What can government do?
Okay, so there is no doubt our economy is in a rut. The people who read and participate in these message boards actually care about what is going on and what direction the country is headed in, so I would like to know.
Realistically, what do you think the President and/or the congress can do to create long term, decent paying jobs in this country?
I'm vowing not to attack an idea, and I would urge others to do the same.
Put yourself in the President's shoes, and pretend you're not running for re-election, and pretend the congress will pass your legislation.
The only thing the government
The only thing the government can do is make it worse. The government thinks that it cannot do anything without our money. Taking money, in taxes or for any other reason, out of the economy, will not help. It really not their fault, they just can't get out of the rut that is politics. So the question is not can the government help but can a politician help, to answer that, NO.
That sounds like trickle down
That sounds like trickle down economics. We already know that such a plan costs jobs. Companies like walmart hire part time employees at low wages and count on the government to give them food stamps and medicaid. Sounds like corporate welfare to me. Pull out of the trade agreements, limit the amount of part time workers people like walmart can hire and spend the bailout money at the bottom and you will see improvement. The working class is what buys products and creates demand, which in turn creates jobs. Corporate welfare, bailouts and subsidies only encourage companies to buy each other out and lay people off. A little common sense would go a long way.
The answer to your original
The answer to your original question is simple: Get Out of the Way. Quit burying business in taxes, regulation and social mandates like Obamacare. Let the marketplace work. Let America compete on a global stage. The greatest impediment to recovery right now is FEAR of government and uncertainty over what it might do next.
Get out of the way like the
Get out of the way like the government got out of the way of the investment bankers?
Get out of the way of the Wall Street robber barons?
You gotta be kidding me.
Too many regulations isn't
Too many regulations isn't what holding us back, it's a lack of smart regulations. Failing to adequately regulate the financial market leads to things like the mortgage crisis and to a system where consumers are ruthlessly preyed upon by megabusiness monopolies. The greatest impediment to recovery is not the government, it's the corrupt corporate influences who have hijacked our government.
Are jobs becoming
Are jobs becoming obsolete?
http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/09/07/rushkoff.jobs.obsolete/index.html?...
Jobs are never going to come
Jobs are never going to come back in the sense that people are hoping that they will. If any politician is telling you that they are going to restore America to the peak of its past glories, and that they are going to return us to our former status of the unquestioned most powerful force in global affairs, both economic and otherwise, they are either terrifically misguided or are lying through their teeth at you. Most politicians fit into both categories.
There are way too many blockades (impending and extremely dire global oil, water, and food shortages, the emergence of competitors like India and China, the ruthless exportation of manufacturing jobs to third world countries by American megabusiness, the unsustainability of the American economic model as a whole, the near-complete infiltration of the American government and political system by corrupt influences, technology leading to a increasing number of career fields becoming obsolete...just to name a few) to America ever re-achieving the level of prosperity that people are clamoring for right now. The actual (as opposed to the "official") unemployment level right now is probably closer to 20% than 10%, honestly, and it will probably never get down into the single digits ever again. Widespread unemployment is going to be a reality for the rest of America's (or at least America as currently constructed) days, regardless of any phony promises otherwise that deceitful politicians are so apt to spit out. Our economic model doesn't need a few tweaks, it needs a vast overhauling, the likes of which is too complicated to summarize in a thread like this. Other than Ron Paul and maybe Jon Huntsman, I do not see any serious discussion of these obstacles among the crop of current presidential contenders. I think Obama means well and would like to take on some of these problems, but he seems way too weak in both a political and personal sense to actually do so.
Ultimately, promising to fix this mess by creating jobs is like promising to put out a forest fire by pouring a glass of water on it.
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