The nonfarm payrolls numbers were unchanged in August after a prolonged increase in economic anxiety that began with the brinksmanship in Washington’s debt-ceiling debate and was followed by the country’s loss of its triple-A credit rating, stock market whiplash and renewed concerns about Europe’s sovereign debt.
The jobs figure, a monthly statistical snapshot by the Department of Labor, may appear more negative because it does not include 45,000 Verizon workers who were on strike when the survey was taken.
Economists blamed both sluggish demand for goods and services and the heightened uncertainty over the economy’s direction for the slow pace of job creation, saying political deadlock was in effect creating economic paralysis.
Some suggested actions to stimulate economic growth:
a. No tax increases. Tax increases will discourage economic recovery.
b. Reduce income taxes, of those actually paying income taxes, by 1/3 for at least 18 months. Reduced taxes will mean more money to spend which will encourage ‘bottom up’ spending which will stimulate the economy.
c. Permit failing businesses and financial instititutions to fail. This will remove the infectious detritus of poor business practices to be removed from the market place.
d. Maintain a Federal budget that is ‘capped’ by the revenues collected by the Federal Government. Over spending will increase inflation which will make everyone ‘poorer.’ ‘Pooer’ people spend less and that will depress the economy.
e. Prioritize Federal defense expeditures using sound ( and non-politicized) estimates of near-term, mid-term and long-term threats to the national security of the USA. This will require a truly non-partisan and pragmatic view of the the ‘world as it is’ and the ‘world to be’ that rises above particular political ideologies and above the self-focused interests of each of our military services. The degree of our military readiness in any particular threat area must be funded based upon the projected negative impact of that threat on the safety/security of the USA.
f. Prioritize Federal entitlements based upon what is left over after our national security is ensured. “Wean’ our citizens away from dependence on a ‘nanny state’ that they expect to ‘make all boo-boos go away.’ Stress individual self sufficiency, self-accountability, and a realistic personal outlook regarding housing/home ownership, food expenditures (cook at home rather than ‘eat out’), the size/cost of personal transportation, personal entertainment/hobbies, etc.
g. Reduce/remove government regulations that discourage business es from expanding or even continuing to operate. Provide economic incentives to businesses that enjcourage them to find ‘ways to solve problems’ rather than saddling them with regulations that mandate the way that they can operate.
h. Reduce the size of the Federal Government. Pay particular attention to staffing that does not provide a useful function. Combine, simplify and eliminate government staffing to ensure that only authorized and useful functions are provided.
i. Get government employee union involvement out of all government activities except for those activities specifically related to contract negotiation and contract compliance. The unions should bear the costs of their side of contract negotiation and compliance. Unions should never be involved in any government activity other than contract negotiation and contract compliance. Never. The setting of policy and the implentation of policy are the business of our elected and appointed Federal Government officials. If the unions want to become involved in policy matters then their members should run for elected office.
Umm, haven’t we heard all of this before? And what good has come of it?
Cennydd13,
What is your antecedent for “…haven’t we heard all of this before?”
Is it my comment or is it the blog posting?
Both…….and much more from others!
They could auction off the new Chairman Mao statue in the Mall of the Capitol. What an embarrassment.
Well Cennydd13, it requires repetition after repetition until the message is received by the majority of the voters and the politicians.
And by the way, we recite the Lord’s Prayer, the Nicene Creed and the Doxology over and over in worship. But haven’t we “heard” all of these before?
The majority of the voters avoid acknowledging this message because it requires behavior and expectation modifications on their part and so far they have been adolescent in their avoidance of those modifications.
The majority of the politicians of both parties avoid acknowledgment because that acknowledgment might commit them to taking actions as legislators and executives that would make them unpopular with the voters. AND, the first priority of most of our politicians seems to be re-election and NOT selfless service to their country.
We only expect selfless service from those who wear the military uniforms of our country. And many who have worn those uniforms have suffered death and disability carrying out the orders of our politicians, only to have those sacrifices mocked and made worthless by later actions of our politicians.
[i]We only expect selfless service from those who wear the military uniforms of our country[/i]
Maybe if our politicians were paid and otherwise compensated like our military, only those with an attitude toward public service would desire to run for office.
Capt Deacon Warren, you and I are on the same page, and we both know what it takes to serve. Unfortunately, unless they’v served as we did, far too many of our politicians haven’t got a clue, and that includes the current resident of the Executive Mansion.
Get out of Afghanistan. Obama doesn’t have a concept of victory means and even if he did, he couldn’t carry it out. Added to the ridiculous rules of engagement, is his new edict that soldiers shouldn’t pass gas loudly. NATO announce a “wall of arms” going to the corrupt Karzai government. Just great.
Y’now, at one time, I thought Hamid Karzai was a standup guy…..a decent sort and a patriot, but now I’m not so sure. He’s nothing more than a corrupt warlord……just like all tribal leaders everywhere in those mountains. The history of the British in the mid 1800s and later the Russians in Afghanistan should’ve taught us to stay out of there and let them live as they’ve always lived, but no, we just b]had to get involved,[/b] didn’t we? And for what?
While I agree with your proposals including c., the government has allowed the banking park of that to become highly problematic. I’ve been in banking for 30 years or so and currently work for one of the monstrosities created by merger mania. Certainly, if my bank were to fail, there is no other institution it could be merged with. At the same time, its failure could devistate the economy. Despite the insolvencies in the 80’s, the overall industry was far more stable back then. Regulatory “protection” has been an absolute failure and government involvement has actually destabilized the industry. My own behemoth is driven by policies and procedures that are designed to apease (sp?) the government overlords. What little banking that is actually accomplished through those systems is purely secondary at best.
But you are correct, bank directors must have their security blanket pulled away. First of all, the goverment needs to work with the industry to devolve the giants back into solid regional and local institutions and keep far more limited caps on market share. Then it can tell the boards and senior management that the bailout days are gone. They will suffer the losses and customers can be afforded some amount of protection but essentially are on their own to find a new bank.
…but is ain’t gonna happen!
For what? To both prevent future 9/11-type attacks from originating from a hostile regime and to punish the regime that allowed them. There is nothing to praise of the Taliban. The unfortunate truth, though, is that once in, leaving just gives the country back to the enemy.
I don’t think we’ll ever change the tribal culture of Afghanistan, but our goal has been to introduce the Afghans to the concept that there is a big world out there beyond the mountain ranges that fringe their land and like it or not they’ve become a part of it. Unfortunately, our attention deficit disorder when it comes to strategic needs in Central Asia put a dent in our efforts. Letting them live as they’ve always may be the default solution, but it will likely create a vacuum that will only bring that wheel around back to the fun-filled mid ’90s.