Speaker Boehner, Where Are The JOBS???

Bunk economics. Where are the jobs Mr. Speaker?

Boehner forwarded a letter to the White House from 150 economists – many with conservative backgrounds – saying: "To support real economic growth and support the creation of private-sector jobs, immediate action is needed to rein in federal spending." The three-paragraph letter did not seek to document a link between lower government spending and increased jobs, and some rival economists said it would be hard to do so.

So, what did the rivals say?

With unemployment at 9 percent, the evidence that federal spending hurts job growth "is thin to nonexistent," said Princeton economist Alan Blinder. If the economy were running at full capacity, he said, Republicans would have a valid argument in saying that an extra federal hire or expenditure might displace a private-sector hire or expenditure. But there's a lot of "slack in the economy," he said.

Alexander J. Field, an economics professor at Santa Clara University, said he had "very little sympathy for the sentiments" in the letter Boehner forwarded. Spending cuts should be pursued when economies are strong, not weak, he said, and the House Republicans' agenda would probably increase unemployment.

And how about the other party?

Senate Democrats said Wednesday the House GOP plan would eliminate nearly $700 million in Title I grants to schools with disadvantaged students, and about "10,000 teachers and aides could lose their jobs." Congressional offices circulated White House budget office estimates saying the Republican bill would cut Head Start by more than $1 billion, leading to the layoffs of about 55,000 teachers and staff.

The liberal Economic Policy Institute says that overall, the House GOP plan "would likely result in job losses of just over 800,000."

Oh, and Eric Cantor gets in on the looking stupid act.

The office of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., criticized the group's use of a "fiscal multiplier" in its analysis. John Irons, an economist and chief researcher for the Economic Policy Institute, said the multipliers are a standard, broadly accepted tool used by the Federal Reserve, Wall Street analysts and others.

Boehner spokesman Mike Steel said, "Our goal is to create the environment for private-sector job creation by ending Washington Democrats' spending binge – because their `stimulus' has utterly failed to create the jobs they promised."

And don't think just the GOP leadership is stupid. Their members are too.

Republican Rep. Jack Kingston of Georgia said his party needs to do a better job of explaining the need for government job cuts.

"The private sector has had to reduce the number of jobs in order to be competitive," he said, "and I think now the public sector is going to have to reduce some of their jobs in order to stay lean, or try to get lean."

Besides, Kingston said, government workers "tend to justify their jobs by coming up with more regulations on the private sector, and that kills jobs."

In other words, we need to accept 10% unemployment as a norm to be competitive in Congressman Kingston's America. What the hell is the point of being competitive in that way, for those of us who don't have a silver spoon in our mouth from birth? Why should we accept this?

The GOP members in Congress do not give a damn about you or your job, unless you're rich. They fundamentally believe the economy is driven by the wealthy- they believe "capitol" is superior to "labor." These beliefs are just false. Demand drives the American economy, not supply. Even as late as the Gingrich years, supply-side Congressmen still understood you had to do some things for workers, and to spur consumption by the middle class. Not today's GOP. If it's not corporate, John Boehner don't like it.