Monday, January 03, 2005
Should auld employer be forgot
The new phone book is here! The new phone book is here!
Not quite. But it sounds better than running around yelling "the new New England Economic Indicators is here. The new New England Economic Indicators is here."
But it's one of our favorites, if only to watch Team Reform squirm as they read the record of their policy mewlings.
For if history is any guide, Willard Mitt is growing to like this publication as much as Navin R. Johnson's nemisis liked cans.
Indicators is perhaps the best barometer of Romney's "success" in the all-important category of "jobs created."
But before we see how the Fraud Governor has been doing, let's set the Wayback Machine for February 2003 when Romney proposed how he was going to create jobs in Massachusetts:
"Setting his sights on economic revival, Governor Mitt Romney today announced an innovative plan to spur job growth in every region of the Commonwealth by tapping the expertise of area business, community and education leaders through Regional Competitiveness Councils. 'In the past, state government has had a poorly coordinated approach to identifying our strengths and weaknesses, and as a result, our public policy has been clumsy in terms of maximizing our overall growth potential,' said Romney. 'These Regional Competitiveness Councils will provide us with the information we need to boost regional growth and bring more jobs to the state.' (source: Office of (fraud) Gov., "Romney targets job growth through regional councils," 2/13/2003)
Now that's a Plan. Note all the groovy action words: "poorly coordinated," "clumsy," "weaknesses." Wait a second. Those aren't action words. Skip it. Move along.
Okay, so Romney was going to use Regional Councils to create jobs. Lets see how he's made out. As a benchmark, we'll use September 2002 and contrast it against September 2004, the latest month for which data is available.
All figures supplied by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
Construction
Sept. 2002 = 140,500 jobs
Sept. 2004 = 137,800 jobs
Trade/Transit/Utilities
Sept. 2002 = 579,800 jobs
Sept. 2004 = 567,600 jobs
Information
Sept. 2002 = 99,600 jobs
Sept. 2004 = 86,500 jobs
Financial Activities
Sept. 2002 = 227,000 jobs
Sept. 2004 = 221,700 jobs
Manufacturing
Sept. 2002 = 343,800 jobs
Sept. 2004 = 323,600 jobs
Professional/Business Services
Sept. 2002 = 451,100 jobs
Sept. 2004 = 431,100 jobs
The above five-categories represent a loss of 73,500 jobs. When you toss in the 19,000 governmental positions that have gone the way of the campaign promise, Massachusetts has lost over 92,000 jobs since Willard Mitt and friends have decided to dabble with the people's business.
To be fair, several categories have realized gains.
Education
Sept. 2002 = 570,600 jobs
Sept. 2004 = 579,600 jobs
Leisure & Hospitality
Sept. 2002 = 286,800 jobs
Sept. 2004 = 296,400 jobs
Other Services
Sept. 2002 = 117,500 jobs
Sept. 2004 = 120,000 jobs
However, the overall private sector workforce is down by 48,200 jobs from September 2002 to September 2004.
Remember how Willard Mitt likes people to call him "Ike"? Sounds like Romney is modeling himself after the wrong former President.
The new phone book is here! The new phone book is here!
Not quite. But it sounds better than running around yelling "the new New England Economic Indicators is here. The new New England Economic Indicators is here."
But it's one of our favorites, if only to watch Team Reform squirm as they read the record of their policy mewlings.
For if history is any guide, Willard Mitt is growing to like this publication as much as Navin R. Johnson's nemisis liked cans.
Indicators is perhaps the best barometer of Romney's "success" in the all-important category of "jobs created."
But before we see how the Fraud Governor has been doing, let's set the Wayback Machine for February 2003 when Romney proposed how he was going to create jobs in Massachusetts:
"Setting his sights on economic revival, Governor Mitt Romney today announced an innovative plan to spur job growth in every region of the Commonwealth by tapping the expertise of area business, community and education leaders through Regional Competitiveness Councils. 'In the past, state government has had a poorly coordinated approach to identifying our strengths and weaknesses, and as a result, our public policy has been clumsy in terms of maximizing our overall growth potential,' said Romney. 'These Regional Competitiveness Councils will provide us with the information we need to boost regional growth and bring more jobs to the state.' (source: Office of (fraud) Gov., "Romney targets job growth through regional councils," 2/13/2003)
Now that's a Plan. Note all the groovy action words: "poorly coordinated," "clumsy," "weaknesses." Wait a second. Those aren't action words. Skip it. Move along.
Okay, so Romney was going to use Regional Councils to create jobs. Lets see how he's made out. As a benchmark, we'll use September 2002 and contrast it against September 2004, the latest month for which data is available.
All figures supplied by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
Construction
Sept. 2002 = 140,500 jobs
Sept. 2004 = 137,800 jobs
Trade/Transit/Utilities
Sept. 2002 = 579,800 jobs
Sept. 2004 = 567,600 jobs
Information
Sept. 2002 = 99,600 jobs
Sept. 2004 = 86,500 jobs
Financial Activities
Sept. 2002 = 227,000 jobs
Sept. 2004 = 221,700 jobs
Manufacturing
Sept. 2002 = 343,800 jobs
Sept. 2004 = 323,600 jobs
Professional/Business Services
Sept. 2002 = 451,100 jobs
Sept. 2004 = 431,100 jobs
The above five-categories represent a loss of 73,500 jobs. When you toss in the 19,000 governmental positions that have gone the way of the campaign promise, Massachusetts has lost over 92,000 jobs since Willard Mitt and friends have decided to dabble with the people's business.
To be fair, several categories have realized gains.
Education
Sept. 2002 = 570,600 jobs
Sept. 2004 = 579,600 jobs
Leisure & Hospitality
Sept. 2002 = 286,800 jobs
Sept. 2004 = 296,400 jobs
Other Services
Sept. 2002 = 117,500 jobs
Sept. 2004 = 120,000 jobs
However, the overall private sector workforce is down by 48,200 jobs from September 2002 to September 2004.
Remember how Willard Mitt likes people to call him "Ike"? Sounds like Romney is modeling himself after the wrong former President.
