It seems as if Republicans have found their political niche. Even with a majority in the House, they have continued to be on offense when it comes to the economy and the debt. If the President or the Democratic caucus puts a proposal on the table, Republicans reject it, amend it out of existence or balk until they like what they see.
Case and Point: The Debt Ceiling - The only news about the debt ceiling is when some Republican hints at agreeing to some sort of veiled language about "revenues" or "tax code reform" as a part of a compromise.
Compromise?!?!
Really?!?!
Your idea of compromise is $2 trillion in gut wrenching cuts with a little talk of "tax code reform?" I guess a bipartisan group of former lawmakers who recommended a balance between cuts and taxes really doesn't know what they're talking about. Of course, they have been through this before. But, what do they know.
The unemployment numbers released for June were pretty depressing. In June, unemployment rose to 9.2%, and the economy added a dismal 18,000 jobs. For comparison, to keep unemployment steady, we needed to add 125,000-150,000 jobs. This is of course not the real unemployment number, as it does not take into account those who have stopped looking for jobs and those who have fallen out of the job market because of the length of their unemployment.
When I heard the report on NPR, I had a sinking suspicion that Republicans would pounce on it. Michelle Bachmann, TEA-party ignoramus extraordinaire, said it was a sad day for American and that it proved that the Obama Stimulus did not work. Boehner, Canter and Romney all followed her by lambasting the stimulus bill.
The Stimulus Bill passed, the Healthcare Bill passed, the Financial Overhaul bill passed...over a year ago. Get over it! I bet its great to whine about losing when you can watch the economy shed jobs instead of doing anything about it. Isn't it fun to live in a glass house?
This comes from the same party that voted against infrastructure projects for laid off construction workers and extensions for the unemployed. You must have had on some blinders when economists pointed to 1 job for every 6 qualified applicants. No. The unemployed are just lazy. That must be it.
But, if we cut spending, then the private sector will have a great environment for hiring and unemployment will go down, right? Not so much. The private sector has added jobs. But, for the last 24 months straight, the shedding of jobs from the public sector have been the main source of unemployment. When you criticize the president for doing exactly what you wanted him to do (cut government spending, which lead to laying off government workers), then it means you really have done nothing.
When it comes to current economic policy regarding the unemployed, Republicans are yelling in an echo chamber. They have isolated themselves. Anti-tax ideology doesn't mean diddly to those who are struggling to feed their family. If we are to tackle the unemployment issue, there must be a separation of the debt debate from the jobs issue. House Republicans are holding the economic recovery hostage by not allowing the debt ceiling to be raised. Has it become so toxic in Washington that a party has to blackmail, hold up and impede progress in order to get what it wants?
It seems as if the jobs issue, while popping up once per month when new numbers come in, has become secondary to the isolated ideological rants of children.
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