I think that due to the fact that Republicans always run on a "Smaller Government" platform someone with better research skills than myself should explore government payroll growth during the Bush administration. If one of the Top Kossaks would explore this falsehood, it would be helpful in breaking down a few Republican voters.
I have been thinking about this ever since the previous election campaign when very positive job growth numbers were coming out of the Pro-Bush Wall Street Journal. There was one month, I think the figures were on June of 2004, when a glowing headline touted a monthly growth number of 145,000 but in the fine print, it was admitted that 35,000 of those jobs were government jobs. More progressive papers pointed out the fact that 145,000 didn't even satisfy the graduating students that month. My immediate response was the fact that George W. Bush was creating government jobs just to massage the job growth statistics.
I've used the Kos search engine on as many phrases as I can think of and I'm not coming up with much. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe this piece of the Republican armor has already been explored but if it hasn't, please exploit this issue. I'm begging you!
Many Conservative voters truly believe that Republicans are making government smaller.
The Counter Liberal Corporate Press rarely mentions the "Doomsday Deficit" and never goes into government payroll growth as a symptom of the red ink. It is hugely believed by the Republican faithful that their leaders represent leaner government. I know this is bullshit but I can't seem to find much proof of the increase in government employees since Bush took office.
This page was generated during the Clinton administration but it contains some facts that point to ever increasing bureaucracies. Taken from the source "Investor's Business Daily, August 18, 1998" it points to shrinkage in Federal Job growth but has that trend continued under Republican dominance? Hell no!
http://www.ncpa.org/pd/govern/aug98h.html
This dated figure from the same page "there are 1.2 million more workers in government than in manufacturing today" has probably grown quite a bit.
This webpage was almost useful;
http://www.bls.gov/iag/government.htm
But this little sentence "Employment Projections data indicate that federal government employment will increase 0.4 percent over the 2002-12 period, the lowest rate of increase of any sector." leads me to believe that the government hasn't compiled data on 2002 thru the present.
This page claims that Federal government represents about 2.2 percent of all employment but I'd really like to see how that has changed year to year. Added together with State and Local government it comes out to 16.3 percent of all employment. That is a scary number but what about those non government employees who make a living from servicing the government. When you consider the fact that this number dose not include postal employees, WTF, this isn't a consumer economy, it a government economy.
As the split of the A.F.L-C.I.O. receives heavy press coverage two figures are given over and over, the fact that twelve percent of the nation's workforce is union and eight percent of the workers in the private sector belong to a union. That seems to indicate that four percent of the unionized workforce are government employees. Perhaps that number was higher before Bush created the Department of Homeland Security, which was a thinly veiled union busting operation.
http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/143/1/32/
As a proud member of a union, I greatly miss the days of "Buy U.S. or Bye Bye U.S. Jobs" bumper stickers but if our government put some effort into consuming American made products instead of sending our tax dollars offshore, this would go a long way in closing the trade deficit.
I have a real problem with the fact that in this consumer economy the biggest consumer is the government. I have an even bigger problem with the fact that this government is consuming so many foreign products. It may be impossible to get struggling families off the inferior goods found at Wal-Mart but the government can afford American made paper clips and staplers.
I mean when we see city buses and subways that are manufactured in another country, this is just another form of government union busting behavior. I may be an old pro union dinosaur but when I have to ride a subway car made by Kawasaki to work, it pisses me off almost as much as the NYPD searching my bag so I can enjoy the privilege.
While "Outsourcing" seems to be the most vicious threat to a blue collar backbone, why can't all of our government agencies use tax dollars to stand behind American workers? ? I guess there are fair trade laws against protectionist behavior by the government but they could spin a reason to throw the working taxpayers a biscuit every now and again.
From this page http://www.bls.gov/oco/cg/cgs041.htm, is an interesting statistic in the balance of power department. Apparently the legislative and judicial branches each employ about one percent of the federal civilian work force while the executive branch employs ninety-eight percent of the federal workforce.
If that many people fall under the jurisdiction of George W. Bush than Congressional Budget Councils have so little control over the budget. All they can really do is tighten the belt while streamlining this major component of the "Doomsday Deficit" falls right in Bush's lap.
Here is another link that places the blame on a secession of Republican presidents;
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5190.htm
I love this one from http://www.bls.gov/lpc/;
Productivity and Costs data are not published for any industries in the government sector except the United States postal service. Of course it's not published. Statistics on productivity would be very embarrassing. When you think about the pressures placed upon the employees in the private sector as compared to the only real growth industry in America, doesn't it make you just a little bit angry. Don't you wish you could just show up whenever you feel like it and spread the daily papers out on your desk until it was time for a very long lunch?
What I'd really like to find out is the job growth at those agencies that the Republicans have rendered useless. Agencies like the NLRB and OSHA that once protected the workers. The places like health, education and welfare where big cuts have greatly lowered the outflow. Would it be great news in the war against the Neo Con, if those administrations that the Bush Crime Family truly hates have payroll growth as they shrink?
I'm sorry that I don't have the research or writing skills to fully explore but I'm a very angry middle aged man who is watching my country give it all away. I'm so angry and filled with fear that when my turn comes for those golden years, there won't be anything left. I don't think it is my place to dictate what Kos should be writing but I listen to a host of Republican sheep everyday and they all think that George W. Bush has made government much smaller, that all of the added spending is about defense and national security. Please bust up that Conservative Radio Bullshit!