With Obama doing little on jobs, allies grow frustrated

[Vi-Jay 218]

With Obama doing little on jobs, allies grow frustrated

Fri Jun 10, 12:40 pm ET

By Zachary Roth

Source

In the wake of last week's disastrous jobs report, allies of the Obama administration are expressing extreme frustration at what they see as the White House's inaction on the issue. But there's little evidence that Team Obama is listening.

The economy added just 54,000 jobs in May, and long-term joblessness is at a record high. Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke admitted this week that the recovery has been "frustratingly slow."

That bleak news has prompted harsh criticism of the White House from many of the administration's friends, who view the focus on deficit reduction rather than job creation as badly misplaced, and who want more government stimulus to jolt the economy.

"[T]here is no political will to do anything about the [jobs] situation," New York Times columnist Paul Krugman wrote today. "Far from being ready to spend more on job creation, both parties agree that it's time to slash spending--destroying jobs in the process--with the only difference being one of degree."

Christina Romer, who stepped down last year as President Obama's top economics adviser, told The Lookout earlier this week that "the U.S. economy needs help," and called for more stimulus spending and business tax cuts to encourage hiring.

Even some Democrats on Capitol Hill are losing patience. "I'm not sure what's gained by giving any oxygen to the incorrect idea that fiscal austerity"--that is, spending cuts--"right now would be expansionary," a senior Democrat told The New Republic magazine.

And a post on the website of the Campaign for America's Future, a leading progressive activist group, is entitled: "If the president won't do something about jobs, who will?" It argues that on the issue, "it seems as if the White House is from Mars and the middle class is from Venus."

Most economists agree that, at least in the short term, spending cuts will cause the economy to further contract, while additional spending could offer a much-needed boost, by creating the demand that's currently lacking. But the pleas from administration allies nonetheless appear to be falling on deaf ears. The signs suggest that the White House views tackling the deficit as the priority, and is therefore reluctant to back further spending measures.

An effort by Senate Democrats to spur job creation through infrastructure spending--an idea President Obama has publicly backed--hasn't gained support from the White House. Instead, the White House criticized the bill for spending too much.

A Washington Post profile of Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner from earlier this week reported that he has used his growing influence in the administration to "to press President Obama to curb the nation's soaring debt even at the expense of spending that might more directly spur employment."

On Sunday, Austan Goolsbee, the chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, downplayed the importance of the May jobs report, and added: "Government is not the central driver of recovery."

Meanwhile, Republicans aren't offering much in the way of job-based economic proposals either. Most economists say that the kind of drastic spending cuts they're pushing would badly stifle growth--likely throwing millions more out of work--at a time when middle-class Americans can least afford it. Even Bernanke, a Republican himself, made that very point this week.

In other words, the chances that Washington will get serious about our jobs crisis any time soon appear increasingly slim. For now, it looks like the nearly 14 million Americans who are out work are on their own

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"Government is not the central driver of recovery."

I wonder if .. OM..was pleased with that comment.

[SuperDuper! 230]

[peejay 327]

In other words, the chances that Washington will get serious about our jobs crisis any time soon appear increasingly slim. For now, it looks like the nearly 14 million Americans who are out work are on their own.

Unless you are a Hispanic illegal alien. Then Obama uses the full force of the executive branch to circumvent the law so they can continue working illegally or seek new work illegally without fear of deportation.

Edited June 11, 2011 by peejay

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Meanwhile, Republicans aren't offering much in the way of job-based economic proposals either. Most economists say that the kind of drastic spending cuts they're pushing would badly stifle growth--likely throwing millions more out of work--at a time when middle-class Americans can least afford it. Even Bernanke, a Republican himself, made that very point this week.

Wonder why job growth is slowing down? There you go.

[lostinblue 1,989]

Wonder why job growth is slowing down? There you go.

http://blog.energytomorrow.org/2011/06/study-fracking-ban-a-needless-burden-on-ny-economy.html

A new academic study says New York's moratorium on shale gas extraction via hydraulic fracturing stands in the way of more than $11 billion in economic output, thousands of new jobs and more than $1 billion in state tax revenues.

Those benefits would accrue by 2020 if last year's ban on fracking/horizontal drilling, according to the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research study, released Wednesday. State legislators currently are considering extending the ban, which is scheduled to expire next month.

Primary author Timothy Considine told the Binghamton (N.Y.) Press & Sun-Bulletin the report's estimates are conservative, based on 330 horizontal wells in the Marcellus shale region of southern and western New York. "It could be much larger than the numbers projected in my report," said Considine, a University of Wyoming professor and economist. "The $11.4 billion number is based on a fairly limited development scenario."

New York's political debate comes amid a job boom in the Marcellus regions of neighboring Pennsylvania - 48,000 during the past 18 months, according to state officials.

The business-funded Manhattan Institute reported Tuesday that lifting the ban on hydraulic fracturing in New York would produce 15,000 jobs by 2015 and $11 billion in economic activity by 2020