Employment figures are not looking good for the American economy. Since taking office the Bush Administration, which promised to create millions of new jobs, has actually seen jobs disappear. The president blames 9/11, but the reality is that his economic policies, the same failed economic policies of the Reagan-Bush years, have pushed our nation into record debt and an era of job losses. At the same time, poverty is on the increase and the jobs that are being created don’t come close to paying a living wage. Millions more Americans are without health care than ever before. Families have to work longer hours to get by. And how did the president respond to the bad economic news today:
"Today's employment report shows our economy is continuing to move forward," the president declared at a campaign rally in Stratham, New Hampshire."You've proved that we're moving America forward and we're not turning back," a twist on his campaign trail mantra that America is "turning the corner."
In more bad news for low wage workers, the president is pushing additional regulations to cut over time pay. 6 million workers will already loose their overtime pay on August 23. But the president wants to take even more away from these hard workers and hand it over to their wealthy employers.
George W. Bush is a United Methodist (though I don't think he actually goes to church on a regular basis and has refused to meet with the United Methodist Council of Bishops because of their anti-Iraq war stand). The United Methodist Social Principles have a great section on the value of fair employment:
We claim all economic systems to be under the judgment of God no less than other facets of the created order. Therefore, we recognize the responsibility of governments to develop and implement sound fiscal and monetary policies that provide for the economic life of individuals and corporate entities, and that ensure full employment and adequate incomes with a minimum of inflation. We believe private and public economic enterprises are responsible for the social costs of doing business, such as employment and environmental pollution, and that they should be held accountable for these costs. We support measures that would reduce the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few. We further support efforts to revise tax structures and to eliminate governmental support programs that now benefit the wealthy at the expense of other persons.
This president would be wise to abandon his policies that have created such economic turmoil and adopt those advocated by his own church. People might live betters lives because of it.
