On January 3, 2015, Joe Conason posted the above-titled article on the National Memo website.

What the Republicans have been saying:

• Prominent figures on the American right “from John Boehner and Mitch McConnell to Rush Limbaugh, George Will, and Sean Hannity, along with every right-wing think tank and media outlet – have warned the public that the tax, health care, and spending policies of the Obama administration were killing jobs and wrecking the economy.

• The Republican party has enacted an agenda of political obstruction and austerity policies did much to harm the economy and employment, especially when they drove debate over the budget and debt ceiling toward the brink of default – and insisted on enormous cuts in spending by the federal, state, and local governments.
  • As recently as last spring, the Republican line recited by Will and Limbaugh — and parroted by Boehner and McConnell — was that Obamacare would surely destroy at least 2 million jobs.”
  • Last February, Boehner’s office tweeted that the Affordable Care Act is “expected to destroy 2.3 million jobs.”
  • On the radio, Limbaugh barked that the implementation of health care reform would cost “2.5 million jobs, minimum,” which he called “a literal tragedy for the country.”
  • In an editorial, the Wall Street Journal agreed that Obamacare is “a job destroyer.”
  • And on Fox News, Charles Krauthammer gloated that this White House unemployment debacle would be “emblazoned on the tombstone of liberalism.

• The Heritage Foundation and the Cato Institute made similarly frightening predictions when President Obama and the Democrats in Congress insisted on letting the Bush tax cuts expire and limiting deductions for the wealthiest taxpayers.
  • A Heritage tax expert said ominously that “we’re going to have a slower-growing economy, we’re going to have fewer jobs, less opportunity for Americans of all income levels.”

What’s reality?

• The past 12 months had the strongest job growth since 1999
• Unemployment decreased from 7% to 5.8%
• The economy grew at an annual rate of 4%
• The Dow-Jones average is over 18,000
• Consumer confidence has reached its highest level since 2007 (before the Great Recession

We’re not where we want to be on unemployment and underemployment, and wages haven’t risen as they should for those in the Middle Class.

You can read the full post here.

2014 economic recovery · job growth · Republican rhetoric

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