On the Vast Unemployment of the US Government
So not only do we have a lack of basic economic fluency by Republicans, their New Day leadership hasn’t a clue about job creation — Michael Steele yesterday AM on ABC:
STEELE: You’ve got to look at what’s going to create sustainable jobs. What this administration is talking about is making work. It is creating work.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But that’s a job.
STEELE: No, it’s not a job. A job is something that — that a business owner creates. It’s going to be long term. What he’s creating…
STEPHANOPOULOS: So a job doesn’t count if it’s a government job?
(CROSSTALK)
STEELE: Hold on. No, let me — let me — let me finish. That is a contract. It ends at a certain point, George. You know that. These road projects that we’re talking about have an end point.
As a small-business owner, I’m looking to grow my business, expand my business. I want to reach further. I want to be international. I want to be national. It’s a whole different perspective on how you create a job versus how you create work. And I’m — either way, the bottom line is…
STEPHANOPOULOS: I guess I don’t really understand that distinction.
STEELE: Well, the difference — the distinction is this. If a government — if you’ve got a government contract that is a fixed period of time, it goes away. The work may go away. That’s — there’s no guarantee that that — that there’s going to be more work when you’re done in that job.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Yes, but we’ve seen millions and millions of jobs going away in the private sector just in the last year.
STEELE: But they come — yes, they — and they come back, though, George. That’s the point. When they go — they’ve gone away before, and they come back.
Yep, you read it. The problem with the package is that it creates work — not jobs. The government doesn’t create any jobs. Which is probably news to the entire Armed Forces, but since we barely pay them minimum wage, perhaps they’ll agree that they aren’t really employed by the government. And the mail guys are going to be really surprised to find that they don’t have government jobs.
WTF?
I also think that this means that workers who have been laid off or who are in danger of being laid off should go right back to their private sector employers and tell them the Michael Steele says that private sector jobs are supposed to be forever.
EDIT: Crooks and Liars have dedicated a completely brilliant video to Mr. Steele’s dystopian vision of work.
Tags: Republican Bamboozlement
When they go — they’ve gone away before, and they come back.
Just like the magical unicorn. One minute it’s here, the next it’s gone, but then it comes back.
and then the unicorn is gone
Orwell would have loved that exchange.
GOP – It’s not a job it’s only work, you see.
Regular person – Oh, does it pay money I can spend on other stuff?
GOP – Yes, but a some point the assignment will end.
Regular person – Yeah, I get it… I’ll take it.
GOP – Why don’t you play my idealogical political games?
Regular person – I think you are kind of an asshole.
LOL DG.
BTW, don’t a large portion of small business go bankrupt every year. I couldn’t find a stat, but as many of us know, no job is permanent.
It appears that the Steele family may have the looks for success but not the brains (read: Common Sense). Mike joins a group that metaphorically punches his kind in the face, while his sister marries a man known to punch women in the face (read: Mike Tyson).
heh.
This is pure gibberish. A job is only a job if it’s in the private sector and permanent? And if they go away, they come back? Perhaps all the unemployed Americans should contact their former private sector employer and request their reinstatement date.
What an embarrassment.
All the people who built the hoover dam were not really working in jobs. Lazy bastards! (The 112 workers who died were the laziest of all.)
C’mon guys. Just give more tax break to rich people and “business owners” they’ll hire everyone!
FF101 – You are so right.
Jason – Very Colbert-esqe.
What the hell would Steele know about a job?
You know what I love? My dad, a small business owner, just stopped by and basically asked what the fuck these Republicans are thinking when it comes to tax cuts. He said, as a small business owner, tax cuts do him no good because he can’t do shit with $3000 in the long term. He said “what am I gonna do? Hire someone for two months?”
Of course, my dad’s a VERY liberal Democrat who’s never bought into the bullshit “tax cuts” line the GOP so casually bandies about.
I know y’all studiously avoid listening to Rick Jensen, but if you had been listening last week, you’d have heard him saying this same thing – somewhat more articulately – repeatedly. And though Rick was more articulate, the point still sounded just as ridiculous.
The point is probably that when the private sector creates a job, it is paid for by those who want the goods or services. A public sector job is paid for by the taxpayers, who frequently don’t want what the government is peddling them. In other words, if I’m a small business owner, I’m paying my own employees who help make me successful. But I’m also paying for those government employees who are frequently not helpful or are trying to find ways to make it more difficult for me to prosper.
