I railed on this story yesterday on the air, but it is too asinine not to put in the Nuze.  It’s this story about this prepuce Majority leader of ours, Harry Reid.  In a debate over the first piece of Obama’s jobs bill, Reid said the following on the floor of the Senate:

“The massive layoffs we’ve had in America today-of course they’re rooted in the last administration-and it’s very clear that private sector jobs are doing just fine. It’s the public sector jobs where we’ve lost huge numbers, and that’s what this legislation’s all about.”

 First, blame Bush.  That goes without saying.  Everything is Bush’s fault.  I even have reason to believe that it was Bush who was screwing around with my Twitter account this morning.  Par of the course. 

 The second point here is the most important .. and frightening.  Democrats like Harry Reid are eager to put government workers ahead private sector workers.  Remember when they federalized airport security?  That’s when we heard from then Senate Majority Leader that “you don’t professionalize unless you federalize.”  Sure.  You work in the private sector and you’re just not a professional; not until you are paid by and work for the government.

 But is Reid right?  Let’s take a look at the stats:    

• According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, government workers have the lowest unemployment rate of any industry or class recorded, at 4.7%, while the national unemployment rate is 9.1% – nearly twice that of government workers.

• Since the recession began in December 2007 the private sector shed 6.3 million net jobs, while government payrolls are down by just 392,000.  That amounts to a 5.4% drop in private sector employment, while government employment has slipped only one-third as much (1.8 percent).  (Heritage Foundation)

 And for all the talk of the need to save our teachers, consider this fact:

• Since the recession began, education-related government jobs have fallen even less, down just 1.4%. (Heritage Foundation)

 Do we really need federal money to hire more teachers?  Really?  Not too many years ago the ratio of teachers to administrators in government schools was about 7 to 1.  Today that radio is closing in on 1 to 1.  Nationally we are paying $10,000 per pupil for government.  Democrats love and encourage the explosion in administrative personnel because this bloats the membership roles of teacher’s unions who pour tens of millions of dollars into Democrat campaign coffers every election. 

 Remember .. Democrats differ from Republicans in one very important respect.  Republicans believe it was freedom, the rule of law and economy liberty that made this country great.  Democrats believe it was government .. and the more government they can push on us, the better. 

 But all of these problems could be solved if we just … taxed the rich!