As Job Growth Slows, Will Republicans Double Down On Austerity?thinkprogress.org
As Job Growth Slows, Will Republicans Double Down On Austerity?
Made popular 352 days ago in Society & Religion
thinkprogress.org — The Bureau of Labor Statistics today reported that the economy created a disappointing 69,000 jobs last month, and that the unemployment rate increased to 8.2 percent. The job creation totals for March and April were both revised downward.
At the same time, borrowing rates for the U.S. government have hit lows never before seen:

Investors stampeded into U.S. government bonds Thursday, driving the interest rate on the 10-year Treasury note as low as 1.54 percent, a record…The record low rate beat the previous mark of 1.55 percent, which was set in November 1945. That was just after the end of World War II, when government price controls kept interest rates artificially low to preserve financial stability.

As Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman explained today, “When the private sector is frantically trying to pay down debt, the public sector should do the opposite, spending when the private sector can’t or won’t. By all means, let’s balance our budget once the economy has recovered — but not now. The boom, not the slump, is the right time for austerity.”

Instead, Congress, driven by a cut-happy Republican House, has pursued austerity, leading to hundreds of thousands of public sector job losses. Last month alone, 7,000 state and local level education jobs disappeared.

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Is Austerity to be blamed for a faltering job growth picture?
Yes
58%
No
42%
This is not a scientific survey, click here to learn more. Results may not total 100% due to rounding and voting descrepencies.
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lastbaldeagle
Posted 352 days ago
0 up votes, 0 down votes
No, the case of poor job growth can and should be laid at the feet of Obama and the democRAT deficit spending and the specter of Obamanomics. Harry Reid has led the Senate downward since 2006 and should be given his credit for starting the country into recession. You libs will never accept your rightful credit for the lousy shape you have managed to get our once great nation into. Your lies and distortions are bad enough, but your failure to man up and tell the voting taxpayers what a terrible job you have done and what a mess you have made in the economy are less than admirable. You better hope the adults take the country back over and have time to straighten out your economic mess.
james2044
Posted 352 days ago
0 up votes, 0 down votes
OMG, the flow of $$$$$ to the unproductive is going to slow down.
QUICK, say that less spending will make the productive lose their jobs.
YES, I know you would have to be real stupid to accept that but what else can we do?

Only a "progressive" would think that taking taxes away fromt the productive is a good idea.
945call
Posted 352 days ago
0 up votes, 0 down votes
No austerity was applied to any of the Federal spending from 2009 through 2012. All spending cuts associated with tax cuts or other spending increases were taken from previously planned reductions to the budget and all were beyond 2012. Not one dime of consumer dicretionary spending was affected.
lastbaldeagle
Posted 351 days ago
0 up votes, 0 down votes
A first grade teacher explained to her class that she is a liberal Democrat. She asks her students to raise their hands if they were liberal Democrats, too. Not really knowing what a liberal Democrat was, but wanting to be like their teacher, their hands flew up into the air. There was one exception. A girl named Lucy had not gone along with the crowd. The teacher asks her why she has decided to be different. "Because I'm not a liberal Democrat." "Then," asks the teacher, "What are you?" "Why I'm a proud conservative Republican," boasts the little girl. The teacher, a little perturbed and her face slightly red, asked Lucy why she is a conservative Republican. "Well, I was brought up to trust in myself instead of relying on an intrusive government to care for me and do all of my thinking. My Dad and Mom are conservative Republicans, and I am a conservative Republican too." The teacher, now angry, loudly says, "That's no reason! What if your Mom was a moron, and your dad was a moron? What would you be then?" The teacher paused and smiled. "Then," Lucy said, "I'd be like you."
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