Job Watch and Job Blackmail

The Washington State ergonomics standard was defeated largely because people believed the job blackmail arguments of the business associations -- that the ergonomics standard was a job killer.

Well, they were lying about ergonomics regs costing jobs, but peoples' fears about job loss are very real. Bush has succeeded in exploiting those fears by using the promise of job creation to justify his tax cuts for the rich.

I'm not one to criticize someone for creating jobs, but how do we know whether the Pres is telling the truth? Are his tax cuts really creating jobs? Enquring minds want to know.

To the rescue rides the Economic Policy Institute with its Job Watch web page.

JobWatch tracks job growth and measures it against the number of jobs the Bush Administration said would be created when their 2003 tax cut proposal was passed by Congress. Specifically, the Bush Administration has claimed that when the cuts went into effect the economy would create 5.5 million jobs from July 2003 through the end of 2004.

Oh, and to answer my question...I was shocked, SHOCKED to find out that Bush was lying wrong. From June through September instead of the 918,000 new jobs that were promised, 41,000 jobs were lost.

So that means, let's see...carry the one...that he's off by only 959,000 jobs.

And here's what the leader of the repeal of the Washington State ergonomics standard said yesterday:

"It absolutely means more jobs," said Tom McCabe, executive vice president of the Building Industry Association of Washington, repeating the theme the powerful homebuilders group used so often during the campaign. "Jobs was the message here, that message resonated with the voters."

Anyone want to volunteer to keep track?