Private-sector job growth is stalling, the government sector is shedding – and the economy is stagnant.
And this is the fault of …
” … out of control government spending, excessive regulation, and the continued threat of tax hikes on small businesses …”
That from Fifth District Congressman Robert Hurt, repeating GOP boilerplate in a statement to the press on today’s jobs report, which showed unemployment inching up in June to 9.2 percent.
The private sector added just 18,000 new jobs in June 2011, at the same time that the government sector, in a cost-cutting fury inspired by the rhetoric of Hurt and others on the right, cut 39,000 jobs in the same month.
So the “out of control government spending” is a misnomer. “Excessive regulation” is a nod to efforts by the Obama administration to beef up consumer-protection efforts to forestall the next mortgage crisis from happening as a result of imbalance in the information available to lenders and borrowers.
The “threat of tax hikes on small businesses” is code on tax hikes for the superwealthy, some of whom may own small businesses, indeed, but that’s not why the likes of Hurt are out there fighting their battles for them.
I’m bothered that my tax dollars are wasted on this political spin that has nothing to do with anything resembling reality, honestly.
For some common sense on this, we turn to Tim Kaine, the presumptive Democratic Party Senate nominee in 2012.
“Not surprisingly, efforts to reduce the deficit are also reducing public sector employment. This demonstrates that efforts to reduce the deficit just via cuts will slow job growth,” Kaine said in a statement today. “The balanced approach involves spending cuts, finding more tax revenue through the elimination of unnecessary loopholes and continued investments needed to grow the economy. I applaud recent efforts by the president and congressional leaders to embrace such an approach.”
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Chris Graham
