The Bush Administration was in the ‘hood yesterday, or in the state, at least. It seems the Northwest hasn’t benefited much from Bush’s grand economic plan of cutting taxes, increasing spending and waiting for the good times to roll.
Three members of President Bush's Cabinet yesterday rode a bus through some of the country's highest unemployment areas, saying better times are close at hand because of the president's tax cuts, job-training programs and economic policies."You have to go where the problems are," Commerce Secretary Don Evans said in Richland before the Northwest tour headed to Yakima. Evans and his colleagues started the day in Spokane and today will be in Portland and Eugene, Ore.
Evans, Treasury Secretary John Snow, Labor Secretary Elaine Chao and Small Business Administrator Hector Barreto took their "Jobs and Growth" bus tour through Washington state communities where economic recovery has been slow in agriculture and manufacturing.
[…]
Snow said the economy is working well in broad terms — for instance, in low interest rates and a strong housing market. "But what really counts is whether you see it," Snow said.
Washington and Oregon have been among the states hit hardest by unemployment. Washington has the fourth-highest unemployment rate in the nation and Oregon ranks second, according to December figures.
In Washington, Yakima and the Tri-Cities remain among the areas with the highest rate of unemployed workers.
But meeting with unemployed workers was not part of the agenda.
"We talk to them all the time," Chao said. (via the Seattle Times)
Ah, they talk to the unemployed all the time.
Maybe next time, they can forget the bus tour and send something a bit more tangible – extended unemployment benefits, say, or job training programs.
Because the excitement of seeing the Cabinet up close and personal only goes so far at the grocery store.
