Bush drops monthly layoff report

Kos here. Yeah, I know I'm on hiatus, but what the heck. Check out the headline in this story:

Bush ends break to figh economic, foreign threats

What the F? Since when does the White House communications office write Reuters' headlines? He didn't end his break to fight those "threats". He ended his break because he's been on vacation a ridiculous amount of time, and another 10-day break was already long enough for a nation suffering a barrage of bad news. The dude was going to have to return to work at some point, threats or no threats.

But we're going to be seeing lots of these headlines as Rove and Co. push hard to make it look like Bush is "doing something". But their biggest accomplishment on their war against the economy? Check out this gem (reprinted in full until the AP lawyers contact me):

The Bush administration has dropped the government's monthly report on mass layoffs, which also had been eliminated when President Bush's father was in office.

The report by the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics recorded layoffs of 50 or more workers regardless of duration.

It was started in 1984 but was dropped for lack of funding during the last recession in 1992, when the first President Bush was in office. Lack of funding was cited this time, too. The program had been revived in 1995 under President Clinton.

The last report was issued on Christmas Eve with November's figures showing that U.S. companies laid off more than 240,000 workers in 2,150 mass layoffs.

A Labor Department spokesman did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

Like father, like son. Employment figures put the administration in a bad light? Kill the report. This is despicable even by Bush's standards, but I do wonder to myself: "Why do these things surprise me?" This administration has become the most secretive in recent memory. And sorry, but Ari does not persuade:

Asked if there was anyone in the administration who was a consistent advocate of openness, who argued that secrecy hurt as well as helped, Mr. Fleischer said President Bush was that person. He said that was exemplified by the fact that while "the president reserved the authority to try people under military tribunals, nobody has been tried under military tribunals."

(He just keeps them locked up indefinitely without access to lawyers, courts, or the media.)

Posted January 05, 2003 11:15 AM | Comments (18)