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| Unemployment adjusted for population growth |
"On Texas, let me be the first one
To confirm their job rates
Are the best of the states,
Whether Perry's the best or the worst one."
In response to last Friday's limerick ("Faith-Based Economics"), which cited the work of economists attempting to debunk the "Texas Jobs Miracle," a conservative friend sent a link to a meticulously researched blog post that concluded, in essence: "Now wait a minute - this here Jobs Miracle is real!" The Political Math Blog, by Matthias Shapiro, analyzes the data behind the claims and counterclaims that are loosed in the heat of electoral combat. Shapiro concludes:
My advice to anti-Perry advocates is this: Give up talking about Texas jobs... Not only are they creating them, they're creating ones with higher wages.Whether Texas Governor Rick Perry, in his eleven years in office, had much to do with the Miracle is another matter, and may lead us to question the extent to which any political executive can ever be said to create (private sector) jobs.
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Towards the end Shapiro's piece is a very telling quote:
ReplyDelete"Policies create jobs when they are policies I like. They don't create jobs when they are policies I dislike."
This very much explains how many economists feel about:
1990's prosperity: Clinton's Policies!
2000's sluggishness and 2008 crash: Bush's Policies!
Current situation: Carryover of Bush's Policies and Congressional Obstructionism!
Mr. Lawry, I agree with you regarding the '90s prosperity and the 00's sluggishness, but the crash had much to do with Bush's policies, since he had a hand in encouraging the over-leveraging (in mortgages and financial institutions generally) that led to the crash.
ReplyDeleteI am glad we find agreement in some things. However, I welcome more discussion regarding Bush's hand in over-leveraging: The last I checked, the Federal Reserve was a politically independent institution, and that Bush's attempts to rein in Fannie and Freddy were met with stiff resistance from Barney "I want to roll the dice a bit" Frank and other Democrats.
ReplyDeleteI too am tickled pink to find common ground here. The hand of Bush to which I referred was in his pursuit of financial deregulation and lax enforcement of existing financial regulation.
ReplyDeleteAs much as I don't share the liberal worldview that without the always-benevolent hand of government, no one would behave, I'll share with you this:
ReplyDeleteDuring the storm this weekend, I played Monopoly with my kids for hours, and I was the banker. I was more than a little tempted.
Touché, Monsieur Oie!
Le droit de financier!
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