The various aspects of the “Jobs Program” offered up to congress for their consideration by the Obama administration has obviously just been more of the same old failed tactics that gave us the “Stimulus” that did absolutely nothing for the economy. This week the Daily Caller said that Democrat Representative Jesse Jackson offered his own plan which would be simply for the government to hire every single unemployed person in the United States for about $40,000 per year. Jackson estimates this would cost the taxpayers $804 billion dollars which is about double of the $447 billion dollar president’s plan which failed to get congressional approval.
It appears it is never too late to get with the program of throwing out tax money into the prevailing winds. Coincidently Jackson is up for reelection so he does need some good old campaign rhetoric to bolster his campaign. If such a plan were implemented what would happen to all the people currently working for minimum wage? People now working for $8 per hour earn around $16,000 per year so would everyone quit their job to get on the new program? What about the people that are just plain unemployable or really don’t want to find a job?
At first blush it seems pretty idiotic but is this idea really any worse than any of the other grand schemes that have come out of the Obama-Pelosi-Reid-Tester-Baucus administration? Tons of the so called stimulus jobs were pegged at costing the taxpayers over 1 million for each job created so maybe this would be less wasteful in the long run. Read the article over at the Daily Caller and tell us what you think.
Wow! The Stimulus Package passed by Congress, talk about a boondoggle! Why EVERY Republican Governor in office at the time WANTED it to pass. It meant jobs, infrastructure projects, and help for the states with a large deficit so they would not be so close to bankruptcy. It may not have been efficient and it did cost a LOT of money but it has helped the economy. If you look at the headlines of that paragon of the ‘Liberal Media ‘ the Wall Street Journal what they say about the Stimulus Package it is a real eye opener. Check out the page for ‘economic-stimulus-package, the articles paint an interesting picture. ‘Job Cuts Loom as Stimulus Fades’, ‘CBO Gives Estimate on Stimulus Jobs’, ‘Likely Error in Stimulus-Jobs Count’, ‘White House: 650,000 Stimulus Jobs’, Stimulus Fueled Much of Expansion’ are just some of the Headlines on the page I am looking at. I don’t know about you but I thought any money from the Stimulus Package that went to infrastructure projects (roads, dams, etc.) was a double win. It helped our infrastructure and kept the money moving, with an added bonus of less unemployment. I am not saying the National Debt isn’t a huge problem, it is. I am getting tired of waiting for the jobs to materialize the Bush tax cut for the wealthy was supposed give us. As far as I am concerned Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. is a fool, as are most politician’s, even the ones from our state. On that point you will get no argument from me.
ReplyDeleteSteve, not every Republican Governor wanted to pass, in fact Idaho, Alaska, Mississippi, South Carolina, Louisiana, Texas, Alaska and Indiana all turned down all or part of the federal stimulus in 2009. All had GOP Governors and all expressed concern about this money. Now some GOP Governors accepted the money with much exuberance, i.e. former Florida Governor Charlie Christ and former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, but not all. The Stimulus was a major boondoggle as you say and that's why you this latest one failed too last week.
ReplyDeleteSorry-I listed Alaska twice I meant Arizona.
ReplyDeleteI would be ok with his plan if
ReplyDeleteA- there was no Czar and other big burden of government management
B- the so called wage was more in line with the minimum wage so people actually continued to look for better employment
and C- they actually did some projects that benefited local communities instead of the waste we saw with the stimulas projects
The $40K idea probably is more in line with minimum wage for federal workers and teachers. Maybe those are the people it was intended for in the first place.
ReplyDeleteA real opportunity was missed in the stimulus deal.
ReplyDeleteEvery bridge in this country should have been updated, every government building should have been upgraded to hyper energy efficiency etc. That amount of money could have given every person honestly looking for work a job and had the added benefit of a better infrastructure.
The republicans have been obstructionists, however, the President should have seen that coming, and had options available to deal with that type of situation. Obama is a terrible negotiator, and at this time he Presidency is so weak I don't think it can be saved.
I am amazed the Republicans have such a weak field of candidates. Every one of them has serious baggage, and that may be the one thing that saves Obama.
It is going to be interesting to watch this thing heat up.
From what I hear of the new jobs bill it will hire teachers, policemen and firefighters. That is not going to help most of us. At least in Hill County it seems like we have a bumper crop of police and we probably have plenty of firefighters too. I am sure a few teachers might come in handy, but when the stimulus money runs out. There will need to be a special mill levy to keep them on.
ReplyDeleteLook at all the jobs training expenditures we have made over the years. Were any of them a success economically? The jobs bill as written is chock full of more programs to hire more government people to fetter away millions on training the untrainable.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we should look at ending the roadblocks that are thrown up every time someone tries to hire more people. Look at the mega-loads, mining, oil and gas production, the Matl electric line and the keystone pipeline. Imagine how many jobs would be there if someone didn’t file some sort of lawsuit every time someone wanted to expand a business