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Recovery: The White House will hold its jobs summit Thursday. Don't expect this administration, so deeply devoted to government, to actually do anything that will create jobs for a country so in need of them.
Earlier this week, we published a chart showing the percentage of each president's Cabinet appointments with prior private sector experience going back to the first Roosevelt administration.
It was no surprise that not a single White House in more than a century has had a smaller ratio than the current administration. Only the Kennedy — less than 30% — and Carter — just over 30% — administrations were close to the Obama mark of less than 10%.
It is the height of hubris for an administration in which fewer than one in 10 Cabinet appointments have private-sector experience to hold a meeting with the goal of creating jobs.
The government, from lawmakers to bureaucrats, does not create jobs. It can move jobs from the private sector to the public through tax-and-spend wealth redistribution policies. But because government spending crowds out private investment, it is not a wealth creator and therefore cannot be a job creator.
Government is often a job killer. Economist Richard Rahn noted during the last Bush presidency that "government spending reduces more jobs in the private sector than it can create in the government sector."
"Countries with large government sectors," such as France and Germany, Rahn said, "tend to have much higher unemployment rates than countries with smaller government sectors."
Economic reality won't matter at the summit, though. What matters are appearances.
The White House wants to make a show of doing something, especially after its policies have done nothing to boost growth or stop the job losses. It would like to erase from public memory the utter failure of the $787 billion stimulus legislation approved just after Barack Obama took office. The administration knows its claim that thousands of jobs have been created or saved by the stimulus is bunk. And it knows the public knows.
But the stench of failed government solutions will remain.
Thursday's summit will be too heavy with union executives and eggheads whose experiences don't go beyond the academy. Neither group has a shining record of creating jobs, and their presence virtually ensures that little worthwhile will be considered.
Organized labor, for instance, contributes to unemployment. Its demands for above-market wages and lavish benefits mean that companies often can't afford to hire as many workers as they want.
You have to be mighty isolated not to know someone who has been laid off, was forced into early retirement or — just entering the labor market — can't find a job. Unemployment of 10.2% is still below the post-World War II peak of 10.8% of late 1982, but by other measures, the job ...
Commerce: Amid creepy assurances that the firing of GM's CEO Fritz Henderson was just business, evidence is piling high it wasn't. It was politics, and another reason why government must get out of the private sector. The surprise "resignation" of General Motors Chief Executive Henderson ...
Warming Scandal: The architect of climate fraud steps down, the creator of the infamous "hockey stick" is investigated, and Australia's parliament defeats cap-and-trade. We love the smell of truth in the morning. As the high priests of what Czech President Vaclav Klaus has called a ...
Afghanistan: The West Point setting gave goose bumps to the millions watching, but the president's claims Tuesday night that he's dispatching the cavalry just in the nick of time aren't so. We're waving goodbye. When the president asserted in his long-awaited speech announcing a strategy for ...
President Obama has bought himself some time on Afghanistan and lived up to his promise to seek policies that fit into no one's philosophical pigeonholes. He has also split his own party, diminished the enthusiasm of his natural allies, yet earned himself no lasting credit with his domestic ...
Posted By: OBSERVER U.K(135) on 12/3/2009 | 2:31 AM ET
Oh ! and by the way, can anyone throw any light on the whispers that are going around Europe ? that the goverment has been in secret talks with Russia with the idea to build a tunnel / bridge system across the Barents Straights, to link two great socialist state's, using only Russian labour , to keep down cost's ????????
Posted By: America is great(460) on 12/3/2009 | 1:49 AM ET
A GOOD READ AND RIGHT TO THE POINT OF THE PREAMBLES WITH THIS OBAMA RUN GOVERNMENT.WE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE THAT THINKS THE CONSTITUTION IS WHAT NEEDS TO BE FOLLOWED AND RESPECTED. BUT THE OBAMA AND HIS GOVERNMENT SAYS WHAT CONSTITUTION THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A STINKING CONSTITUTION AND YOU SHEEP CAN NOT STOP ME... ImpeachObamaCampaign.com is a project of the Policy Issues Institute.
Posted By: OBSERVER U.K(135) on 12/3/2009 | 1:44 AM ET
In the U.K. P.M Margaret Thatcher stood up to the unions and broke thier strangle hold on the U.K. markets, then the market and jobs increased. The unions then ran amok and in the end were thier own worst enemy causing thier own downfall, only a committed goverment can bring the unions to heel, PITY YOU DON'T HAVE ONE ?
Posted By: Gwynn(20) on 12/3/2009 | 1:19 AM ET
Lets fire them all, both parties & start over. While were are at it, lets ban all lobbyists.
Posted By: Judith from Michigan(355) on 12/2/2009 | 11:10 PM ET
The best first step for job creation is the voting booth next November. "Fire" every politician who is a hinderance to America's growth and prosperity.
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