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October 8, 2004
As with the situation in Iraq, President Bush continues to ignore reality on jobs and the economy here at home. The Labor Department reported today that only 96,000 new jobs were created in September – far less than expected and well below what is necessary to keep up with population changes and to erase years of job losses. The employed share of the population actually declined for the second month in a row as many Americans, disenchanted with the weak labor market, gave up looking for jobs altogether. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.4 percent in September, well above the 4.2 percent unemployment rate when Bush took office in 2001. Yet the president tells us this represents "progress."
- The president's economic priorities have not worked: tax cuts for the wealthy have not produced real opportunities for the middle class. President Bush sold his trillions of dollars in tax cuts geared towards the top 2 percent of earners as a way to create jobs and increase wages for middle class workers. The results are undeniable: hundreds of thousands of lost jobs, flat wages, reduced government revenues, and soaring budget deficits.
- More of the same on the economy will only make matters worse. The president and his conservative allies argue that permanently extending his tax cuts and cutting others will lead us towards economic paradise. With a $5 trillion projected budget deficit and continued job and wage stagnation, the economy can not take much more of conservatives' economic wisdom.
- Nothing will change unless the president first admits economic problems exist and then corrects his policies to fit reality. The president's "optimism" on the economy won't create more jobs, raise wages, or erase massive budget deficits. He's already thrown all fiscal caution to the wind by promoting job creation through massive tax cuts for the wealthy. It has not worked. The president must face reality, restore fiscal responsibility, and pursue economic policies geared to the middle class.
Daily Talking Points is a product of the American Progress Action Fund.
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Daily Talking Points is a product of the American Progress Action Fund. |
