ANSWERS: 4
  • Jobs are awfully difficult to measure. The government can't get "real" or comprehensive numbers, but they do track employment numbers from certain segments of the economy - typically big companies and companies that do business with government and have to turn in employment reports. These sources have reported lower employment levels and this is primarily where they get their evidence. I do not know if these claimed numbers are gross or net, that is, whether they subtract the jobs that have been created or just add the jobs reported as lost. Obviously a major war or hurricane will have dramatic effects, but to assign responsibility for policy-caused job losses, one would have to know how the job market would have changed otherwise. For example, if the US had not invaded Afganistan or Iraq, would there have been higher consumer confidence or lower? Would there have been additional terrorist attacks? Higher inflation? Stifling interest rates? We can't know, so it is unreasonable and unfair to say that course of action, i.e. that leadership, caused job losses. One reality is that the job market is in constant flux. Some segment of the economy or another will almost always be losing jobs. Others are almost always growing. One example is the carburetor industry. Very few people are employed in this industry today... but this is because the market has changed, not because somebody made bad leadership decisions. Another reality is that the reported unemployment rate is under 6%. About 5% is considered "full employment," which means people who really want to get a job can find one. Perhaps not the one they want, but there are jobs to be had. There is no way for a government to guarantee that a person will get a job he wants or a salary he desires. Finally, the world economy is such a complicated, dynamic thing that asserting that any one person, event or policy is responsible for nation-wide job losses is questionable. (Let me clarify: it may be true, but it can be questioned how much respnsibility lies where...)
  • There is something else that should be considered here. There is a certain amount of disagreement as to just when the economy started to go south. Some put the beginning of the last recession in late 2000 (before Bush actually became President) others put it in early 2001 (after he took office). However, no matter which of these is true, the recession had already started *before* any of Bush's economic policies had actually been passed and had time to take affect. So, the recession started while we were still operating under the Clinton administration's policies. If you add to this the economic problems that resulted from the attacks of September 11 (the airline industry still hasn't recovered from this), then you get a whole lot of negative economic pressures that Bush had no control over. So, to blame Bush for all of the jobs lost during the past four years, especially if you don't give him credit for the current economic boom, is just playing partisan politics.
  • Technically, every president causes the loss of some jobs, but it's the net total that matters (jobs created - jobs lossed). At the end of 1999, 111,054,000 Americans were employed full-time. At the end of 2004, 115,117,000. (Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics) So technically, there was a net increase in jobs during President Bush's 2000-2004 term. Some might say President Bush caused the loss of American jobs because the increase was so small. For instance, 10,000,000 more people were working full time in 1999 than in 1995 (Clinton's 2nd term). To say that President Bush caused the loss of American jobs is somewhat an overstatement. It's technically correct (as it would be for any President), but in reality didn't happen. However, very few jobs were created during his term.
  • hilary and bill would be a better start, i remember the military cutbacks and shutdowns, trying to push a 'healthcare' system...etc...i remember their reign as not so good economically, militarily,etc....

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