waggie, none of your arguments refute anything i said. unions, protectionsism (yes, bush did impose steel tarriffs, i did not [nor did kudlow] agree with bush's leftist move), are NORMALLY a LEFTIST AND A HARBINGER OF THE DEMOCRATS. i will not argue this with you. protectionism and unions go along with higher taxes to anchor democrat's philosophy on the economy. it's nauseating, prevents a higher standard of living, hampers inovation (because you less the reward for risk taken), and kills job growth.
in terms of why would there not be a job increase with the GDP increasing at, paraphrasing "8% vs a more normal slowdown to 3%," i answered your question already. i'll just copy and paste.
1) earnings depressions
2) companies cut costs since demand for their products are lower
3) demand eventually picks up
4) companies ramp up production, but use overtime and temp jobs because they don't want permanent fixed costs until they are sure a sustained recovery is underway.
5) demand for their products becomes entrenched long enough that it is costing them money (opportunity cost) by not be able to meet demand.
6)( THEN, they hire.
we are in stage 4 right now. if and when demand becomes sustained enough to the point where companies are losing out on potential sales from not ramping up their ability to meet demand, that is when they will hire. look at the investment banking business as a prototype. they fired and fired and fired. IPOs are JUST starting to come back, and you will soon see a demand for MBA candidates. have you seen it yet??? no. because it has not been sustained. apologize to me and admit you were wrong on this thread in 6 months when the job market begins to strengthen.
on manufacturing jobs, i never said they will come back. and they never will, because of unions and ARTIFICIALLY high wages that exist here. for that matter, increase taxes and all business will begin to leave, not just manufacturing jobs.
howard dean will increase taxes for the average person by $1900, according to (unbelieavably) the Wall Street Joural (of course, it was on the VERY last page). this will decrease discretionary income that would be spent on products and services, HURTING the job market.