The road not taken

[jaxx]

The road not taken
By Steve Benen
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Fri Jun 1, 2012 9:35 AM EDT

About a year ago, the job market looked a lot like it does now -- after a strong winter, the economy stumbled badly in May and job growth stalled. Once the Republicans' debt-ceiling crisis was resolved, President Obama shifted gears, refocused his agenda, and unveiled the American Jobs Act.

<..> Despite public clamoring for action on jobs, congressional Republicans reflexively killed the American Jobs Act, saying it was unnecessary. The House wouldn't bring it up for a vote, and a Republican filibuster killed it in the Senate. For GOP policymakers, this was a time when Washington should stop investing in job creation and start focusing on austerity -- lower the deficit, take capital out of the economy, and everything would work out fine.

As panic sets in after this morning's brutal jobs report, take a moment to consider a hypothetical: what would the economy look like today if Congress had followed Obama's lead, responded to public-opinion polls, and passed the American Jobs Act? In 2012, do you think the nation could use those 1.3 million jobs or not?

Are we better off now as a result of Republican obstructionism and intransigence, or would we have been better off if popular and effective job-creation measures had been approved?

http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/20...taken?lite

The truth is a rare thing, Steve Benen tells it today. The economy lies at the feet of the GOP, who have undermined it all along. The bastards.