Whew! Nice to Know the Grownups are In Charge

A mass email sent out by the Illinois GOP, in which the author calls Governor Rod Blagojevic "childish" and calls US Rep. Bobby Rush a thief, ends with this upshot: "274,000 JOBS CREATED IN APRIL.Jobs numbers were numbers were (sic) released today by the White House showing that for the twenty third month (sic) in a row there have been solid job gains showing (sic) that the President's economic policies are driving the growth. Illinois continues to fall behind in national averages. (White House Office of Communications 5/20/05)"

That is correct, kids: the White House wants you to know that, according to its press office, it is doing a bang-up job. And you know that MUST be true. Even if we ignore the three (at least!) grammatical errors in that blurb, we must still be suspicious of this report.

Why? Well, for one thing the number, 274,000 jobs, isn't actually representative of anything. The actual number of newly-employed in April was 598,000 (a number any good Republican stooge will recite if given the chance). So isn't that even better? You tell me: unemployment was unchanged last month despite the incredible, phenomenal, unprecedented gains the White House wants you to be aware of. Experts agree that layoffs show no signs of slowing. The economy is not, repeat not, recovered. Why does the US economy hate America?

But, as long as the grownups are in charge, we're free to fantasize all we want about the days of wine and roses that must be right around the corner.