Barak Obama says we need to talk about how to bring jobs to Anderson.
BTW, I liked this headline from WISHTV.com: “Obama focuses on jobs during town hall meetings in Anderson, Marion.” I read the article and watched the TV clip. The one thing I didn’t find was a focus on jobs, either by the news reporters or by Obama. You could say there was a focus on what Obama was wearing (shirt sleeves, blue-collared look). But the article was remarkably unfocused about jobs.
Well, if Obama won’t focus on how to bring jobs to Anderson, maybe The Reticulator can. It turns out there is a way. (Drum roll, please.)
Governments can create government jobs! True, the cost of government will eliminate some private sector jobs, at about a ratio of 3.7 private sector jobs lost for every government job created. But at least jobs are being created.
I read about it in USA Today
Federal, state and local governments are hiring new workers at the fastest pace in six years, helping offset job losses in the private sector.
Governments added 76,800 jobs in the first three months of 2008, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports.
That’s the biggest jump in first-quarter hiring since a boom in 2002 that followed the 9/11 terrorist attacks. By contrast, private companies collectively shed 286,000 workers in the first three months of 2008. That job loss has led many economists to declare the country is in a recession.
Job numbers for April, out Friday, will show if the trend is continuing. Some economists say a government hiring binge could soften a recession in the short term.
“Government jobs are an important cushion for the economy when the private sector falters,” says North Carolina State University economist Michael Walden.
286,000 private sector jobs lost and 76,800 government jobs gained. Isn’t government a wonderful thing to have?