The federal government would like us to believe that the economy is on the rebound and that President Obama’s policies are creating jobs. Do you feel it? Do you see it around you? Do you believe it? I sure as heck don’t.
I still have many friends losing their homes and looking for employment. Many of my friends are trying to figure out how they are going to afford the gas necessary to go out searching for a job. Some are still trying to figure out how to put food on the table.
The problem is that those in the federal government are out of touch with the average hard-working American. Of course they are... their policies don’t affect them. They have plushy jobs that pay well, include health care benefits and offer hefty pensions.
The president recently proved my point. In a recent interview on the “Today Show,” the president cited the fact that many Americans are using ATM machines to conduct their banking business, eliminating the need for tellers. In short, the president hinted that ATM machines are responsible for the high unemployment rate.
“There are some structural issues with our economy where a lot of businesses have learned to become much more efficient with a lot fewer workers,” said the president. “You see it when you go to a bank and you use an ATM. You don’t go to a bank teller. Or you go to the airport and you’re using a kiosk instead of checking in at the gate.”
Does this sound like a grown-up who has a grasp of the economy and the steps necessary to put Americans back to work? It shows me that the president is utterly ignorant about economics and job creation.
Do you remember the Democrats’ $800 billion stimulus package that the president signed into law and was supposed to create jobs? The White House would like you to believe that the stimulus package did just that. In truth, approximately 2 million Americans who had jobs when Obama signed the law don’t have jobs today. There are another 12 million Americans who remain unemployed.
It’s as if the president and his team are governing from the kid’s table at a Thanksgiving dinner. They are more worried about who is touching who and who is throwing the mashed potatoes. Unfortunately, the Oval Office is the grown-up’s table and we need grown-ups occupying the chair who can deal with the issues that face us.
Say what you will about George W. Bush, at least he came to the table with business experience (Texas Rangers). Though at times he talked as if he had a third grade vocabulary, he at least understood the economy and how his policies affected everyday Americans. He sounded more like a grown-up than his successor.
The president and many on his team lack corporate experience. They lack the business experience to truly take our nation out of this crippling recession. How can you run this great country of ours if you have no experience in running a business?
I understand that many of you are ready to defend the president and believe that his policies have been effective. Unfortunately, the proof is in the numbers. The proof is all around you. Just ask your friends. Just ask your neighbors.
Where are the grown-ups? We need them sitting at the grown-up’s table.
• Michael Weinstein is co-host of the “The Mike & Winey Show” heard frequently at KFYI (550 AM) or at www.kknt960.com. He can be reached at winey@mikeandwiney.com.
sockratties posted at 7:09 am on Wed, Jul 20, 2011.
Hey Rich- How can you say that? I drove through the “Fiesta District” in Mesa the other day and found brand new street signs among all the closed shops and deserted, fenced off malls. Somebody got a contract and made street signs so you can tell which corner of the waste-land you’re coming to. I wonder if the contracts were awarded for patronage or nepotism.
sockratties posted at 7:03 am on Wed, Jul 20, 2011.
Well Whiney, you’ve done it again. Purposely misunderstood what is obvious to those who don’t fake being as dense as you pretend you are.
The President was alluding to his continuing message that jobs that are going to be available in the future are not the same jobs that we have traditionally relied on. We have to prepare for jobs because technology is changing the way things are done. Anyone studying to be a bank teller had better change their career path to kiosk maintenance technician.
How soon your selective memory forgets little things like TARP, Bush’s $700 Billion financial bailout of the Bush deregulated banking industry. Actually Greenspan called it self-regulation which in this case is a synonym for stealing from the poor to give to the rich. The government also took over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which we’re still paying for and spent another $85 Billion to bail out AIG. All of Bush’s 800 or so billion dollars went to big business as bail-outs not as an effort to stimulate the economy. We’re talking about deregulation in the ‘90s and the October crash of 2008 here. When you spend a couple of decades digging a hole you can’t fill it up in a couple of years.
Regardless of the success or lack there-of, the 2009 stimulus money from the Obama plan did go into the economy and alleviate a lot of pain: Low income workers and the unemployed received $47B, Social Security recipients and vets got $17B, $25B for extended unemployment insurance, $50B for highway and bridge construction and repair, $12B for mass transit, $30B for repair of public buildings, $30B to supplement the COBRA continuing health care for involuntary unemployed, $87B to help states with Medicaid, $15B for education Pell Grants, $50B to state education and school districts, $40B for energy programs, $6B for homeland security, $4B for state and local law enforcement, $150B for tax credits for workers, and additional bonds, small business tax breaks, educational incentives and so on that represent lost revenues rather than pay-outs.
Before you start throwing your mashed potatoes across the room, Whiney, you should be sure who the correct target is.
Rich posted at 6:58 pm on Sat, Jun 18, 2011.
The problem is, quite simply, who's better? The answer is, no one currently in office. Even the rebooblicans think throwing money at it is the answer, it's really just an argument about who to throw the money at. Drove down Apache in Tempe today, counted thirty vacant properties between not counting vacancy and for rent residential. Thirty places that should have a counter, a couple clerks, an accountant, suppliers, and why don't they? In a town with a renewable market every August? Because the small businessman is always the patsy. A small part of the so-called 'stiimulus' there would be paying dividends now. Some sweat equity, a city government that wasn't second generation leeches sucking everyone dry with taxes and micro-management. Small business creates more than half the jobs. Wall street sucked up the stimulus and just went back to business as usual. Obama was just another sucker in their Ponzi schemes. Activate the little guys, give them a shot, you'll wind up in a better place.
VofReason posted at 12:49 pm on Fri, Jun 17, 2011.
No like Community Organizer experience. Like no experience. That is his point, Obama is a hack and digging.
Dale Whiting posted at 8:46 am on Fri, Jun 17, 2011.
Humm, Whinie,
"Corporate experience," you say. Like Wall Street banking corporation experience? Or is that the exclusive jurisdiction of Neo-cons? If you are going to cast stone, cast them on both sides of our two party political system. Both Literals and Neo-cons are to blame.