On September 23, 2010, the Republicans unveiled their Pledge to America. It's number one priority was job creation. John Boehner keeps the press release on his own website, a reminder of the priorities of this Pledge.
What is a pledge? Websters defines it as a binding promise. So,the Republicans made a binding promise to the American people to put job creation as their number one priority. In their own words:
Joblessness is the single most important challenge facing America today. A plan to create jobs, end economic uncertainty, and make America more competitive must be the first and most urgent domestic priority of our government.
In the words of John Boehner:
And if some of those jobs are lost in this, so be it.
So be it.
And now, as the Republicans cut the budget, we are seeing more and more experts speak out. Today, Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke said that House GOP’s 2011 spending plan would likely cost “a couple hundred thousand jobs."
A couple hundred thousand more people out of work. A couple hundred thousand more families on unemployment. A couple hundred thousand more people competing for the few jobs that are out there. A couple hundred thousand more families uncertain about their future. A couple hundred thousand more paychecks not being spent to stimulate the economy.
Bernake went on to say,“Our sense is that the 60 billion dollars cut spread out in the normal way would reduce growth. But we think given the size it’s one to two tenths [of a percentage point reduction to gross domestic product], about a couple hundred thousand jobs.It’s not trivial.”
We have all broken promises in our lives. It doesn't make us bad people, it makes us people. But, most of us don't have so many people's well being in our hands, their very future depends on this promise being kept. A couple hundreds thousand families are now going to bear the burden of a broken promise. They are the casualties of the shattered pledge.
And it's not trivial.
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