This page was last updated on July 2, 2012.
Poor people do create jobs; Dan Cogley; Beaver County Times; July 1, 2012.
Previous letters from Mr. Cogley I critiqued were “Government should not invade private lives,” “Why vote Republican,” “We need more Democrats,” “Try trickle-up effect,” “Elderly will be hit under GOP policies,” “Let politicians try unemployment,” and “Cuban missile déjà vu.” Letters from Mr. Cogley I didn’t critique include “Question in need of an answer” (4/7/11) and “Suggested cuts they won’t make” (3/14/11).
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“According to an Internet website, President Obama ranks 15th best in the list of worst presidents, Ronald Reagan 18th, Jimmy Carter 32nd and George W. Bush 39th.”
[RWC] The “Internet website” to which Mr. Cogley refers is a survey by the Siena College Research Institute from July 2010. Granted I’m not a historian, but I have to question a survey that always ranks FDR #1, ahead of both Presidents Washington and Lincoln, and currently ranks President Theodore Roosevelt (another “progressive” like FDR) #2. Given the overwhelming majority of college faculty members refer to themselves as liberals (Examples are here and here.), it would be interesting to know the ideological makeup of the survey’s “238 presidential scholars, historians and political scientists.” I do have a clue, though. Take a look at the detailed ranking and you find the group rated Mr. Bush as next to last in the “Intelligence” category, ahead of only President Harding. The Yale and Harvard-educated and fighter-pilot “Bush is stupid” is/was a common lefty talking point. You may recall the media demanded Mr. Bush’s scholastic record during the 2004 campaign. Convinced Sen. John Kerry-Heinz (D-MA) was a genius and Mr. Bush a dunce, the media was burned when they found Mr. Bush’s GPA was slightly higher than Mr. Kerry’s, though neither man got scorching grades at Yale. The other “intelligence” smack-down came when the media learned Mr. Bush outscored Mr. Kerry on intelligence tests they took when they served while in the military.
Though a little off the path, Mr. Harding’s rankings are also a clue the rating group was not exactly objective. The group rated Mr. Harding last six times and next to last once for the categories “Background,” “Imagination,” “Integrity,” “Intelligence,” “Executive Appointments,” “Executive Ability,” and “Overall Ability.” Why would lefties like to smear Mr. Harding? Have you heard of the depression/recession of 1920-1921 [the last year of the Woodrow Wilson (a Progressive Democrat and in the survey’s top six to eight) administration]? Probably not, though most of us learned about the Roaring ‘20s. So how did we get from a depression/recession to the Roaring ‘20s? Presidents Warren G. Harding (R) and Calvin Coolidge (R) must have jacked up spending, taxes, and debt, right? Not even close. Using 1920 (the first year after World War I) as a base, the Harding/Coolidge administrations reduced spending 55% by 1927, reduced taxes 45% by 1925, and ran eight straight surpluses. According to the BLS, unemployment for 1923-1929 averaged 3.3%. Now you know why lefties like to brush over the 1920s and belittle Messrs. Harding and Coolidge; it provides proof Hoover/FDR/Obama “stimulus” programs don’t work but conservative principles do.
“As the highest number, G.W., as he likes to be called, is the worst of the bunch. It took G.W. eight years to plunge our country into the worst recession ever, almost a depression.”
[RWC] Mr. Cogley failed to mention Mr. Bush inherited a recession that started during the Clinton administration and then had the Enron mess and 9/11 dumped on his lap. In any case, employment grew for 52 consecutive months (9/03 - 12/07) adding more than 8.3 million jobs and GDP grew in every quarter from the fourth quarter of 2001 through the third quarter of 2007. Unemployment went from 6.3% in June 2003 to 4.4% in May 2007. Later in 2007, unemployment began a slow increase as we entered into the early stages of the subprime mortgage mess we’re still in.
Note Mr. Cogley didn’t tell us what President Bush did over “eight years to plunge our country into the worst recession ever, almost a depression.” Since turnabout is fair play, it took the Democrat-majority Congress (2007 through 2010) less than two years “to plunge our country into the worst recession ever, almost a depression.” To learn what really got us here, please read my critique of “Let us have some of the $700 trillion” from 2008. Moreover, Mr. Cogley didn’t tell us what Mr. Obama and Democrats did to thwart the evil Mr. Bush.
“In four years, our president has brought us from the brink of destruction, to teetering on a full recovery, which I find amazing. (As for those poor people and their handouts, where do you go when you have no money and no income to support your family?)”
[RWC] “[T]eetering on a full recovery?” Seriously? Based on what? Is Mr. Cogley the only one who believes President Obama’s claim that “The private sector is doing fine?” In fairness, Mr. Obama retreated from his comment later the same day and said, “The economy is not doing fine. There are too many people out of work. The housing market is still weak and too many homes underwater.”
As for “where do you go …,” it’s to private charities funded by voluntary contributions, not to family paychecks confiscated by our government.
“As for those mean and nasty unions, they were outspent in Wisconsin 3 to 1 by the Republicans.”
[RWC] Even if it’s true, so what? During the 2008 campaign, the Obama campaign outspent the McCain campaign by more than double, or by $397 million. Overall in 2008, Democrats outspent Republicans 57% to 42%. During the 2010 campaign, the breakdown was 50% for Democrats and 49% for Republicans.
“Poor people don’t create jobs, but the money they spend makes the business owners employ more people, hence creating jobs.”
[RWC] This is mostly true as long as the “poor people” spend money they earned. It is not true when “poor people” spend some of another family’s paycheck, pension check, et cetera.
“And I’m sure if business people could they would buy American and keep America growing stronger by employing Americans. This is cyclical, when you buy American you create American jobs, keeping money in America instead of sending it to China and other foreign countries.”
[RWC] Mr. Cogley doesn’t tell us why “business people” apparently can’t “buy American and keep America growing stronger by employing Americans.”
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