Obama's "Jobs" Program

It's obvious that so far, not nearly enough has been done to stimulate job growth in this country. I know that certain pundits are thrilled that only 11,000 jobs were lost last month in the United States, when they thought the job loss would be much higher. Some are even touting that as the beginning of an economic turn-around.

I think that is viewing the situation through rose-colored glasses. We are still losing more jobs than we create in this country, and I suspect the drop in job losses last month was probably mainly due to temporary hiring for the holiday season. The government's unemployment rate is still at least 10%, and the real unemployment rate is still over 17%. That sounds to me like a country that's still got a lot of economic problems.

I think President Obama knows that we won't have a real economic recovery until the country starts to produce more jobs than it loses and the unemployment rate drops radically. That's why he's proposing a jobs creation plan. He hasn't provided a lot of detail yet, but in general heres what he is proposing:

* First, he wants to stop bailing out the giant financial companies. This is a very good move, since it was probably a mistake to bail out the financial giants in the first place. I always thought it was odd that these corporate entities who are always preaching about the blessings of a "hands-off capitalism", don't mind a lot of government welfare when they are the recepients of it. These companies dug their own hole, and if they can't climb out of it they should be buried in it.

* Then Obama wants to take the money saved by not bailing out any more financial giants and use it to lend money to small businesses. The bailed-out financial institutions are not using their largesse to give small businesses loans like they should have (they're too busy giving themselves bonuses). Someone has to help small businesses, because they are the creators of most jobs -- if the banks won't do it then the government should. This is probably where that bailout money should have gone in the first place.

* Obama also wants to cut taxes for small businesses. I'm not a great fan of tax cuts, but this is a good idea at this time. However, he should take care to insure these tax cuts are only for small businesses. The rich and the giant corporations are doing fine and should not receive any tax cuts at this time.

* The president then wants to put more money into our nation's infrastructure. This will help in a couple of ways. It will not only put many people to work building and repairing the badly needed infrastructure, but it will help businesses of all sizes to improve the infrastructure. We have already waited too long to do this and lots needs to be done. I just hope he provides enough money to do the job right.

* The last proposal is to provide rebates to homeowners who make their homes "greener" and more energy-efficient. This again would help in multiple ways. Not only would homes use less energy and save money for homeowners, but it would help our nation cut down on use of carbon-based fuels (and the need to import them). It would also encourage the creation of more "green" companies and businesses, and create more jobs in these areas.

I am in favor of all of these proposals, and I hope the president is able to install them quickly -- the quicker the better. Is this enough? Probably not, but it is a good start. Hopefully, President Obama will keep a close eye on the situation and be ready to provide more help when it is needed.