Focus Like A Laser Beam

We have been told since January 2009 that the President would focus like a laser beam on creating jobs.  Now the President tells us that he has a new plan to create jobs and he will present it to Congress and the nation in September after he returns from his latest vacation.  I seem to recall that the emphasis during the first year his Presidency was primarily devoted to passing the new health care law not on creating jobs. 

Reluctant Democratic members of Congress were promised all sorts of goodies if they supported the legislation.  Since the Democrats held overwhelming majorities in both houses of Congress, the Republicans could do nothing to influence the outcome.  Spending continued at breakneck speed and the debt increased each day, week, month, and year.

Unemployment went beyond 9% and has remained there even though trillions of dollars have been spent by this government.  The size of the Federal government has grown substantially while the private sector shrinks.  The President has said that the first thing that he thinks about when he wakes in the morning is jobs and that is the last thing that he thinks about as he goes to bed at night.  That really sounds great, but it is now over two and a half years and the growth of jobs is abysmal.

The President went on his bus tour to three Midwest states this week and bragged about the over two million jobs that have been created in the private sector during the past 17 months.  I am confused because his Press Secretary, Jay Carney, recently stated during one of his press briefings that the government does not create jobs, but rather creates an environment where jobs are then created.  Perhaps he let the cat out of the bag.  If that is true, could it be that the environment created by this government with all of its new regulations and expected tax increases is preventing adequate jobs from being created?

One must wonder about the thinking of those in positions of authority when it concerns the creating of jobs.  Remember when then Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said that unemployment benefits were a great job creator?  Last week the head of the Department of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, stated that food stamp recipients created jobs because those people spent money on food.  If these items are good for the economy, then why not put everyone on unemployment and food stamps.  Sane people would agree that that is stupid.  The government receives money three ways: taxes, printing money, or borrowing money.

We have the new fiscal year rapidly approaching and the appropriation bills have not been passed by congress.  The House has passed six and the Senate has only passed one.  I suspect that much time will be spent tackling those bills or passing continuing resolutions to keep the government running.  While those deadlines approach, both houses of Congress and the President have left Washington and are on vacation until the end of the month.  Does anyone think that a business would allow key individuals to go on vacation if it faced the possibility of going out of business?

I fear that the President’s new plan will be nothing more than a political ploy to enhance his re-election.  Extended unemployment, higher taxes, and another stimulus are not what should be offered, but they probably will be.  Canceling all of the new regulations for the last three years is a start point.  making the Bush tax cuts permanent, and reducing capital gains taxes would do wonders.

Col. Donald Myers
USMC (ret.)