Recovery Or Snow Job?
Treasury Secretary John Snow says the economy is turning around. The question is, "Which economy?"
While the GDP grew 7.2% last quarter, 146,000 jobs were lost. Profits are up, but jobs are down. The CEO economy is doing better, but on Main Street the news is grim.
More than 34 million Americans, including 12 million kids, live below the poverty line. Nine million people are unemployed. Just since Bush took office, 2.5 million manufacturing jobs have been cut or sent overseas. Meanwhile, displaced workers aren’t being trained for new jobs. Health care and college tuitions have seen double-digit increases since 2000. And according to the Federal Reserve, household debt, when compared to disposable income, is at a 20-year peak.
Even the CEO economy is bound to stumble. The markets won’t tolerate the fiscal recklessness and heavy debt the White House has embraced. Alexander Hamilton, our first secretary of the treasury, knew this. He proposed paying down the Continental Congress’ war debts—not cutting taxes—to shore up America’s business climate.
Last winter, while selling another round of tax cuts, the White House promised the cuts would create 306,000 jobs a month. That didn’t happen. As the Economic Policy Institute and Campaign for America’s Future point out, Secretary Snow’s more recent claim of 200,000 new jobs a month rings as hollow as last year’s promise.
Patriots of the past, like Hamilton, were honest with citizens during tough times. For many Americans these are such times. |
