No Rich Guy Left Behind I think that it is intellectually healthy to examine my feelings towards the bush administration from time to time. From time to time I worry that my active dislike is rooted in irrational partisanship rather than any empirical observations.
Fortunately, the Bush administration is quite helpful, always reassuring me that no, my dislike is rational:
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration, hoping to fend off Democratic attacks that it has failed to come to the aid of the country's ailing manufacturing sector, is calling for the creation of a new presidential council to give U.S. companies a greater voice in government decisions.
Creation of the council is one of a number of recommendations detailed in a long-awaited administration report entitled "Manufacturing in America: A Comprehensive Strategy to Address the Challenges to U.S. Manufacturers."
In a reversal of past administration policy, the report calls for increased support for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, a network of assistance centers around the country.
[. . .]
Many of the recommendations in certain areas, such as making it more difficult to file class-action lawsuits against companies and boosting energy production on federal lands, are Bush suggestions that have failed to make it through Congress because of opposition from such groups as trial lawyers and environmentalists.
The group that needs help is not manufacturing companies, but workers. Millions of jobs have been lost in the sector, and all this proposal will do is increase profits for manufacturing companies--which isn't going to help workers. Companies will hire enough workers to make what ever they can sell. Reducing the number of class-action lawsuits, or drilling for oil on federal land isn't going to make companies hire more workers than they need.
These steps will increase profits, and those profits go into the pockets of the residents of the executive suites.
Yeah, that'll help get back the 2.8 million manufacturing jobs that vanished in the past three years.
9:16:38 PM 
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