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One Heckuva Job - American Empire
Posted by Jeff (Monday January 23 2006 @ 08:27PM EST)
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 Last Thursday, President Bush was slutting his economic "accomplishments" for JK Moving & Storage Co. in Sterling, Virginia. Why? I don't know, maybe Mr. K. has pictures of Bush and Abramoff in manly embrace. According to His Royal Highness, the economy is roaring because of his tax cuts. He didn't support the claim with any fancy math or such. It's just something Republicans would like to believe. Don't worry about the budget deficit. Money will magically bridge the shortfall just like it did after the Reagan tax cuts. In 1985 Federal revenues were finally restored to their 1981 levels. The interim result: a 1.5 trillion dollar Federal debt.
Don't worry about jobs. Bush is creating a shitload of them. He didn't support the claim with any fancy analysis, but he did have a really big number: 4.6 million new jobs. Quoth the monkey, "Things are going well, by the way, in the economy. We added 4.6 million new jobs since April of 2003. What I'm telling you is the tax plan is working and here's why I can say it to you without having to throw some hot air your way. Since April of 2003, 4.6 million new jobs have been created -- not by government, but by entrepreneurs."
Did you catch that? Since April 2003, Bushian economic policies have helped to create 4.6 million jobs -- probably not, but there aren't enough hours to fact check everything he says. In 2003, the population of the United States was 290,809,777. It currently stands at roughly 298,000,000. All told, Bush actually deducted 2,590,223 old jobs in order to create all those new ones. It doesn't quite work that way but you get the point: the labor market sucks and he's full of shit.
On Monday, Ford Motor Company announced it would create another 15,000 new jobs by eliminating 30,000 old ones. You're doing a heckuva job, Bushy.
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By Jeff (Monday January 23 2006 @ 10:58PM EST)
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Did you listen to it or just critique it?
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By MattC (Tuesday January 24 2006 @ 09:21AM EST)
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If you actually follow the link and read it carefully, you'll find another link that will allow you to listen to it, too.
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By Jeff (Tuesday January 24 2006 @ 10:50AM EST)
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I listened to it last night. Vonnegut has never been bounded by time nor a single perspective. He's a humanist in want of a congregation, an atheist with great admiration for Christ (or the character of christ - I doubt he'd care if there was an actual Christ). After Isaac Asimov died, in his capacity as the organization's president, Vonnegut presented a tribute before the American Humanist Society. He had this to say, "Well Isaac's up in heaven, now." It brought the house down. On the first Tuesday night after his death, I plan to propose the following toast to my favorite novelist, "Well, Kurt is up in heaven, now." He wouldn't want it any other way.
For Vonnegut, tribes are support systems that shouldn't be sources of conflict. They are necessary extended families. He thinks too many marriages end in divorce because families have shrunk in size. All marriage end the same. One day over breakfast, one spouse looks at the other and suddenly breaks the silence with this proclamation, "You're not enough people." If his tribe were creationists or whatever they call themselves, then he would certainly want that myth discussed whenever human origins are taught. He'd be curious as to how it fit and he'd be resentful of scientists with their uppidy big brains hogging our origins all to themselves. Why won't that tribe play with mine? Until Vonnegut starts to fund creationist lobbies whose agenda is the dilution of science, I wouldn't worry about it. Personally, I wish I could maintain a similar attitude toward the fundies but they just drive me too fscking nuts....
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By MattC (Tuesday January 24 2006 @ 12:57PM EST)
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It is just sad when someone otherwise smart takes a dumb position. No one wants to suppress the idea or belief of Intelligent Design - the issue is over whether it is science and belongs in Biology class. Vonnegut did not seem to understand that.
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By Dyl (Tuesday January 24 2006 @ 09:26AM EST)
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I think a word is missing from this post, oh yeah, I found it: Truthiness, The quality of stating concepts one wishes or believes to be true, rather than the facts.
That Fox News report didn't have all of the facts, but it had a certain truthiness to it.
Thanks, Stephen Colbert. If anyone missed the Daily Show's "Level of Taint" exchange, check it out.
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By MattC (Tuesday January 24 2006 @ 10:10AM EST)
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Truthiness isn't something you look up in a book, it is something you feel in your gut!
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By Dyl (Tuesday January 24 2006 @ 10:35AM EST)
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D*mn, that is so true!
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By MattC (Tuesday January 24 2006 @ 04:11PM EST)
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Last night during the Level of Taint rerun I was laughing so hard I was crying...
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By Dyl (Tuesday January 24 2006 @ 05:53PM EST)
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I watched it a second time too. At one point, Jon looks like he's going to laugh but holds it together.
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By Bill (Tuesday January 24 2006 @ 10:00AM EST)
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50 Most Loathsome People in America, 2005
Here's a couple teasers:
3. George W. Bush
Charges: Simply put, the stupidest man ever to lead this country...Often responds to questions by attempting to define the word he finds the most challenging in them...
(never thought about it before but that's so true)
5. Tom Delay
Charges: A politician so horrible, his prior career as an exterminator constitutes fratricide. Smiled for his mug shot like it was a campaign poster. Asked three young Katrina evacuees, “Now tell me the truth, boys, is this kind of fun?”
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Enlighten me, Marge
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The most formidable weapon against errors of any kind is reason.
-- Thomas Paine
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We Did Our Job!
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