Job growth--What job growth

Today's report on unemployment was just plain terrible. 431,000 job created, but 411,000 of these are temporary census workers. That means that the trumpeted recovery created a net of just 20,000 jobs last month. Under other measures, the number of private sector jobs was slightly higher, but we are still talking about a number around 50,000 rather than the 150,000 that was expected. Indeed, these figures are bleak.

So what is on the horizon? First we have all those who will lose their jobs due to the oil slicks coming ashore in the Gulf. I doubt too many people will want to vacation on the Gulf beaches. It is not much fun to throw tar balls back and forth like beach balls. Once the oil starts up the Atlantic coast, there will be similar dislocations in resort towns from Miami to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Second, there will be the thousands thrown out of work by the ban on drilling imposed by the Obamacrats. These will be fewer people, maybe only 30-50 thousand jobs lost. Third, if Obama gets his cap and trade bill through in the wake of the oil spill, there will be hundreds of thousands of more jobs lost as US energy prices soar, thus pricing our exports out of world markets and reducing consumer spending. Fourth, ...well, you get the picture.

The unemployment rate actually declined last month since close to 400,000 people just dropped out of the labor force. To put it bluntly: BFD!

The time has come to get a pro-growth government back in Washington. Aside from the so-called stimulus package which was sold as a job creator -- even though most of it was not -- Obama has taken not a single action which would positively impact job creation. when the Bush tax cuts expire on December 31, there will be another enormous blow to the jobs market. While it may seem hard to imagine, 2011 may see less growth than 2010. We need a national conversation about how to go about creating jobs. No idea should be off the table. The focus of the federal government should be on jobs, and not just as a photo op or something written on a teleprompter to be later ignored. Something has to be done.