Huh.
Taxpayers don’t want their roads?
Taxpayers don’t want their cops?
Taxpayers don’t want overpriced weapons systems?
Who would have thought.
cassandra, why do you even bother with a response? 😉
Point for you nemski.
BTW, we missed you around here this weekend when LG and Jason went to town with their cheesy 80’s music.
The Senate repukes cut $40 billion out of aid to the States, 20 B for education~~~~ so they could continue with their voodoo economics trickle down bull pucky.
I just got a call from someone asking me, “do you want to take advantage of the new stimulus package to help pay off your mortage, press l to get the information, or press 8, not be called again.
This is obviously a republican hoax, making people think the stimulus package is “going to pay off my mortgage. (dont even have one).
The fact is there is nothing in this package regarding foreclosures, mortgages etc….as Obama stated today, the housing package will occur separately.
Why do repukes hate working people? Why do they prefer corporations getting our tax dollars, so they can continue to send our jobs overseas.
LOL . . . when they were growing up watching 16 Candles and listening to the Pretty In Pink Soundtrack, I was listening to Public Enemy, Sonic Youth, The Clash and X. 🙂
Maybe Steele is right.
Hopefully, U.S. government jobs of torturing prisoners by slicing their genitals with scalpels were not “real jobs.” Sadly I doubt it.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/defence/4551441/UK-government-suppressed-evidence-on-Binyam-Mohamed-torture-because-MI6-helped-his-interrogators.html
Those were on my 80’s sound track, too, nemski — along with Husker Du, The Replacements (you can tell where I was living then, I guess), Fishbone and Bad Brains among others.
Don’t bash OMD, Erasure, and New Order, Nem!
I’m a Joy Division guy. 😉
New Order! They peaked when they were Joy Division.
Question: How soon is now?
ok, i’ll quit. 😀
For those who say there are cuts-wrong. Harry Reid said this is all new money, so it is all an increase. Every last dollar.
Work versus job. It comes down to the simple fact governments are not as efficient with money as individuals or businesses are. Providing more incentives (tax cuts are one way0 to individuals is much better than government spending. We are attempting to create work instead of economic growth which creates jobs. It is called VALUE.
When you allow massive government spending you lose part of the multiplier effect because in order for government to spend it has to tax or borrow. This money is coming from us and being redistributed to many special interests.
The only way to get the economy moving is to get lending and borrowing moving again. The Feds messed up with TARP because it was not thought out and neither is the stimulus bill.
It would be much wiser to spend all this money on things which support savings, growth and investment.
http://www.delawarerepublican.wordpress.com
http://www.rebuildthedelawaregop.com
Big New ORder fan here…!
Well, we hope you and VC will be very happy together….
“That is a contract. It ends at a certain point, George.”
This is a wonderful reason for fiscal conservatives to support it. Short term spending! It ends when it’s not needed anymore, ie after the private sector has recovered and started hiring again. It’s terribly obvious.
It would be much wiser to spend all this money on things which support savings, growth and investment.
This does not mean what he thinks it means.
“It would be much wiser to spend all this money on things which support savings…”
OH YEAH, IT’S BRING ON THE STUPID TIME!
Hey kids, I’m X Stryker and I’m gonna teach ya a little Economics 101 – just the very basics. When the economy is booming, you want to encourage savings. Otherwise you will end up with severe inflation and heavy consumer debt. This is also a great time to pay down the national debt.
However, when the economy goes bust, you want to encourage spending – more consumer spending forces businesses to hire more employees to keep up with demand. Consumers can’t spend money if they don’t have jobs, so this is a great time for the government to create some – build roads, bridges, trains, wind farms, tourist attractions, whatever. Just as long as it’s something American people actually use, rather than Bridges to Nowhere, nuclear missiles, and Iraqi police academies with walls that drip with raw sewage.
Here’s an even simpler version: Buy low, sell high! Buying means spending, and “low” means the state of the economy. “Sell” here means “take in more money than you spend”.
So what happens when crazy Republicans do things all topsy-turvy? Well, all the money they should have been saving when the economy was hot goes to useless bullshit, and that makes everything twice as bad when the economy goes bust. Then, if you let them, they will try to cut spending, ultimately leading to the complete failure of society. Fortunately, Americans are smart enough to turn to Democrats before that happens.
Remember kids, the best weapon against deception is knowledge!