EXAMINER EDITORIAL HOT ZONE: How many more jobs will Obama kill?
By: EXAMINER EDITORIAL HOT ZONE
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November 6, 2009
Unemployment has hit 10.2 percent, the highest level since the 1983 recession. Obama administration officials will no doubt try to spin this latest bad economic news by noting that unemployment is typically a "lagging indicator." That was true in the old days, but it won't cut it in the age of the global economy and Internet-driven 24/7 news cycle. Unemployment may now be something of a leading indicator because business executives make decisions about whether to invest in new jobs much more quickly and based on vastly more data.
As Examiner columnist and practicing economist Irwin M. Stelzer notes in today's edition, some of the traditional signs of recovery look positive. But businesses aren't investing in new jobs, they are instead hoarding cash, waiting for the next shoe to drop in Washington on such issues as health care reform, cap-and-trade, and federal taxes, spending and deficits. "There is a nagging fear among those who closely watch not only the economy but govenment policy that these nascent economic forces might be murdered in their crib by the current administration," Stelzer notes.
It's time for Obama and Democratic congressional leaders Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi to step back from their radical plans to vastly expand federal power, spending, deficits and taxes, and instead reach out to conservatives in both parties who understand how to make the economy grow with tax cuts, reduced bureaucracy, and lower government spending. They also understand the urgency of achieving U.S. energy independence by quickly adopting the "all-of-the-above" policy of freeing America's abundant conventional energy resources while encouraging alternative sources. In other words, stop playing ideological games and get serious about restoring economic growth before millions more jobs are lost.
