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State Unemployment Sky-High But Democrats are Still Throwing Away Jobs

January 24, 2012

Democrats Blocking Shovel-Ready Keystone Jobs Despite Unacceptably High State Joblessness 

  • New state jobs numbers released this morning offer just the latest evidence of failed Democrat policies, with unemployment continuing to remain at unacceptably high levels.
  • Despite a struggling job market, Democrats continue to throw away shovel-ready jobs as political payback for the support of radical Washington interest groups they need to help in the Democrats’ re-election effort.
  • The Democrats may think they can ride out 2012 by playing these job-destroying political games, but all that has done is leave the American people increasingly pessimistic about the state of the economy. 

New state jobs numbers released this morning offer just the latest evidence of failed Democrat policies, with unemployment continuing to remain at unacceptably high levels: 

STATE JOBS NUMBERS SHOW UNEMPLOYMENT REMAINS UNACCEPTABLY HIGH: (“Regional and State Employment and Unemployment Summary,” Bureau of Labor Statistics, December 2011) 

FLASHBACK TO 2006: PELOSI SAID BUSH HAD THE “WORST JOBS RECORD SINCE THE GREAT DEPRESSION” WHEN UNEMPLOYMENT WAS 4.4%—HOW DOES SHE FEEL ABOUT HER RECORD NOW?: “Pelosi was not to be outdone, however, firing back at the president who she claimed had ‘the worst jobs record since the Great Depression,’ in spite of Friday’s news that the October jobless rate fell to 4.4 percent, the lowest it has been in more than five years.” (“Bush Buoyed by Good Employment News, Fires Away at Dems, Pelosi,” FoxNews.com, 11/3/2006)

WHITE HOUSE PREDICTED UNEMPLOYMENT WOULD BE ABOUT 6 PERCENT AT END OF 2011 IF $800 BILLION STIMULUS PASSED: (James Pethokoukis, “What the Plunging Unemployment Rate Really Means for Obama’s Re-election,” The American, 1/6/2012) 

BUT 41 STATES HAVE UNEMPLOYMENT ABOVE DEMOCRATS’ 6 PERCENT STIMULUS PREDICTION: (“Regional and State Employment and Unemployment Summary,”Bureau of Labor Statistics, December 2011)

Despite a struggling job market, Democrats continue to throw away shovel-ready jobs as political payback for the support of radical Washington interest groups they need to help in the Democrats’ re-election effort:

“THE ANTI-JOBS PRESIDENT” REJECTS JOB-CREATING KEYSTONE PIPELINE:(Editorial, “The Anti-Jobs President,” The Wall Street Journal, 1/19/2012)

OBAMA THROWS 20,000 “SHOVEL-READY” JOBS IN THE DUMPSTER: (Editorial, “Keystone Cop-Out,” The Wall Street Journal, 11/11/2011) 

LONG-TERM JOBS IMPACT: UP TO 130,000 JOBS: “Many of those 20,000 jobs on the construction of the pipeline would have been filled by skilled union members. Eventually, the completed pipeline was expected to result in as many as 130,000 jobs, many of them on the upper Texas Coast, where the heavy oil would be refined into 700,000 barrels of oil daily.” (Editorial, “Keystone Pipeline is the Wrong Call,” The Houston Chronicle, 11/11/2011) 

THE HILL POLL: AMERICANS OPPOSE OBAMA DECISION TO BLOCK KEYSTONE PIPELINE 52% TO 34%: (“Slight Majority Oppose Obama On Keystone XL,” The Hill, 1/19/2012) 

KEYSTONE JOBS MAY GO TO CHINA AFTER OBAMA DECISION: “President Barack Obama’s decision yesterday to reject a permit for TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL oil pipeline may prompt Canada to turn to China for oil exports.” (Theophilis Arigitis and Jeremy Loon, “Obama Keystone Denial Prompts Canada to Focus on China,”Bloomberg, 1/19/2012)

GREEN GROUPS THREATENED TO ABANDON OBAMA IF HE APPROVED KEYSTONE: “Environmental groups have been protesting the pipeline that would run from Alberta oil sands to Texas refineries, and there have been rumblings that greens would abandon Obama next fall if he approved it.” (Dan Berman and Darren Goode, “Obama Punts Keystone XL Pipeline,” Politico, 11/10/2011)

USA TODAY: OBAMA DECISION “THE MOST CRAVEN SORT OF ELECTION-YEAR POLITICS”: “What’s really going on here, of course, is the most craven sort of election-year politics. The Obama administration seemed to be on its way to approving Keystone when environmental groups made the pipeline a key test of their support for the president, who suddenly decided the administration couldn’t possibly make a decision until sometime after the election.” (“Obama’s Pipeline Decision Delays Energy Security,” USA Today, 1/18/2012)

A PATTERN OF JOB-DESTROYING POLITICAL PAYBACK:

OBAMA GAVE “EMBATTLED” EPA A HUG WHILE GIVING WORKERS THE COLD SHOULDER: “On a day when Republican presidential candidates stumped for votes in New Hampshire, President Obama paid a visit Tuesday afternoon to the employees of the embattled Environmental Protection Agency, which has been the target of GOP disdain.” (David Nakamura, “Obama Gives Embattled EPA a Pep Talk,” The Washington Post, 1/10/2012)

NLRB CREATES NEW UNION ELECTIONS RULE AS PAYBACK TO BIG LABOR: (Kevin Bogardus, “NLRB Finalizes Controversial Union Election Rule,” The Hill, 12/21/2011)

HOW IS EPA “EMBATTLED” WHEN OBAMA LETS EPA BUREAUCRATS HAVE THE REGULATIONS THEY WANT, DESTROYING 183,000 JOBS A YEAR, 1.65 MILLION JOBS DESTROYED THROUGH 2020?: (“EPA Finalizes New Rule That Will Hurt American Economy,” American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, 12/21/2011)

LIKE CLOCKWORK: DEMOCRATS’ ENVIRONMENTALIST FUNDRAISING ORGANIZATION BASE REJOICES OVER EPA’S JOB-DESTROYING DECISION:“Environmentalists rallied so hard for the Obama administration on Wednesday,you’d think power plants were shooting cotton candy from their smokestacks.”(Erica Martinson, “EPA Power Plant Rule Has Greens Pro-Obama,” Politico, 12/22/2011)

4,257 NEW REGULATIONS IN THE WORKS, MORE THAN 200 WILL COST OVER $100 MILLION ANNUALLY—15% MORE REGULATIONS THAN IN 2010.“Appropriate and responsible regulations play an important policymaking role. Yet the Obama administration has turned rule-making into an assault on American businesses and the jobs they create. Right now, 4,257 new regulations are in the works, 219 of which will cost over $100 million annually — 15 percent more than last year.” (Editorial, “How Obama’s Rules Hold Back Chicago Business,” The Chicago Sun-Times, 8/30/2011)

The Democrats may think they can ride out 2012 by playing these job-destroying political games, but all that has done is leave the American people increasingly pessimistic about the state of the economy:

GALLUP: 83% OF AMERICANS DISSATISFIED WITH THE STATE OF THE NATION’S ECONOMY: (Lydia Saad, “U.S. Economy Most Toxic of 24 Issues,” Gallup, 1/23/2012) 

GALLUP: 69% OF AMERICANS DISSATISFIED WITH THE SIZE AND POWER OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT: (Lydia Saad, “U.S. Economy Most Toxic of 24 Issues,” Gallup, 1/23/2012)