Salon: The No Jobs President

[kskiska]

Don't believe the Bush administration's hand-wringing over its pathetic record on employment. The president's backers want a stagnant job market -- it keeps the help from getting uppity.

By James K. Galbraith

On Tuesday night, President Bush will use his State of the Union to claim that tax cuts have restored economic growth, and he may mention the stock market's rise last year. But the transcendent economic issue this election year isn't the growth rate. It isn't the stock market. It also isn't the budget deficit the tax cuts caused. And it isn't even the rate of unemployment. It's the number of people in this country who have decent work -- and the number who don't.

(snip)

The method is clear to any who choose to study closely: It is a method of subterfuge and deception. It is the systematic and relentless pursuit of partly hidden agendas, sold to the public with slogans. The tax cuts were not aimed to produce recovery and jobs; they were a reward to the rich. The war on Iraq was not waged to help the war on terror; it was about getting Saddam, as we have now had confirmed by Paul O'Neill's report on the Iraq agenda Bush carried from the beginning. Missile defense is not about North Korea, and still less about Iran or any other "rogue state"; it's about the contracts. In all these cases, the decision on what to do came first -- then the circumstances of the day were arranged to suit.

So it is today on the economy. What does Bush want? He wants a growth rate high enough to get him through the election. That's obvious. After that, he doesn't care. His clientele -- the military contractors, oil companies, pharmaceutical firms and big media that control this government -- make their money on patents, contracts and the exercise of monopoly power. (Case in point: Bush is pressuring impoverished Central Americans, in trade negotiations, to add 10 years to the length of drug patents.) These people have no interest in full employment. They like unemployment, weak labor, low wages and a government that bullies on their behalf. And after the election, if Bush wins, that is what they will get for four more years.

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http://salon.com/opinion/feature/2004/01/19/no_jobs/index.html

[Stephanie]

1. I'd like to know why they call this an opinion piece

Looks to me like straight reporting.

That is a very frightening article. I really am scared now.

[brainwashed_youth]

2. just pray...

for the sake of the nation that a good man like Wesley Clark becomes our next president. I'm as worried as you about the economy. This should make us want to get rid of this unelected motherfucker even more

[Dudley_DUright]

4. Even more frightening,

the "reporter" in this case is one of the most respected economists in the world.

James K. Galbraith is a professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, the University of Texas at Austin, and Senior Scholar with the Levy Economics Institute.

[unblock]

3. they've created a TON of jobs!

it's just that they pay in rupees....

[teryang]

5. Kick

Opinion? This is exactly what is going on.