New Obama Jobs Plan Points to More Failed Stimulus

Good economic news is hard to come by this month. The national unemployment rate remains above 9 percent. The stock market is increasingly volatile -- jeopardizing countless retirement funds with regular plunges. And, of course, August kicked off with the announcement that one of the three major ratings agencies has downgraded U.S. creditworthiness.

Although Oklahoma has weathered the recession better than most states, the latest jobs report does show unemployment up in all 77 counties. On the bright side, Oklahoma City's jobless rate is the lowest of the nation's largest cities, and a new survey released by the Oklahoman shows that 71 percent of businesses owned by females in the metro area plan to hire new workers in the third quarter.

I toured three women-owned businesses in Norman recently and was encouraged to see firsthand the positive impact small businesses are making on the local economy. However, these business leaders expressed concerns echoed far too often among the nation's job creators. Time and again, surveys indicate that employers are unduly burdened by the cost, headache and uncertainty created by federal rules and regulations. Oklahoma businesses are no exception.

It's no wonder that public approval of President Obama's handling of the economy has plunged to just 26 percent. Instead of focusing on jobs in the early months of the recession, Obama spent the first year of his presidency pushing through a health care plan that no one wanted and that actually penalized job growth by drastically increasing employment costs for each worker. The so-called stimulus succeeded only in creating government jobs and increasing the national debt by almost $1 trillion.

Now comes word that President Obama will unveil a new economic plan in September. The last time the president offered an economic "plan," it was so lacking in specifics that the head of the Congressional Budget Office tasked with evaluating the proposal admitted: "We don't estimate speeches. We need much more specificity than was provided in that speech for us to do our analysis." Likewise, the president's vaunted debt reduction plan was so vague it seemed nonexistent. Despite repeated boasts during the debt ceiling debate, President Obama never publically revealed his special plan.

The White House is keeping quiet regarding the details of this latest proposal, also, but media outlets are already describing it as "a new round of stimulus spending." If this is true, we can conclude that the Obama administration has learned nothing from the failure of the first stimulus. The president and his party still fail to understand that high unemployment and the debt crisis are related. Both crises are exacerbated by the growth of government. Doubt about the government's ability to get spending under control fuels uncertainty in the markets and creates apprehension among job creators who fear the president will attempt to balance the budget by increasing their taxes.
Spending reforms like those repeatedly passed by House Republicans -- and rejected by Senate Democrats -- remain the most effective response to both unemployment and the debt crisis. One of the worst paths to take would be instituting the job-crushing tax hikes President Obama continues to advocate. When his latest plan is announced in September, we'll see whether President Obama is ready to embrace real solutions or stick to the same failed policies.