GOP v Dems on Jobs

Apparently former President Clinton’s claim on jobs is true. In his speech at the DNC on Wednesday (I missed it, watching Cowboys v Giants), he said that under Democratic Presidents since 1961 we have seen more growth in private sector jobs than under GOP Presidents. To be (semi-)accurate, the numbers are

• Democratic Presidents: 42mm
• Republican Presidents: 24mm

That’s quite a difference, and not even close. Given that during the last two Presidents we averaged per month:

• former President George W. Bush’s terms - 63,500 jobs
• current President Obama’s first term - 62,500 jobs

Those aren’t great numbers, though to be fair, the first Bush term had negative job growth overall.

Does this mean we should have more Democratic Presidents?  No.

To me it means we should continue to have parties alternate in power. It’s arguable that the job growths experienced by Democratic Presidents isn’t just due to them, or that the lack of jobs from the GOP is based on lack of business policies enacted by the preceding administration.

The thing this says to me is that we should have change, and regular change, more than anything. A constant stream of either liberal or conservative policies would lead us too far in one direction.

Now Libertarians might be good for the long term. Slight changes to correct course, but overall a “we make of it what we will” philosophy for the citizenship.