Former Democratic Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm published an op-ed in Politico this week under the title “Facts show Democrats are job creators.” The op-ed’s spin is that all objective evidence points to the “fact” that Democrats are better job creators than Republicans, and therefore we should continue implementing liberal economic policies. Not only are the statistics that this theory is based on stunningly deceptive, but Jennifer Granholm is possibly the worst person in the country to deliver this message.
Wall Street Journal columnist William McGurn fittingly described Jennifer Granholm’s tenure as the Governor of Michigan thusly:
“Some politicians give us failure. Some politicians give us failure mixed with spectacle. Once in a generation, a politician gives us failure and misunderstanding so colossal that his or her bad example rises to the level of public service.
To this elite few belongs Jennifer Granholm.”
Let us examine just how much of an example Granholm set regarding how liberal government policies impact job creation.
Under Granholm, the Michigan economy lost an incredible 630,000 jobs and Michigan’s Per Capita GDP fell from 24th to 41st. In fact, Michigan’s unemployment averaged 37% higher than the national rate throughout Granhom’s years in office. All of this happened while Granholm was imposing many of the liberal policies that she is now claiming are huge job creators.
The reality is that the Bloomberg Government study she is using to justify her claims doesn’t actually do any such thing. While it is true that much of growth has occurred while Democrats were in the White House, it ignores why that may be the case. The largest job growth occurred during the unprecedented 1990’s Internet and housing booms. While Bill Clinton was president at the time, it was the Republican congressional majorities that pushed spending cuts and balanced budgets during his tenure. Those were strictly conservative policies that Democrats mostly rejected, yet Granholm is using that period as evidence that liberal policies create jobs.
The most astonishing part of the op-ed is Granholm’s claim that the current high unemployment rates are due to “public-sector job cuts” implemented by Republicans after the 2010 election. As we have previously noted, an overwhelming majority of the jobs that have been created in the last four years actually occurred after Republicans took over the U.S. House and several Governorships in the 2010 elections.
Former Governor Granholm is correct when she writes that “numbers don’t lie.” Just look at her dismal record in Michigan for a story of what happens when a state actually implements the very liberal economic policies that she claims create jobs.
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