Unemployment among government workers last month was 3.4 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor statistics, meaning government workers are about three times less likely to be jobless than the general population. From this disparity, Democrats have somehow concluded that what we really need is a greater disparity. How else can anyone explain their plan for an additional $50 billion bailout to prevent further job losses among state and local government workers?
President Obama is now pleading with Congress for $23 billion to prevent teacher layoffs, $25 billion for state health care programs and $2 billion for police and firemen. Bear in mind that the original stimulus, which passed in February 2009, already contained a $53.6 billion “State Fiscal Stabilization Fund,” which included $39.5 billion for local school districts to prevent teacher layoffs and program cuts. Public-sector unions, the primary beneficiaries of this largesse, were already calling for a second stimulus in July 2009 — less than five months after the original one passed.
