GOP/TP — Heavily Employed In Lying About Unemployment
From our nemeses in the GOP we constantly hear how the Obama administration has during its tenure failed to create any jobs whatever. Of course, that’s patently false. This, in turn, proves to already-made-up GOP and Tea Party minds that Keynesian style stimulus does not work. Of course, that too is patently false. Are you sensing a pattern? . . .
Here’s a bit of outright lying beamed to us by OX News (yes, I mean “OX”), the GOP/TP’s media outlet, OX Business’ Follow the Money, October 19, 2011:
BOLLING: All right, very quickly, Z99, guys. This is Harry Reid responding to Senator McConnell’s blame-game accusation.
REID : “The massive layoffs we’ve had in America today have, of course — are rooted in the last administration, and it’s very clear that private-sector jobs have been doing just fine. It’s the public-sector jobs where we’ve lost huge numbers.”
BOLLING: First of all, can I just point something out? Public-sector jobs have increased by almost 160,000 since President Obama took office. What is he talking about?
STEPHEN HAYES (Fox News contributor): Yeah, you’re going to hear that clip again and again and again.
Yeah, Mr. Hayes, we are going to hear that Harry Reid clip again and again because it is true. And yes, we will hear and see the Bolling/Hayes palaver again and again because it is bombastically false, even for OX News.
It’s interestingly wrong. Here we have Bolling and Hayes, OX minions, insisting that public sector jobs have grown since 2009. This from the network who have been first in promoting the firing of nearly every public sector employee in the nation. It is false that Bolling and Hayes do not know the numbers – public sector jobs have fallen since early 2009, and precipitously so since the end of the Census uptick in Jan. to April 2010. Bolling and Hayes simply lie, as does nearly the entirety of the GOP/TP. And to lie so bluntly when they firstly, know the truth, and secondly they also know that the public sector job statistics are available to anyone who can reach the DOL netsite. The GOP/TP through its concerted effort has destroyed more than 550,000+ public sector jobs primarily in those state governments they control. Witness Wisconsin, Ohio, Maine, and Florida.
An August 30, 2011 Census report, Bureau’s Annual Survey of Public Employment and Payroll. , provided its most up-to-date public sector data. It’s summary:
The 90,740 state and local governments across the country had 16.6 million full-time equivalent employees in 2010, 203,321 fewer than were employed in 2009, according to estimates released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. The majority of these employees, 9.0 million, worked in education, followed by those working in hospitals (986,471) police protection (946,196) and corrections (731,692).
Part-time state and local government employees numbered 4.8 million in 2010, a decrease of 27,567 from 2009.
Local governments — which include counties, cities, townships, special districts and school districts — accounted for 12.2 million full-time equivalent employees in 2010, while state governments employed 4.4 million. Both figures showed decreases from 2009. The number of full-time equivalent employees is equal to the number of full-time employees added to the number of hours worked by part-time employees divided by the standard number of hours for a full-time employee.
“Public-sector jobs have increased by almost 160,000 since President Obama took office,” Mr. Bolling?
Also, Republicans nearly en masse claim the Obama administration has failed to produce private sector jobs. In fact, since the Recovery Act took effect, the private sector has gained 1.4 million jobs. So urgently do they want to bury Keynes and communitarianism forever, they are desperately trying to keep this fact hidden from the electorate.,
However, the Department of Labor’s official blog, (Work in Progress) produced a stinging rebuttal to GOP/TP claims with a chart produced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics Program. See the private sector only chart there. Below, though, based on the BLS chart, I’ve produced an enhanced one that includes public sector employment data, also garnered from the BLS. It’s the best way to see how truly breathtaking are both the GOP/TP’s unabashed lying and delusional mind-set:
Well, last week the the Democratic Senate was halted in its attempt to pass a portion of the American Jobs Act, i.e. that portion that would help create hundreds of thousands of state and local jobs for teachers and first responders. Craven to the ‘enth degree, the GOP voted unanimously to prevent the measure from being voted on (joined, unfortunately, by Democrats John Tester (OH) and Bill Nelson (NE), and so-called Independent Joe Lieberman (CT)). Here’s Reid’s response:
“By asking millionaires to pay an extra half a penny on the dollar, this bill would have created jobs by keeping our communities safe and ensuring that our children continue to have access to a high-quality education. Unfortunately, protecting millionaires and defeating President Obama are more important to my Republican colleagues than creating jobs and getting our economy back on track.
“Democrats agree with the overwhelming majority of Americans that teachers and first responder jobs are worth defending, while lower taxes for millionaires and billionaires are not.”
