Bush's Jobless Economy

The January jobs report from the Bureau  of Labor Statistics continues the bad news of the past four years.  During President Bush's first term, the US economy had a net  loss of three-quarters of a million private sector jobs. Despite  three years of economic recovery, fewer Americans are employed  in the private sector today than when Bush was first inaugurated  four years ago. The slight decline in the unemployment  rate reported for January is not the result of new jobs; it is  the result of large numbers of discouraged people, many with  university degrees, dropping out of the work force. They cannot  find employment and have given up looking. During Bush's first term, the  once fabled US economy has been unable to create jobs in export  sectors or in import-competitive sectors. January's 134,000  new private sector jobs are in domestic services that cannot  be outsourced: couriers and messengers, food services and drinking  places, health care and social assistance, educational services,  temporary help, retail, and credit intermediation. US imports are now 50 percent  greater than US exports, putting tremendous pressure on the US  dollar. US dependence on imported manufactured goods has resulted  in exploding trade deficits, which are growing more than five  times faster than the US economy. The explosive growth of the  US trade deficit since 1990 has turned $3.3 trillion of US assets  over to foreigners. [more]