The GOP wrecking crew is sabotaging the economy out of partisanship

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

You likely have heard by now that the Senate GOP filibustered extended unemployment insurance benefits for the long-term unemployment on a straight party-line vote, 55-45. You should note than in an actual democracy, this bill passed with 55 votes. Negotiations to extend jobless benefits deadlock in Senate. Brad Plumer explains 7 reasons why Congress’s failure to extend unemployment insurance matters.

This is part of a broader partisan strategy by the GOP wrecking crew to sabotage the economy out of partisanship. They believe that if the economy is still struggling in November — due largely to GOP austerity economic measures and their failure to pass a single jobs bill since taking over in 2011 — low information voters will blame the president and his party rather than the Tea-Publican economic terrorists who have been sabotaging the economy at every turn.

That's right, the same assholes who blew up our financial system and economy in 2008 with their faith based supply-side "trickle down" economics and then engaged in unprecedented obstruction, and held the country hostage time and again to their extortionary economic terrorist demands ever since, expect to be rewarded by low information voters for their insurrection against the federal government and economic terrorism against the American people. A classic Stockholm syndrome.

The TanMan, Weeper of the House John Boehner, the "Worst. Speaker. Ever." hands down, said as much in an interview with The Hill. GOP to use economy as midterm weapon:

House Republican leaders are increasingly confident the economy will be a winning issue for their party in the 2014 midterm elections.

Republicans believe they can exploit the underlying weakness of the job market and argue voters should expect a better economic recovery than they are seeing under President Obama’s watch.

They hope this argument, coupled with repeated attacks on the healthcare law, will play into the fatigue voters historically display toward incumbent presidents during their second term.

The GOP has been relying on the unpopularity of Obama-Care as a central campaign theme, but asked on Tuesday about the party’s platform in 2014, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) began by citing the economy.

“It’s going to be about the issue of jobs, and when you look at it, the American people have a right to continue to be asking, ‘Where are the jobs?’” he said, returning to his favored refrain for the Obama presidency. “The president has been in office now for almost five years. It’s time for the president to admit that his policies are not working.”

First of all, the correct phrase is "Mr. Boehner, where are the jobs?" As I said, the GOP has not passed a single jobs bill since taking over in 2011 (while blocking almost every one of the president's job bills).

Second of all, despite unprecedented economic sabotage by the GOP wrecking crew, the economy has still managed to add jobs.  As Steve Benen posted last week, Putting 2013 job totals in context:

In all, the U.S. economy added 2.186 million jobs last year, while the private sector created 2.213 million. Looking back over the last couple of decades, that means when it comes to the overall economy, 2013 was the best year for jobs in the United States since 2005 and the second best year since 1999.

That’s right: last year, the economy created more jobs than seven of the eight years Bush/Cheney was in office. This is not to say 2013 was a banner year for jobs; it’s more the result of the job landscape struggling badly during the Bush/Cheney era.

The above chart shows annual totals going back to 1989, which offers a look at four presidential administrations. Red columns show Republican administrations, while blue columns show Democratic administrations.

But just as important, note that every year has two columns: a darker one to show job growth overall, and a lighter one to show job growth in just the private sector. You might notice that before 2009, the overall economy added more jobs than the private-sector alone, but during the Obama era, the opposite is true. Indeed, just in 2013, U.S. businesses added over 2 million jobs, while the public sector lost 27,000 jobs.

This is, of course, a completely insane approach to economic policy. The one area of job policy that elected officials can help control directly is the public sector, but thanks to Republican austerity measures, we’ve allowed the nation to hemorrhage government jobs over the last several years, slowing the recovery and keeping unemployment higher than it needs to be.

If the government invested in the public sector at the same pace Bush/Cheney did, the unemployment rate would be well below 6% right now.

So wake the f#&k up, America! If this was a just world in which people are held accountable for their actions, not a single Tea-Publican would be returned to office. They would be run out of town on a rail by an angry mob for engaging in an anti-government insurrection and economic terrorism against the American people that did substantial harm to their fellow American citizens. This is something that should never be rewarded.

H/T Graphic: John Boehner – House Wrecker | DonkeyHotey