Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs September 29, 2003

Today's "daily mis-lead" reminds us that President Bush promised to create 510,000 new jobs in 2003.

You have to love the specificity of that number — not "half a million new jobs," but 510,000. Even stranger, the White House also predicted that the jobs bonanza would continue throughout 2004, with 891,000 more jobs created next year.

The oddball concreteness of that number is downright goofy. But so was the baseless optimism of these predictions. As the misleader points out, so far this year, Bush's "Jobs & Growth Plan" has resulted in a net loss of some 473,000 jobs. That number is specific because it represents an actual tally of actual jobs — actual Americans out of work and unable to provide for their families.

So, with three months to go in 2003, Bush's J&GP needs to create 983,000 new jobs to stay on track.

There's little chance of that happening, since this administration's economic policy seems to be that when your plan is doing more harm than good, you just need to do it harder.


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