“I am sending this Congress a plan that you should pass right away. It’s called the American Jobs Act; and everything in this bill will be paid for; everything,” President Obama proclaimed with great excitement to a joint session of Congress and thunderous applause. It was great theatre.
“Pass this jobs bill -- pass this jobs bill, and starting tomorrow, small businesses will get a tax cut if they hire new workers or if they raise workers’ wages; all small business owners will also see their payroll taxes cut in half next year; and all businesses will be able to continue writing off the investments they make in 2012.”
“The American Jobs Act will repair and modernize at least 35,000 schools; rehabilitate homes and businesses in communities hit hardest by foreclosures; jumpstart thousands of transportation projects all across the country; and thousands of teachers in every state will go back to work.”
“Pass this jobs bill, and companies will get extra tax credits if they hire America
“The American Jobs Act will not add to the deficit. It will be paid for. And here’s how: The agreement we passed in July will cut government spending by about $1 trillion over the next 10 years. It also charges this Congress to come up with an additional $1.5 trillion in savings by Christmas. Tonight, I am asking you to increase that amount so that it covers the full cost of the American Jobs Act. “
In short, the President is asking Congress for another $447 billion in middle class tax cuts and new government spending now, on top of the $1trillion in stimulus spending already flushed down the toilet, to buy jobs in the fervent hope of turning the stagnant American economy around before his first term in office expires. The $1trillion stimulus boondoggle didn’t work, so the brilliant new idea is to throw away another $447 billion.
The ink has hardly dried on the agreement between Congress and the President that spawned the new debt control law mandating a paltry by comparison $2.5 trillion in deficit reductions over 10 years into the future, yet Barack Obama wants to add nearly a half $trillion more to the deficit and debt right now. For him to say that this new spending won’t add to the deficit and will be paid for by cutting somewhere else is disingenuous to say the least.
And guess who would be among the greatest beneficiaries of all this new spending? Who will get this money? It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the biggest pigs at the government money trough will be none other than Barack Obama’s own political constituency – those people whose votes he desperately needs and hopes to receive in the next presidential election.
Buying jobs with taxpayer money is easy. If the government decides to shell out billions of dollars to renovate thousands of schools and private homes, of course there will be contractors and workers chosen by politicians to do the job, but much of the work will be done by people who already have jobs. It will just be a bonanza for them.
Since when should public school teachers in local communities be paid for by the federal government? Since when should the federal government pay for the renovation of local school buildings and private homes?
Moreover, hardworking taxpayers who have already paid for their own community schools and homes out of local taxes will now be paying with their federal dollars to renovate the schools and homes of politically chosen people in other far off districts, people who in all fairness, should be paying for their own community enhancements from local resources. It’s simply another government giveaway program for them.
Why should military veterans step to the front of the employment line ahead of ordinary unemployed citizens? After all, they had a good job in the military with good wages and good benefits; let them sign on for another voluntary tour of duty and keep the jobs they already have.
Why provide unfair incentives for the least ambitious workers who have dawdled for more than six months on unemployment benefits at the expense of the more ambitious employees who are willing to work now instead of collecting unemployment money until they have no other choice but to look for work? Unemployment benefits don’t create jobs; they discourage them.
Yes, paying people who don’t work and buying jobs which benefit some people at the expense of others is easy and a complete waste of taxpayer dollars. That is what got this nation into the mess it is in today. The government has spent huge sums of money belonging to others, at no risk to the politicians, and the nation as a whole has received far too little to show for it. There is little value and no profit to be gained by throwing good money into the wind.
Creating genuine values which necessitate jobs is somewhat more difficult, because it requires risk taking, but that is exactly what businessmen in the private sector do best – they risk their own capital for the opportunity to make a profit, and it is this investment of capital and the incentive for profit which results in meaningful jobs which in turn benefits the economy and therefore everyone.
Private sector risk investment creates a win/win situation for all. That is what made the United States of America America
No amount of government jobs acting nonsense will restore our nation to its former glory and the greedy grasping politicians of all people should know that by now.
Hear, hear!
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