President Obama traveled to Detroit on Labor Day 2011 to seek Michigan’s support for re-election in 2012.
Oh, the Labor Day speech was ostensibly delivered to salute American labor and to hype his speech on Thursday that will introduce the latest “experiment” he will unwrap to create jobs.
But why would Michigan voters support Obama in 2012? Michigan’s unemployment rate stands at 10.1 percent. Detroit’s unemployment rate is 15 percent and the African-American unemployment rate in Michigan is an astronomical 40 percent. All of these are accomplishments of the Obama regime.
Obama is in full campaign mode now as was evidenced by the now familiar cadence in his delivery tailored to his inexplicably adoring audience.
The problem is that President Obama doesn’t understand how jobs are created. His “solutions” are based on government creation of jobs because he doesn’t believe in the private sector which is, of course, the true job creation engine. The president believes government is the premier job creator. Why? One reason is that he believes that government understands markets better than the private sector, so long as the right people are in charge, like Obama himself.
But private sector hiring has ground to a near-halt with the payroll tax reduction and longer jobless payments in effect .He said last week his new jobs plan “will be laying out a series of steps that Congress can take immediately to put more money in the pockets of working families and middle-class families.”
Obama is especially fond of unemployment benefits as a job creator. His press secretary, Jay Carney, echoed his view in explaining how this works and insisting it would create up to one million jobs.
“It is one of the most direct ways to infuse money into the economy because people who are unemployed and obviously aren’t earning a paycheck are going to spend the money that they get,” according to Carney. “That money goes directly back into the economy, dollar for dollar virtually… Every place that money is spent has added business, and that creates growth and income for businesses that then lead them to making decisions about jobs, more hiring.”
The problem is it’s never worked that way. It didn’t on two occasions for President George W. Bush and hasn’t for Obama.
It’s worth noting these programs are temporary and targeted. The president prefers that approach. It has the value of keeping the government in control. Permanent, broad-based tax rate cuts for individuals and corporations would shift control to the private sector. This was the Ronald Reagan approach. It spurred a stronger and quicker economic recovery than Obama’s efforts have. That’s not in the Soros/Obama/Liberal Left play book.
The president’s blind spot is the mountain of impediments and disincentives to job creation he’s erected. An obsession with raising taxes on the well-to-do is only one of them. Yet these are the people with the wherewithal to invest in new ventures that create jobs.
Another is his tireless campaign to increase the power of unions, though where unions flourish there tends to be slower economic growth and less job creation. But organized labor backs the president with money and union workers as he’s seeking reelection. Compared with that, job growth is secondary.
When the Congress refuses to go along with his latest scheme, Obama will assail them as obstructing his plan for recovery. He will label them the “Do Nothing Congress.”
He has to…..he can’t possibly get re-elected running on his record.
Michigan, Why would you support Obama in 2012?
