Saved or created? That is the question.

It hit me while driving someplace and listening to the radio, maybe a month ago -- that the President was talking about the outcome of his stimulus package while using the now oft-repeated phrase about three and half million jobs being, "saved or created."

(Freepik image)

I'm hearing it again as I watch one of President Obama's acolytes on "Meet The Press" and so I'll ask you dear reader...

how does one accurately measure a job saved?  How can one record a job loss that didn't occur, but might have occurred under the circumstances?

Data on new jobs created are obviously available and broadly examined -- but jobs saved?  It seems like a clever mechanism to avoid any rigorous assessment of the relative success or failure of the stimulus plan.

What's actually been created, is simply a new rhetorical device called "jobs saved".  That phrase is designed to portray an anemic employment picture as something more robust, even if the metric can't be measured. 

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Submitted to US Senator Herb Kohl moments ago...

"Dear Senator Kohl,

I am writing as a private citizen to voice my strong opposition to the bill misleadingly labeled as the `Employee Free Choice Act' also known as Card Check.

The coercive leadership of organized labor does not need additional tools to intimidate ordinary men and women who prefer to remain outside the union. I would urge you to speak out against this legislation and expose it for what it is -- a catalyst for union demagoguery.

I am not against organized labor per se, but I am against bullies and thugs gaining ground with sanction from Congress.

Respectfully,


John J. Maddente"