It is truly Alice in Wonderland Nation we're living in these days. The Red Queen...er...George W. Bush has expanded the federal government by over 1 million people since taking office, according to this report from the Brookings Institute.
"Even as Democrats and federal employee unions battle the Bush Administration’s proposal to put thousands of federal jobs up for competition with the private sector, the government’s largely-hidden workforce created through contracts and grants has reached its highest level since before the end of the Cold War. According to new estimates generated on behalf of the Brookings Institution’s Center for Public Service, federal contracts and grants generated just over 8 million jobs in 2002, up from just under 7 million in 1999, and 7.5 million in 1990.
"When these “off-budget” jobs created by contracts and grants jobs are added to the “on-budget” headcount composed of civil service, uniformed military personnel, and postal service jobs, the “true size” of the federal workforce stood at 12.1 million in October, 2002 up from 11 million in October 1999. The 2002 true size of government is still smaller than it was at the end of the Cold War in 1990, but is only smaller because of a reduction of nearly 1 million civil service and uniformed military jobs over the 1990s, almost all of which were cut at the Departments of Defense and Energy, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration."
While Depts. of Defense and Homeland Uber alles Security have contributed about half of those jobs, the other half have nothing to do with terrorist threats. Well, at least he's focused on jobs. But, of course, the Congressional budget office expects the deficit to hit $480 billion next year, and 1.4 trillion over the next ten years. The Man Who Would Be President has managed to build the largest bureaucracy since the end of the Cold War. He's beaten his old pappy's record of $290 billion. I knew he could do it. Yippee. We are dealing with the most irresponsible administration in modern times.
Some energy policy. Turns out that a member of Cheney's secret panel of energy experts included the guy, Pete Burg, whose company, FirstEnergy, was responsible for the massive blackout last month.
It's a crazy, mixed up world. Two oil guys in the White House, a Republican lock on both houses. Is it any wonder, it's now two bucks a gallon, at least in this part of the country.
But it's Friday. Flood the Zone! Here's how it works: Go to Notgeniuses and click on the link to Flood the Zone. Each Friday, they choose an important topic -- this week it's the Patriot Act, last week was Bush's awful stewardship of the environment. They then give you tips on how to write an effective letter to the editor, and factoids to provide content. But here's the genius part. They then ask you to go to Bush re-election site and click on Action Center. The Bush team has a feature that takes your zip code, gives you a list of newspapers (and, not coincidentally, Talk Radio) in your area, and then sets up an email for you that you can send directly to the editor of said newspaper. Thanks George! Careful, though, don't be confused by this.
*****
The Milwaukee used car salesmen proves what we'd always suspected...he's dumb as a 2 x 4.
But at least the long national nightmare that is Sausagegate has finally ended.
"Even as Democrats and federal employee unions battle the Bush Administration’s proposal to put thousands of federal jobs up for competition with the private sector, the government’s largely-hidden workforce created through contracts and grants has reached its highest level since before the end of the Cold War. According to new estimates generated on behalf of the Brookings Institution’s Center for Public Service, federal contracts and grants generated just over 8 million jobs in 2002, up from just under 7 million in 1999, and 7.5 million in 1990.
"When these “off-budget” jobs created by contracts and grants jobs are added to the “on-budget” headcount composed of civil service, uniformed military personnel, and postal service jobs, the “true size” of the federal workforce stood at 12.1 million in October, 2002 up from 11 million in October 1999. The 2002 true size of government is still smaller than it was at the end of the Cold War in 1990, but is only smaller because of a reduction of nearly 1 million civil service and uniformed military jobs over the 1990s, almost all of which were cut at the Departments of Defense and Energy, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration."
While Depts. of Defense and Homeland Uber alles Security have contributed about half of those jobs, the other half have nothing to do with terrorist threats. Well, at least he's focused on jobs. But, of course, the Congressional budget office expects the deficit to hit $480 billion next year, and 1.4 trillion over the next ten years. The Man Who Would Be President has managed to build the largest bureaucracy since the end of the Cold War. He's beaten his old pappy's record of $290 billion. I knew he could do it. Yippee. We are dealing with the most irresponsible administration in modern times.
Some energy policy. Turns out that a member of Cheney's secret panel of energy experts included the guy, Pete Burg, whose company, FirstEnergy, was responsible for the massive blackout last month.
It's a crazy, mixed up world. Two oil guys in the White House, a Republican lock on both houses. Is it any wonder, it's now two bucks a gallon, at least in this part of the country.
But it's Friday. Flood the Zone! Here's how it works: Go to Notgeniuses and click on the link to Flood the Zone. Each Friday, they choose an important topic -- this week it's the Patriot Act, last week was Bush's awful stewardship of the environment. They then give you tips on how to write an effective letter to the editor, and factoids to provide content. But here's the genius part. They then ask you to go to Bush re-election site and click on Action Center. The Bush team has a feature that takes your zip code, gives you a list of newspapers (and, not coincidentally, Talk Radio) in your area, and then sets up an email for you that you can send directly to the editor of said newspaper. Thanks George! Careful, though, don't be confused by this.
*****
The Milwaukee used car salesmen proves what we'd always suspected...he's dumb as a 2 x 4.
But at least the long national nightmare that is Sausagegate has finally ended.
posted by John at 12:13 PM
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