer people with jobs doing all the work that needs to get done.
3. An improving stock market is good for stock owners (sometimes), employers (usually) and upper management (always). It's not necessarily a sign of good, sustainable economic growth. Today what it means is higher profits from reduced labor costs (from moving jobs overseas), lower taxes (from basing companies offshore), and reduced liabilities (from so-called "tort reform").
4. Higher profits and lower taxes do not always result in jobs growth. In fact, those who haven't figured this out yet need to put down their Ayn Rand, rub their eyes, and take a good look around. The reality today is that any increased profit that creates jobs does so somewhere else.
Business has an obligation to maximize profit, and that includes reducing labor costs. Fair enough. But let's stop pretending that their doing so will create jobs here. Because it won't, until either labor costs in Asia rise to meet ours, or our standard of living falls to theirs.
5. You know what creates jobs? Demand. You know what creates demand? People with income. You know what creates people with income? Jobs.
It's time the lie of supply-side economics--which already proved itself a failure--was finally, thoroughly exposed, and replaced by demand-side economics, which puts money in the hands of those who spend it--which in turn creates jobs.
It worked really well for decades. Remember?
6. The unemployment figures don't count the people that have given up looking for work, or have taken jobs way below their training and earning potential. And in any event, the Bush administration has taken to just plain misrepresenting the jobs figures, as pointed out by an astute reader back on January 9:
This is already happening. And George Bush knows it.
What will he do, teach them to speak Chinese?
Let's go over this again:
1. Jobs are moving overseas. This means fewer jobs here. The only job sector that's shown signs of life is the service sector. These are low-paying, non-benefit, often part-time jobs.
So unless the Bush job-training program consists of lessons on how to properly prepare and serve cucumber sandwiches and martinis, it won't help the millions of perfectly well-trained Americans who can't find good jobs because they don't happen to live in Bombay.
2. "Increased Productivity" is not necessarily a sign of an improving economy. Right now what it means is fewer people with jobs doing all the work that needs to get done.
3. An improving stock market is good for stock owners (sometimes), employers (usually) and upper management (always). It's not necessarily a sign of good, sustainable economic growth. Today what it means is higher profits from reduced labor costs (from moving jobs overseas), lower taxes (from basing companies offshore), and reduced liabilities (from so-called "tort reform").
4. Higher profits and lower taxes do not always result in jobs growth. In fact, those who haven't figured this out yet need to put down their Ayn Rand, rub their eyes, and take a good look around. The reality today is that any increased profit that creates jobs does so somewhere else.
Business has an obligation to maximize profit, and that includes reducing labor costs. Fair enough. But let's stop pretending that their doing so will create jobs here. Because it won't, until either labor costs in Asia rise to meet ours, or our standard of living falls to theirs.
5. You know what creates jobs? Demand. You know what creates demand? People with income. You know what creates people with income? Jobs.
It's time the lie of supply-side economics--which already proved itself a failure--was finally, thoroughly exposed, and replaced by demand-side economics, which puts money in the hands of those who spend it--which in turn creates jobs.
It worked really well for decades. Remember?
6. The unemployment figures don't count the people that have given up looking for work, or have taken jobs way below their training and earning potential. And in any event, the Bush administration has taken to just plain misrepresenting the jobs figures, as pointed out by an astute reader back on January 9:
1. "Nonfarm business payrolls grew by only 1,000 jobs, far fewer than the 150,000 economists had been expecting, according to a survey by Dow Jones Newswires and CNBC. ...Those losses (38,000 in retail and 26,000 in manufacturing) offset gains in the professional- and business-services industry, which added 45,000 jobs. The majority of that gain came from the addition of 30,000 temporary-help services jobs during the month."7. An economic system that creates increased profits without domestic job growth will result, inevitably, in a decline in the standard of living for most Americans. Not only because of job loss, but because the jobs will only come back when labor costs here are as low as they are elsewhere.
Reader comment: In other words, the net 1000 gain was due to 30,000 TEMPORARY jobs in the service sector. Without those, there would have been big net LOSS.
2. "Adding insult to injury, the department also cut its earlier estimates of job growth for October and November, saying the job count for those months was 51,000 less than initially thought."
Reader comment: In other words, the job growth reported in the last two months was inflated.
This is already happening. And George Bush knows it.
