Biden Stricken With Hoof-and-Mouth Disease

Vice President Joe Biden, whose feet are permanently implanted in his mouth, recently unleashed a crass accusation that even the normally supportive Washington Post felt compelled to label "absurd."  Of course, absurdity is Biden's middle name so his utterances only polish his reputation as a buffoon.

Speaking to a group of union thugs, Big Mouth Joe railed against Republican opposition to the president's misnamed American Jobs Act.   The vice president claimed the bill's defeat has led to police layoffs and as a result "murder rates are up, robberies are up, rapes are up."

What really ticked off the vice president was that local and state governments are slicing jobs as tax receipts have declined because of the economy.  In deciphering the cutbacks, Biden equated fewer police with higher crime.  As usual, his assessment was more hot air than cold hard facts.

According to the Department of Justice, violent crime is down 47 percent since 1992.  Property crime has tumbled 75 percent.  These reductions have been achieved despite the fact that the ranks of police officers have been thinned.

To hear Biden tell it, you would also think police departments have been stripped bare.  Actually, police forces have lost less than one percent of their manpower since 2000.  The tiny decline follows steady growth in police officers which included a nine percent increase in a single year (2000).

Biden gets piqued over any suggestion of cutbacks in state and local government workers, most of whom are represented by Democrat Party lapdog unions.  Yet taxpayers in states and local municipalities are having to bankroll ever expanding government payrolls.

In 2010, states and local governments employed an astonishing 16.6 million full-time and 4.8 million part-time workers.  That eclipses the payrolls of all the Fortune 500 companies combined.  These numbers are courtesy of U.S. Census Bureau's Annual Survey of Public Employment and Payroll.

Despite Biden's assertion about reductions in the size of government, his facts are only half-right.  Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia have more state and local government jobs today than they did when the recession began.

For example, growth continues unabated in Wyoming, where the rolls of government workers have surged 14.75 percent since 2007.  The District of Columbia increased its government jobs by 6.66 percent during the same period.  Texas cranked up government employment by 4.37 percent.

While the nation's economy has wallowed in the depths of economic doldrums, states and local municipalities have been flush with cash from the federal government.  Federal aid to state and local governments totalled nearly $700 billion in 2010. 

This flow of big bucks from taxpayers has allowed states and local governments to keep adding employees even in the face of  private sector downsizing.  Since 1960, federal subsidies to state and local governments have risen a mind-numbing 1,173 percent. 

All that money has led to an unhealthy dependency on the federal government, which helps insulate states and cities from economic downturns and falling tax receipts.  It also removes any incentive to trim payrolls when federal taxpayers pick up the tab.

In addition, the gusher of tax dollars has encouraged a proliferation of local governments, including cities, townships, counties, special districts and school districts.  The end result is more government than citizens can afford.   

Figures from the Census Bureau document there are now 90,740 state and local government entities in the United States.   Local governments employ 12.2 million people.  The majority work in education, hospitals and police departments.

Paying for all those government employees means increased taxes and fees.  But that doesn't faze Vice President Biden.  He is already on record as favoring higher taxes to pay for even bigger government.

Poor Joe.  The vice president doesn't understand taxpayers want less government and more truth.  If only he could keep his feet in his shoes instead of his mouth.