Washington Grows While Businesses Continue to Fall

Even though the national unemployment rate remained at 9.7 percent for the month of February, more than 36,000 jobs were lost in February and since the so called stimulus was passed over 3 million jobs have been lost. This indicates the economy is in serious trouble and the central economic planning from Washington, D.C. is not working, U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam, a DuPage Republican said this morning.

It has been over a year since the Democrats’ misguided “stimulus” plan was enacted, and while they guaranteed it would create millions of jobs, instead it has delivered near double-digit unemployment, record spending, and record debt,” Roskam said. “We need a change in direction in Washington. My constituents are fed up with the Democrats’ spending adventure and unyielding obsession with ignoring the will of Americans and trying to pass a massive healthcare overhaul.”

The actual unemployment rate, which includes part- time workers who’d prefer a full-time position and people who want work but have given up looking, rose to nearly 17 percent, according to Business Week.

Roskam said there are ways to jump start the economy with pro-growth policies including tax relief for small businesses and families, and enact the “no cost jobs plan”: Free Trade Agreements with Columbia, Panama, and South Korea.

“Under Democratic control, Washington is growing while everyone else is suffering. It is long past time that reverses.”

Friday’s report from the Labor Department showed government payrolls decreased by 18,000 in February. State and local governments reduced employment by 25,000 during the month, while the federal government added 7,000. The increase at the federal level reflected in part the hiring of 15,000 temporary workers to conduct the 2010 census, according to a Business Week report.

Gov’t Waste: $250,000 For Green Roof For DuPage County Bldg

Obama’s Stimulus a Failure

On the one-year anniversary of the federal stimulus, U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam, a DuPage Republican, said the enormous expense has been a failure.

Roskam said President Obama promised unemployment would remain below eight percent, yet the national average is 10 percent and Illinois has an unemployment rate of 11 percent. He said the stimulus is a failure that created next to zero jobs.

Some Stimulus Facts:

• Illinois’ unemployment rate has risen from 8.6 percent to 11.1 percent since the “stimulus” passed. The Obama Administration projected 148,000 Illinois jobs would be created or saved by the “stimulus.”  According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Illinois has lost 171,400 jobs since then.

• According to the Obama Administration, it has cost taxpayers $686,000 per job created in Illinois by the stimulus. More than $7.7 billion has been spent, with under 11,300 jobs created or saved through February 10, 2010.

• According to the Obama Administration, it has cost taxpayers $1.5 million per job created in Illinois’ 6^th district by the stimulus. More than $138 million has been spent with only 89 jobs reported created or saved.

• A CBS News/New York Times survey released last week found that just six percent of Americans believe Democrats’ trillion-dollar ‘stimulus’ has created jobs.

Yesterday, Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh said this: “If I could create one job in the private sector by helping to grow a business, that would be one more than Congress has created in the last six months.”