EDITORIAL

The 'recovery' remains jobless

The U.S. economy grew by 3.5 percent from July to September, the Commerce Department reports. It would be a mistake to reject even this small a piece of good news. But, contradictorily, unemployment continued to rise, to a 26-year high of 9.8 percent.

Since the recession began in 2007, the United States has lost 7.2 million jobs. Unemployment has risen more than 2 percentage points since President Obama took office in January.

Economists project the jobless rate will exceed 10 percent by early 2010. And those are national figures -- things are a lot worse here in Nevada.

"Any positive signs for our economy are welcome," said John Boehner, the top Republican in the House of Representatives, "but a jobless recovery is not what the American people were promised."

Even President Obama was wise enough to acknowledge "the benchmark I use to measure the strength of our economy is not just whether our GDP is growing, but whether we are creating jobs, whether families are having an easier time paying their bills, whether our businesses are hiring and doing well."

It's fairly clear why jobs are not rebounding. Investors are unlikely to start new businesses -- nor existing businesses, hanging on by their fingernails, to increase staffing -- till consumer spending rebounds enough to justify those investments.

But the unemployed are limited in what they can spend, and consumers in general are still sitting on their wallets, understandably uncertain about the economic future.

What's the source of much of that uncertainty? Ironically, the city that beats its chest and claims to be engaging in heroic measures to "save the economy" -- Washington.

Health insurance "reform" was supposed to trim costs, making medicine more affordable. But everyone knows that the costs of the new Democratic scheme will balloon -- just as Medicare and Medicaid did, before it.

Meantime, the scheme to "cap and tax" emissions of carbon dioxide -- supposedly to fight chimerical "man-made global warming" -- threatens to impose huge new costs on anyone who drives a car or uses electricity.

Talk about uncertainty.

Even the "good news" of GDP growth is at least partly attributable to one-time government gimmicks. The federal government spent money it doesn't have -- money it will have to eventually raise through new taxes -- to subsidize first-time home buyers and "cash for clunkers." But the government aid is only temporary.

Besides, nearly half a percentage point of the GDP growth in the third quarter -- 0.48 percentage points -- came from a 7.9 percent rise in federal spending. Should government spending really be counted as economic growth, since government only gets its money by grabbing it from the private sector, thus holding down growth, there?

A spot check by The Associated Press of the 30,000 jobs claimed to have been "created" by the stimulus determined 5,000 of the 30,000 -- one in six -- were bogus, some jobs being counted more than four times. One Florida day care center handed out raises all around and then claimed 129 "jobs saved."

We should not lose sight of the fact that claims of government "job creation" are usually false on their face, because all government can do is transfer funds that otherwise might have been used by taxpaying businesses to create their own, more stable jobs elsewhere.

Besides, if the "stimulus" cost $787 billion and is now seen as "running out of steam," are we wrong, or would even 30,000 jobs end up costing $26 million per job?

Surely the private sector could have done a little better than that.

Trending topics:

• jobless recovery
• unemployment
• gross domestic product

Comments

Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background.

1. Jack.Webb Oct. 30, 2009 | 9:08 p.m. Report Abuse

   Notes from former Vice President Dick Cheney's interview with the FBI about the leak of Valerie Plame Wilson's covert CIA identity were finally released on Friday afternoon after a lengthy legal battle. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington sued the Justice Department last year to obtain the interview notes; a judge finally ordered their release on October 1. In the interview, Cheney demonstrated a behavior common among Bush administration officials under investigation: he couldn't remember much of anything. Here's a non-comprehensive list of 22 things Dick Cheney claimed he couldn't recall about the Plame case, in the order they appear in the FBI's notes:
   
   http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2009/10/22-things-dick-cheney-cant-remember-about-plame-case

2. Jack.Webb Oct. 30, 2009 | 9:05 p.m. Report Abuse

   Levi Johnston appeared on CBS' Early Show Wednesday, where he explained his reasons for spilling unflattering information about the Palin family and said he was keeping some "huge" secrets.
   
   Among other things, Johnston said Palin joked about her son Trig's Down Syndrome, calling him her "retarded baby."
   
   "I was just in shock the first time I heard it," he said, when host Maggie Rodriguez expressed disbelief. He also said Bristol took care of the baby much more than her mother:...

3. gehrig Oct. 30, 2009 | 8:36 p.m. Report Abuse

   what's cool is that many union drones voted for the "change" oaf and harry osama reid. wait'll harry osama gets his "pre-citizens" anointed into the workforce.
   
   gotta be millions who can replace current "skilled trades" zombies at down to reality wages. all current u.s. "skilled trades" had to learn, why not the hungry, motivated, non-zombie union members ?
   
   i've started a gig list for stuff around the properties. the moment harry sidesteps u.s. immigration laws, i'll save thousands paying "slave labor" costs. then mebbe we'll see some american workers pacing in front of home centers and plant nurseries, along with a hundred new "citizens". competition is good.
   
   doesn't sound too smart to me that any american would vote himself out of a job.

4. Rasputin Oct. 30, 2009 | 5:00 p.m. Report Abuse

   Jen -
   
   Luckily for the majority of construction workers (the journeymen, not laborers, mind you), construction is fundamentally the same, no matter where you perform it. I personally know of carpenters that have relocated to Utah; the pay isn't as good as here, but the cost of living is significantly lower. The boom may have busted here, but construction WILL continue in the U.S. of A.
   
   It's a little different with the auto workers - they're tied to the auto manufacturing plants, and as such are subject to the vagaries of the auto industry. Construction, happily, does not comply with such rigid geographical necessity.
   
   As to your thoughts of 'thinking forward and continue to look behind', I couldn't agree with you more. HOWEVER - I challenge anyone to give me ONE name of a member of congress or senate who actually practice that.
   
   Deplorable, when you lose faith utterly with those who have been elected by your peers.

5. gehrig Oct. 30, 2009 | 3:18 p.m. Report Abuse

   apparently not well reported in "main stream media' is that a noted auto industry watchdog, "edmunds", cal'd that cash for clunkers "opportunity" costs taxpayers $24k per car. seems to me that with a gubmit check for 24k a fellow'd be able to walk into most showrooms and leave with a worthy ride. mebbe with some change to boot.

6. Fausto Oct. 30, 2009 | 2:00 p.m. Report Abuse

   By the way...that TRILLION with a T.
   
   Remember back to those good 'ol days of 1992 when the national debt was just a few of those. Now we spend those on one bill going through congress (CBO Estimates of latest Pelosi bill which Obama touts a deficit neutral).

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