Worried American Voters See No Hope in Another Weak Jobs Package
Just one day after the President’s address to Congress, and to the country concerning his much touted jobs package, the stock exchange found itself down hundreds of points. While the stock market’s adverse response has more to do with the entire world economy, one can’t help but to assume the President Obama’s speech added to the market slide. Even though many financial experts are divided on the influence this jobs package would have on our economy, they all basically agree it is not enough and too late.
As opposed to former recessions, our financial system is no longer entirely within our control. As the nations of the world opened up their markets, they so too grew to become more vulnerable to the political failures which have formed around the world. This is why the economic crisis in Greece, together with other select European nations, has harmed our economy and may drag down the entire world.
Outside of the clear political problems developing outside of our country, consumers supposedly account for 70% of our nation’s economic growth. That is a pretty large share of the total economic activity. Unfortunately, what consumers are now consuming is mostly produced overseas. This has substantially diminished the consumers influence on our own economy since much of the money spent on such goods just goes to offshore corporations and benefits the United States very little.
Our nation’s jobless rate, that sits at 9.1%, is placing more pressure on the national budget. The effect such high unemployment has on our nation is profound in decreasing tax revenue and is placing strain on already inadequately funded government entitlement programs. Regrettably, many economists foresee high unemployment to persist for several years. And with high rates of joblessness, many households are experiencing with a lack of funds to pay for basic bills and the loss of their employer paid medical insurance plans.
After viewing the President’s address about his much touted jobs plan, I was left feeling disappointed. Most of what the president has proposed won’t return America’s economy to the state it was previously in. What the President’s jobs package appears to be is a concealed effort to alleviate the economic burden on people just long enough for the 2012 Presidential election. And the Republican’s reaction to the President’s speech was more party line politics then anything else. At the pace our economy is proceeding, many taxpayers likely sense that there is no room for compromise. And even if compromises might be made, just how productive would this jobs package be at helping individuals simply get a job?
The way out of this economic dilemma is rather simple in my view. We have to backtrack failed policies. We need to undo the damage that regulations have placed on businesses. We should roll back President Obama’s and Bush’s tax cuts. Finally, we must restore our economic autonomy by taking swift action on our trade deficit by modifying trade agreements appropriately. Instead of enduring billions of dollars each month in trade deficits, we need trade agreements that equalize trade to ensure all nations reap the benefits of trading an equivalent dollar amount of goods. If we fail to swiftly undo the damage we’ve done to ourselves, our sustained financial path towards economic ruin is a certainty.
This syndicated author frequently writes about government waste and how political failures impact the lives of everyday taxpayers.
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