Obama's Jobs Agenda For Congress: Does It Actually Create Jobs?
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WASHINGTON -- It's become almost daily practice for President Barack Obama to point out the four things he says Congress can pass now to create jobs "immediately," if only lawmakers would act: infrastructure investments, patent reform, free trade deals and a payroll tax cut extension.
But even if all four proposals became law -- a huge "if" with a dug-in House GOP -- it's not clear they would actually create jobs. In fact, the proposals with the best shot of passing Congress appear the least likely to create jobs. One of the most likely to pass, the trade pacts, will probably cost jobs.
Obama has been injecting new urgency into the measures since early July, when he spoke during a press conference that coincided with a dismal monthly jobs report.
"There are bills and trade agreements before Congress right now that could get all these ideas moving," he said at the time. "All of them have bipartisan support. All of them could pass immediately. And I urge Congress not to wait."
He ran through all of the proposals again during a Monday town hall in Minnesota, the first of several to come as part of his Midwest bus tour on the economy this week.
"There is no shortage of ideas to put people to work right now," he told the crowd. "What is needed is action on the part of Congress. A willingness to put the partisan games aside and say, 'We're going to do what's right for the country, not what we think is going to score some political points for the next election.'"
Here's an overview of how each proposal would create jobs, or not, and where it stands in Congress.
1. Every \"free trade\" program to date has caused a lot of job LOSSES in this country. And based on a lot of articles I\'ve posted about worker conditions world wide, livelihoods globally are NOT being improved. While I could easily post a dozen,
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/04/13/general-motors-ceo-urged-to-address-indian-workers-complaints/
speaks volumes. But there are many others proving this point.
2. The President keeps saying \"change takes time\" so why is he now using words like \"immediately\"? Unless more \"free trade\" is involved.
http://rwer.wordpress.com/2011/07/18/no-obama-we-dont-need-free-trade-agreements-with-panama-colombia-and-korea/
Has everything to say on the issue and more.
Even his own jobs czar, while telling other companies to hire, has offshored:
http://www.politicalwrinkles.com/news-current-events/20890-immelt-businesses-must-do-more-jobs.html
http://www.examiner.com/independent-in-national/jobs-czar-moves-us-jobs-to-china#ixzz1WKx4Gvpc
Now, the President is 100% on the money regarding infrastructure investments and patent reform. But I do have to ask, in any reform, as with health care, who benefits most. As we\'ve seen, big corporations get the most benefit while nothing of worth \"trickles down\".
As does his \"opposition\":
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3096434/vp/40575006#40575006
(for the record, in general, I agree with Mr. Uygur almost 100% of the time (nothing is ever 100%, and I don\'t mean trifle waffle such as \"99.1\" - \"99.9%\" either. There are few analysts I truly appreciate, and he is one of them. Ditto for Keith Olbermann. And I\'m sure I\'ll get a chance to openly disagree with them one day as well.)
But we\'ll see what happens but, for the moment, I have ZERO faith. He\'s spent too much time appeasing his opposition, while the rest of us end up sacrificing. Based on wages and inflation and other factors, the middle class has done that for roughly 30 years.
And if we can find all this information about free trade FAIL, workers around the globe being abused or worse, et cetera, it doesn\'t take much to fathom they know the same exact things.', 'http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/15/obamas-jobs-agenda_n_927325.html');}, 50, function() { return typeof Comments != 'undefined';}); return false;"> Share
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hypnotoad72 said on 15 Monday 2011 pm31 7:08 pm:WASHINGTON -- It's become almost daily practice for President Barack Obama to point out the four things he says Congress can pass now to create jobs "immediately," if only lawmakers would act: infrastructure investments, patent reform, free trade deals and a payroll tax cut extension. 1. Every "free trade" program to date has caused a lot of job LOSSES in this country. And based on a lot of articles I've posted about worker conditions world wide, livelihoods globally are NOT being improved. While I could easily post a dozen, http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/04/13/general-motors-ceo-urged-to-address-indian-workers-complaints/ speaks volumes. But there are many others proving this point. 2. The President keeps saying "change takes time" so why is he now using words like "immediately"? Unless more "free trade" is involved. http://rwer.wordpress.com/2011/07/18/no-obama-we-dont-need-free-trade-agreements-with-panama-colombia-and-korea/ Has everything to say on the issue and more. Even his own jobs czar, while telling other companies to hire, has offshored: http://www.politicalwrinkles.com/news-current-events/20890-immelt-businesses-must-do-more-jobs.html http://www.examiner.com/independent-in-national/jobs-czar-moves-us-jobs-to-china#ixzz1WKx4Gvpc Now, the President is 100% on the money regarding infrastructure investments and patent reform. But I do have to ask, in any reform, as with health care, who benefits most. As we've seen, big corporations get the most benefit while nothing of worth "trickles down". As does his "opposition": http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3096434/vp/40575006#40575006 (for the record, in general, I agree with Mr. Uygur almost 100% of the time (nothing is ever 100%, and I don't mean trifle waffle such as "99.1" - "99.9%" either. There are few analysts I truly appreciate, and he is one of them. Ditto for Keith Olbermann. And I'm sure I'll get a chance to openly disagree with them one day as well.) But we'll see what happens but, for the moment, I have ZERO faith. He's spent too much time appeasing his opposition, while the rest of us end up sacrificing. Based on wages and inflation and other factors, the middle class has done that for roughly 30 years. And if we can find all this information about free trade FAIL, workers around the globe being abused or worse, et cetera, it doesn't take much to fathom they know the same exact things. |
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First Posted: 08/15/11 03:40 PM ET Updated: 10/15/11 06:12 AM ET