Every once in awhile a politician will make a statement that, while not accurate, nevertheless reveals a larger truth about the two parties in Washington. Making the case for President Obama’s second stimulus on the Senate floor, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said yesterday: “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, and that’s what this legislation is all about.”
For starters, this statement is just plain false. Since the recession began in December 2007, the private sector shed 6.3 million net jobs (or 5.4% of its workforce), while government payrolls are down by just 392,000 (only 1.8 percent of its workforce). It is true that over the past couple months, the private sector has begun to add some jobs, while the public sector continues to lose them, but the private sector is not adding nearly enough jobs to lower the unemployment rate. Furthermore, the public sector is only losing jobs now because they were initially shielded from the recession by Obama’s first stimulus. Now that that temporary spending is gone, the public sector is facing the reality the rest of the nation had to endure months ago. Passing Obama’s second stimulus would only delay the inevitable again.
But more importantly, Reid’s statement highlights the Democrats’ core belief that government should be the center of economic activity, not the private sector. And yesterday, a Bloomberg story revealed the results of the Democrats’ government: Washington, DC, the seat of federal government power, has just supplanted San Jose, the seat of private sector innovation, as the wealthiest metropolitan area in the country. The major difference between the two is the latter creates wealth while the former sucks it out of the economy.
Around the Bigs
The Washington Post, Obama still flush with cash from financial sector despite frosty relations: Despite his anti-Wall Street rhetoric, President Obama has raised more money from the financial sector than all of the Republican candidates combined.
CNBC, Energy Department Altered Loan-Related Releases: The Obama Energy Department has been caught changing old press releases about the controversial loan guarantee program that gave $527 million to the now-bankrupt solar firm Solyndra. The Obama administration does not want people to know that they gave $1.2 billion to the now financially troubled firm SunPower. SunPower has since sold the project they secured the loan for to NRG Energy. The changes in the old press releases made it seem like the original loan had been made to NRG Energy, not SunPower.
The Christian Science Monitor, A Long, Steep Drop for Americans’ Standard of Living: The standard of living for Americans has fallen longer and more steeply over the past three years than at any time since the U.S. government began recording it five decades ago.
Gallup, Americans Grow More Negative About Their Personal Finances: Nearly half of Americans polled by Gallup now say their financial situation is “getting worse,” only 29% say it is getting better. Earlier this year, Americans split on worse/better at 41 percent apiece.
The New York Times, Warning by States as Tax Revenues Fail to Rebound: Many states, including, Florida, California, New York, New Jersey, and Washington, have all seen their tax collections come in below expectations in recent months due to the continuing weakness of the economy under Obama.
The Los Angeles Times, Occupy LA protests plan to expand beyond City Hall: Occupy LA protesters have already cost the city at least $45,000, but as the protest grows beyond 700 people, it is looking to expand beyond City Hall’s lawn. Occupy LA is planning to set up a satellite camp on Fletcher Bowron Square across the street.
Oakland Tribune, Oakland Occupy residents struggle with internal security issues: Violence erupted in the Occupy Oakland camp after residents tried to eject a protester. One Oakland police officer told the Tribune the Occupy tent city had descended into a scene from “Lord of the Flies.”
The Wall Street Journal, Bill Would Give U.S. Visas to Foreign Home Buyers: Sens. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Mike Lee, R- Utah, have co-sponsored a bill that would give residence visas to foreigners who spend at least $500,000 to buy houses in the U.S.
The Washington Post, Supercommittee’s lack of progress on debt reduction raises alarms on Hill: According to Post sources, the Super Congress is “running in rhetorical circles,” unable to “reach consensus on the most basic elements of a plan” to restrain government borrowing.
USA Today, Social Security benefits to increase 3.6%: For the first time since 2009, the cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, for Social Security recipients will increase by 3.6%.
Campaign 2012
GOP Field: A Pew Poll asking respondents for the first word that comes to mind when they hear a GOP candidates name found that most people thought “Mormon” when they heard Romney, most thought “Texas” when they heard Perry, and most thought “9-9-9″ when they heard Cain.
GOP Field: The latest AP-GfK poll finds that while half of Americans do not want to see Obama reelected, none of the current GOP cnadidates beat Obama in a head-to-head match-up. Romney comes closest at 48-45.
Romney: The Examiner’s Tim Carney predicts that cozy relationships with Wall Street will end up hurting Mitt Romney at the ballot box: “Obama’s attacks on Wall Street may be naked opportunism. But by standing with the titans of finance, Romney is not only playing tone-deaf politics, he’s also being unfaithful to the free market.”
Perry: At the Western Republican Leadership Conference in Las Vegas, Wednesday, Texas Gov. Rick Perry announced he will introduce an economic plan that will include a flat-tax proposal.
Cain: Herman Cain told CNN’s Piers Morgan he was pro-life, but then also said, “So what I’m saying is, it ultimately gets down to a choice that that family or that mother has to make. Not me as president. Not some politician. Not a bureaucrat. It gets down to that family. And whatever they decide, they decide.”
Righty Playbook
Townhall‘s Guy Benson wonders if Team Romney should realy be attacking Texas job creation record.
At The Corner, Avik Roy reports that the residents of Wall Street are fast growing tired of the protesters occupying their neighborhood.
According to BNET, Al Gore’s Current TV has lost nearly a third of its viewers since it paid Keith Olbermann $10 million to bring his show to the network.
Human Events‘ Jason Matera confronts Vice President Joe Biden for claiming that Republican opposition to Obama’s jobs bill will cause more rapes.
Hot Air’s Tina Korbe can’t believe President Obama told ABC News’ Jake Tapper, “I believe all the choices we’ve made have been the right ones.”
Lefty Playbook
Jonathan Chait explains why Obama is powerless to pass his jobs plan: “If the GOP can block Obama’s plan, and voters respond by blaming Obama for this, what possible reason do they have for giving in? Supporting Obama’s plan would, for the Republicans, be an act of monumental political stupidity.”
The American Prospect‘s Jamelle Bouie takes Obama to task for neglecting judicial nominations: “In other words, because of Obama’s neglect, we stand a good chance of giving conservative ideologues the tools they need to dismantle the welfare state, and leave liberals in a losing battle against right-wing legal theories.”
Public Policy Polling predicts that Gov. John Kasich will lose his fight against unions to stop a ballot proposition that would repeal his collective bargaining reform bill.
