Despite four tax cuts in four years, and endless promises about prosperity being right around the corner, when it comes to job growth, Bush is still a miserable failure.
U.S. hiring slowed significantly last month, the Labor Department reported today, dampening an economic outlook already clouded by lagging pre-holiday shopping by wary consumers.
The November figure of 112,000 new jobs was well below forecasts for the month of 180,000 to 200,000 and not enough to keep up with population growth or to even approach the growth in October.
White House press secretary Scott McClellan, whose attachment to reality is teetering on the need for medication, responded to the latest depressing jobs report by saying, “The president’s economic policies are working.” I wonder if even he believes the nonsense he’s shoveling.
I know I say this every month, but let’s look at the big picture again.
Bush swore up and down last year that if Congress passed his third sweeping tax cut proposal, the economy would create 300,000 jobs a month, every month, starting in July 2003. Out of those 17 months, job growth has failed to meet Bush’s guarantees 14 times, including five of the last six months.
The numbers are, for anyone in touch with reality, almost impossible to spin. Forget falling short of Wall Street expectations; the economy isn’t even creating enough jobs to break even with population growth. This, despite trillions of dollars in tax cuts for the wealthy, which Bush was certain would create robust job gains.
I really would enjoy hearing a substantive White House explanation. Bush and his team promised that their policies would create 5.5 million new jobs by the end of 2004. They’re several million jobs short and we’re seeing the weakest job recovery since the 1930s. Any chance someone at the White House can explain why they were so wrong — again?