Sun editorial:

Putting Americans to work

Democrats are on the right track by focusing on job creation to help struggling economy

Fri, Nov 21, 2008 (2:09 a.m.)

As the nation’s economy continues to sputter, it has become routine to read announcements of massive layoffs at major corporations. On Monday it was reported that banking giant Citigroup intends to slash 53,000 jobs on top of the 22,000 cuts it announced last month.

After a while, these numbers become numbing. Nevada’s unemployment rate in September, 7.3 percent, was at its highest point since 1985. The nation’s unemployment rate, 6.5 percent in September, was last reached in 1994.

The Labor Department also announced Thursday that new claims for unemployment benefits reached a 16-year high last week. There are now more than 4 million unemployment recipients, the highest number since 1982. President George W. Bush has said he would sign a bill extending those benefits an additional seven to 13 weeks beyond the regular 26-week benefit.

Considering that two-thirds of our economy is based on consumer spending, it does not bode well that the number of people without jobs continues to increase.

That is why President-elect Barack Obama and congressional Democrats should be commended for placing renewed emphasis on job creation. Democrats are now arguing that aggressive action to shore up the economy will boost employment and, importantly, consumer spending.

“That’s what an economic recovery is all about, putting people in America back to work ... Republicans in Congress seem not to have gotten that message — but come January, that logjam will break,” Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., told The Washington Post.

It’s hard to argue against that logic. We have expressed our desire on these pages to support a national job-creation program that would help build or replace roads, bridges, schools and sewer systems. Democrats, to their credit, are also looking at other options, including an energy plan that would create more “green” jobs.

From this point forward any recommended stimulus packages or bailouts that are adopted by Obama and Congress should have in mind the preservation of existing jobs or creation of new ones.

The Bush administration has little to show for its simplistic philosophy of tax cuts coupled with a hands-off approach to the free market. Those policies may have delivered short-term successes but the president’s legacy will be measured by long-term results, and on the employment front they’re looking like a train wreck. Action that sparks job growth should get America back on track.

Discussion: 13 comments so far…

By lvsundog

11/21/08 at 4:32 a.m.

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"The Bush administration has little to show for its simplistic philosophy of tax cuts coupled with a hands-off approach to the free market."

That is somewhat inaccurate. The biggest tax cuts were for the wealthiest, with the huge middle class getting little relief. The middle class and working people carried the taxation burden.

Free market? Give me a break. There is very little "free market" in the USA. "Plutocratic market" is more accurate. Executives are largely rewarded no matter their performance. When they want to delight the big stockholders, they just lay off a few thousand people and listen to the squeals of glee.
By vbierschwale

11/21/08 at 4:45 a.m.

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Let me show you an economic stimulus plan that will actually work.

You can read it and other interesting things at http://www.KeepAmericaAtWork.com

I've listened to our experts talk about stimulating the economy.

I've watched them piss away 700 BILLION dollars and accomplish nothing except pay bonuses for those that don't need nor deserve bonuses.

I've listened to all of their crap that didnt amount to squat and still I see all of us hurting.

So I have decided to propose an economic stimulus plan that will work and it is very simple and I want you to tell me and your state and federal representatives what you think about it, because if we're silent, we're out of sight and out of mind when it comes to our representatives.

Here it is and its very simple.... !

Are you ready ???

I want to put 10 % of America back to work which is 20 MILLION people and I'm going to pay them 50,000.00 per year.

Let's see, our government asked for 700 BILLION

I'm asking for 300 BILLION more.

Their stimulus plan did NOTHING for the economy.

Mine will put 300 BILLION back into the treasury AND

It will put 700 BILLION into the economy

Damn, Imagine that

They ask for 700 BILLION and deliver NOTHING

I ask for 1 TRILLION and put 300 BILLION into the treasury and 700 BILLION into the economy.

Wow, Maybe I should be running for office because I've sure lost my confidence in our Political and Corporate Leaders
By johnevegas

11/21/08 at 5:26 a.m.

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"I ask for 1 TRILLION"

Uh, what about next year?
By uddeboda

11/21/08 at 6:11 a.m.

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Over here our government has made available approx $200 billion for starters, and yet only one bank has asked for funds. The problem is the strings are too strong to break, and the bosses dont want to loose their huge salaries and bonuses and the shareholders their dividends.

$200 billion, now thats a lot of cash, and for a country of only 9 million. How much would that be on the USAs population scale, just under $7 trillion.
By JohnF

11/21/08 at 7:18 a.m.

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John Maynard Keynes was right. The only measure of economic health that really matters is employment. All other measures are pretty much worthless. So instead of spending untold billions on a bailout of, say, the auto industry, let the auto industry fail. It's their own poor business model that has brought this about; bailing them out now without forcing a change in their business behavior only means they'll be back later on for more.

