The Ming Report

THE THIRD BUSH LABOR DAY

September 1, 2003 - Nine million American workers are celebrating Labor Day by trying to find a job in the Bush economy. Another 5 million or so have given up on the search for the jobs the Bush Tax cuts were supposed to create. There is a bright spot this Labor Day for some American’s pocket books. The government – that is you and me – are going to have to borrow the money to fund the $500 billion deficit (not counting the cost of the Second Iraqi War), money that the Bush Administration has already spent this year. That spells investment opportunity for the folks who reaped the benefit of the George’s largess. And there will be another equally large deficit nest year according to the Congressional Budget Office estimates and another handsome opportunity for those who clip interest coupons for a living. And who is going to pay the interest that those coupons represent? The American Taxpayer will pay and that is you and me, brothers and sisters. Just how many jobs have the Bush borrow and spend policies created? Probably at least 9 million, but those jobs have been in Bangladesh and Bombay and Beijing.

President Bush is going to Ohio to celebrate Labor Day. They say that he is going to tell workers there that creating jobs is his first priority. It is significant that he will tout the job creating economic policies in the home state of one of his most successful Pioneers, the CEO of FirstEnergy. He is the fellow who laid off the workers who used to maintain the power lines that failed. He is the fellow who served on the Cheney Energy Task Force with Kenneth Lay. He is also one of those who can really afford to invest in the debt that the Bush administration is running up.

The picnics are going to be closer to home this third Bush Labor Day. In the last two weeks the price of gasoline has scored a new all-time record for cost increases. It gives new meaning to the phrase “Pay at the Pump”. It is not just the cost of weekend travel that is affected by the almost 16% increase in the price of gas. Its also the cost of getting the workers to the jobs that are left. It’s the cost of harvesting the crops in the fields and the cost of getting the goods from the factory to the sales floor – or more realistically – getting the goods from the docks to the sales floor because those factories are not here anymore.

We set aside holidays to help us remember and Labor Day is no exception. Some of us can remember a time when Ohio had factories that were bustling and the machinery was running - not rusting. Some of us can remember a time when we did not know someone who had just lost their job. We need to spend this Third Bush Labor Day remembering when American workers were not expected to stretch out a tin cup to catch the drip trickling down from the top of the Bush League Economy.