Monday, June 4, 2012

Add Disability to Obama's Anti-Jobs Policies

As the election draws closer, the two most closely watched economic indicators are the unemployment rate and the number of jobs created.  On June 1, the Bureau of Labor Statistics issued bad economic news. The number of jobs created was only 69,000 and the unemployment rate increased from 8.1 to 8.2 percent. In a presidential campaign, the difference between an 8.2 and a 7.5 percent unemployment rate or a month of 250,000 jobs versus 69,000 can be the difference between re-election and defeat.

The die is already cast. Obama bet all his money on Keynesian stimulus propped up by super-expansionary monetary policy, the Detroit bailout, and extensions of unemployment insurance. He has nothing left other than infrastructure projects, subsidies for state teachers and first responders, and a feeble jobs credit for small business. The one move that could turn things around quickly — extension of the Bush tax cuts – would deprive Obama of his prime campaign message that “the rich must pay their fair share.”

In a piece dated August 28, 2011 Why Obama Cannot Support a Real Jobs Program, I laid out an anti-Keynesian jobs program to create jobs and lower the unemployment rate. The third point in my program read “to create economic conditions that encourage businesses to hire and the unemployed to seek and accept jobs.” To do this, I advised not to extend unemployment benefits and to reduce the minimum wage, particularly for youths. The President did not follow my advice and look where he is now.
I wish to throw the social security disability into the mix of anti-job programs. The disability program is not the creation of the Obama administration, but Obama appointees have set and interpreted its policies for more than three years. Let’s examine their record:

got to forbes.com to continue reading this article

Dr. Gregory's latest book can be found at Amazon.com.

3 comments:

  1. RE: "Society owes us."
    On the flip site, this reminds me of the JFK's inaugural address. We were so young then.

    1. "...the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God."
    2. "Let the word go forth.....that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans."
    3. "Let every nation know... that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty."
    4. "The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life."
    5. "Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate."
    6. "Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country"
    7. "For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed."
    8. "All this will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it be finished in the first 1,000 days, nor in the life of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin."
    9. "...let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own."

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