In the meantime, we can spend the money on paying the affected workers to do something more porductive than buying GM and Ford a little more time. They could, for instance, get to work on an energy grid that could spread solar power from the west and wind power from the midwest all over the country. Or they could set to work reapiring our failing highways and bridges. Or they could set to work repairing the infrastructure in our national parks. This represents a much better use of our money.

Detroit could then use that time to create a business model that would allow them to compete with Honda, Toyota, and Hyundai that won't send them running to the taxpayers for billions of dollars every ten years or so.
By KDR81

11/21/08 at 10:34 a.m.

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Government work programs...wow the exact same thing Hoover did when he was president at the start of the first Great Depression.
By KDR81

11/21/08 at 10:37 a.m.

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John F...are you kidding me? I hope you were being sarcastic...

If employment was all that mattered, why not hire people to dig holes and fill them in again.

Want full employment? Outlaw inter state trucking and put goods in backpacks and make people hike them from town to town.

Think about how those would effect the economy.

The purpose of the economy is NOT to give people jobs. Its to move resources to their highest valued use. If that means making rubber ducks for consumers then by god the economy is devoted to making rubber ducks because people across the world are willing to spend their money and resources to get one.
By Future2012

11/21/08 at 11:06 a.m.

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Post Election
Baseline Tuesday Nov 4, 2008,
DOW closed at 9625,
S&P Closed at 1005.
Light sweet crude oil @ $ 70.53. Gallon of gas at $2.28
Dollars per Euro @ $1.295

DOW dropped to 7552.29 and the S&P to 752.44 by Thursdays close 11-20-2008, after Democrats in Congress failed to help the Auto industry, in a lame duck session.

No one trusts that Obamas unknown plans will boost consumer spending and stop job losses. No indications that taxes (capital gains) will not be raised.

Obama like Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus is fiddling while America is burning. Having run on the basis that he could solve the confidence crisis, he has gone silent.

Obama has not announced his Treasury Secretary.

His economic team is hiding in a dungeon unable to provide any confidence in the financial system or the economy.

While there is only one President at a time it does not mean that Obama can not speak.

Where is the beef (change we can believe in)
By ksand99

11/21/08 at 1:33 p.m.

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That's some lazy logic Future2012.

Lack of faith in the market has more to do with Paulson and the current administration's dickering around and waffling than any perceived problem with Obama or his potential choices for Treasury secretary. I believe it was Paulson who gave the press conference where he announced that the financial market would completely collapse if money wasn't injected by the end of the week.

That was over a month ago.

Now his grand plan for reviving the economy and keeping us afloat has done a complete 180.

I don't know about you, but if my boss told me "We MUST go west to survive!" and then started walking east, I wouldn't have any confidence in him, either.

But to blame this on Obama? Hilarious and lazy.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/110...
By Future2012

11/21/08 at 2:50 p.m.

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Dow Surges Nearly 500 Points as Wall Street rallies after reports that President-elect Obama tapped Timothy Geithner as next treasury secretary.

Timothy Geithner is a clone of Paulson and is part of the current crowd pushing the structure of the $700 billion bailout.

Point is that the market just needed Obama to do anything to push the confidence up.
By johnevegas

11/21/08 at 3:05 p.m.

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"Point is that the market just needed Obama to do anything to push the confidence up."

As Bush slowly and quietly backs out of the room hoping no one will notice...
By Geoffrey_Lawrence

11/21/08 at 3:22 p.m.

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John F:

First, John Maynard Keynes's ideas are the reason why we have asset bubbles and boom and bust cycles in the first place. Absent government manipulation, markets continually correct themselves as they allocate resources towards their highest value use. This results in slow and steady economic growth. Keynesianism manipulates the money supply to create artificial liquidity leading to short, poignant growth spurts. The flip side is that it causes interest rates to get out of line and resources to be misallocated over time - resulting in crises like we have now.

Second, you can't transport electricity over that far of a distance. That's the reason we have regional grids to begin with. The farther you transport electricity, the more is lost due to friction. Transporting it cross-country would mean that there is next to nothing left which would raise the cost to absurd levels. The laws of physics can't be abrogated in this regard. The only way to reduce friction is to transport electricity using a more conductive medium - like gold or platinum. There's not enough gold and platinum in the world to do this and, if we were to use those metals for grid construction, the lines would just be chopped down and stolen.

Third, there is no infrastructure in the national parks - that's the entire point.
By fremmasmind

11/22/08 at 6:03 a.m.

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It seems to me that the failing U.S. economy is in direct corelation with the unemployed American. Nevada now can claim over 120,000 unemployed to date. That's 50,000 more from 6 months ago. When do you think the casino industries and construction contractors will realize that if they implemented e-verify on their employees they could at that point put some americans back to work. I see way to many illegals working in these industries. We have got to start somewhere and bailouts won't work unless we put Americans back to work and stop the outsourcing of American jobs. We can't start healing our economy until we start putting our unemployed American citizens back to work.