The AP reports (HT: Drudge):
chief executive has told him the company will rehire some laid-off
workers if the stimulus bill passes.
The heavy equipment maker
announced more than 22,000 job cuts last month as it scales back
production amid the economic slowdown.
During a visit to a transportation construction site just outside Washington in Springfield, Va., on Wednesday, Obama urged Congress to pass the bill.
The House and Senate are working out differences between competing versions of the legislation.
Obama said Caterpillar's CEO has told him that if the stimulus bill passes he would be able to rehire some of those employees.
Obama is to speak with some of those workers on Thursday when he visits a Caterpillar manufacturing plant in Peoria, Ill.
Just a few disturbing aspects of this brief story:
1. A CEO tells the President what he wants to hear. Wonder if that will help steer some business Caterpillar's way.
2. The President quotes a CEO's claim as if it's a fact.
3. If it turns out to be true, and if Caterpillar does indeed hire some workers it has laid off, that's a reason to support the stimulus bill. No mention of any costs that might be paid to get those workers hired. It's magic! The government spends my money and yours and the economy recovers. The workers who will not get hired because our taxes are going to be higher in the future go unseen.
