Posted on 10/09/2009 2:16:32 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
With U.S. unemployment at a 26-year high of 9.8 percent, the focus in Congress is increasingly on ways to help create and preserve jobs. Given that many economists expect the national jobless rate to continue going up well into 2010, this makes sense. Given that Democratic lawmakers worry that they may lose control of the House next year unless unemployment declines, there are also strong political motives to do something.
But this must, repeat, must not include a new economic “stimulus” bill on top of the wasteful, poorly focused, pork-filled $787 billion measure approved in February. The New York Times reports some lawmakers, nervous about their futures, are pushing the White House for a new stimulus plan to jump-start job growth.
We wish more lawmakers were nervous about America's future. With national debt nearing $12 trillion, with the annual federal budget deficit at an all-time high and with hugely expensive health-care and climate-change legislation in the works, it is beyond belief that anyone would think that printing more money is the answer. We are on track in the next 25 to 30 years to have the payment of interest on the national debt alone consuming a quarter of the federal budget. We must stop adding to the enormous bill we are leaving our children and grandchildren.
Thankfully, President Barack Obama is cool to a stimulus sequel. The further good news is that bipartisan support is building in Congress for legislation providing tax credits to companies that create jobs. One proposal would give employers a credit worth twice the payroll tax they pay for the first year of employment for each new worker. “It's a pity that this wasn't done a year ago,” says Nobel-winning economist Edmund Phelps. We agree.
But if common sense is breaking out in Washington, it's still nowhere to be found in Sacramento. Even though state unemployment is at a 70-year high of 12.2 percent, California's leaders barely talk about trying to help the economy.
Too many Democratic lawmakers view public policy through a class-war prism in which tax and regulatory relief are automatically seen as giveaways to the rich instead of rational attempts to help businesses to create and retain jobs. This prompted them to kill without review a smart package of Republican measures to help the private sector rebound from the state's severe recession.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, meanwhile, claims jobs are his top priority but can't bring himself to embrace the GOP proposals because several involve delaying implementation of the 2006 anti-global warming law that he considers his landmark accomplishment.
And so California's economy continues to sink, with Sacramento doing nothing to save it. This is pure and utter folly. But it is what we have come to expect in California, where we are stuck with state leaders who make our national leaders look like inspired public servants.
Sink the ship.. a novel way to get rid of the rats.
The wrong way to create jobs is to “create jobs”. It doesn’t really work. Its a shell game.
The right way to create jobs is to create wealth. Its the only thing that works.
My suggestion if the government wants a role is to open up the coast for drilling, get out of the way of oil shale, and encourage coal-to-liquids by, again, getting out of the way. Every dollar spent on domestic fuels production is a dollar that isn’t sent out of the US putting someone else’s citizens to work and pouring money into some other country’s tax coffers.
You can send half a trillion a year abroad, or you can spend that half trillion here. I realize a trillion isn’t what it used to be, but you know the joke, a trillion here, a trillion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money.
unemployment at 9.8 percent?
THE GOVERNMENT LIES.
Hey, let’s raise taxes! Yeah! That’ll work!
The Chinese want it all as payment for their trillion dollar loans.
Call me when California sinks into the abyss so i can throw a party.
Obviously, California needs to raise taxes, so that the government will have enough money to implement a new initiative to create more jobs.
If only they would tax the profits away from greedy businesses, then all the money that now gets wasted by going to profits could be used to create these new, badly needed jobs.
Duh!
Get your champagne ready...
You won’t have long to wait.
So Ca is going to start printing money?
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