Nov. 12, 2003 - 20:51 MST

THE WONDERING JEW

To Be Funny

Sometimes it is laughable to see some of the articles side by side in our newspaper. Sunday November 9th in The Denver Post there are two articles. "Bush: Tax cuts boosting economy." Next to it is, "Economy adds jobs at lower pay scales."

Scott Lindlaw of the Associated Press says, "President Bush claimed credit Saturday for a raft of favorable economic reports, saying the improvements represent proof that his tax cuts are having the desired effect." "Last week, a report showed economic output rose at 7.2 percent annual rate in the third quarter." "American companies are investing. Americans are buying homes at a record pace, and home owner-ship is near-record levels," Bush, spending the weekened at Camp David, Md., said in his taped address. "Stock market values have risen, adding $2 trillion in wealth for investors since the beginning of the year," he said, crediting the gains to 'the effects of tax relief' on the American economy."

Later in the article Mr Lindlaw quotes Mr. Bush again, "People who have lost work should have hope," he said Friday in a meeting with students and teachers at a community college in North Carolina that emphasizes 'vocational retraining.' We can all be encouraged, but we can not be satisfied," Bush said. "These are early signs of progress. Now we must turn this progress into broad and lasting gains for all Americans."

Then an article by Edmund L. Andrews of the New York Times points out, "Global Insight an economic consulting firm made an economic study prepared for the U.S. conference of Mayors concludes that wages are significantly lower in the service sectors that are adding jobs than wages in manufacturing industries that have been losing jobs."

Mr. Andrews goes on further, "According to the study, prepared by the economic consulting firm Global Insight, the biggest job growth over the next two years will be in administration and support services, health care, travel and tourism. The average wage in those sectors over the next two years is expected to be $36,000, the study concluded. By contrast the average wage in manufacturing sectors that lost jobs is about $43,000."

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Then in an article by Hiawatha Bray of The Boston Globe in the Rocky Mountain News of Monday November 10th has an article with the headline, "Outsourcing cuts costs, jobs." Where some pertinent observations are made. He mentions a Philippine worker Chistian Mancenon who,"in barely accented English takes an order for HBO from a man in Lebanon, Illinois." He works, "For a subsidiary of Philippines Long Distance Telephone Co., which fields customer calls for Littleton (Colorado) based EchoStar's Dish Network satellite TV." Then, Mr. Bray adds, "But even workers filling customer orders, with few skills, have trouble competing with the $300 a month Mancenon is paid in the Philippines, one fifth of what a worker in the United States would get for doing the same job."

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I wonder just where the reported economic ?output? rising at a 7.2 percent annual rate in the third quarter is coming from ? With people losing jobs yet and others having taken wage cuts to be able to keep working, jobs being outsourced just what the heck 'output' is he talking about ? The outsourcing is being done in all fields and all job classifications and people are still losing their jobs.

Mr. Bush talked in a meeting with students and teachers at a commnity college in North Carolina that emphasizes 'vocational retraining.' Yeah right, with only low level jobs available to our citizens, what are they going to do, retrain people and send them to the Philippines and other countries to work ?

If we were living in a Comic Opera world, even then this obfuscatory baloney actually is too true To Be Funny . . . . . . . . . . .

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