By GARY BAUMGARTEN
President Obama will propose spending a whopping $300 billion in jobs in his address to a joint session of Congress Thursday, Bloomberg is reporting.
In so doing, the president is taking a huge political gamble. The House – the larger of the two bodies – is in control of the Republicans. If they give him a lukewarm response, the proposal may be doomed from the start.
It could also affect his political career.
Obama hasn’t been fairing well in the polls. While his motivation for giving this speech may be altruistic, there are political consequences.
If he is successful in rallying the Congress – and by extension – the nation – around his jobs bill, he could save his presidency. But if he falls flat, he may do more harm to his re-election candidacy than any of the potential Republican challengers.



Salon.com
Comments
They will be temporary…I acknowledge that. But that temporary respite will give everyone time to see that the private sector WILL NEVER AGAIN EVER create enough of the kinds of jobs needed EVER AGAIN. There will be NO substantial, meaningful increase in private sector jobs of the kind needed during the time of the works project.
Fact is, it makes no sense to pay people reasonable wages to do the kinds of work people can do. If people are willing to work for 80 cents an hour, I guess some jobs can be created. But I guarantee that employers of 80 cents per hour workers will immediately be lobbying to lower the minimum wage to 60 cents per hours “in order to keep America competative.”
Only when the president and the congress finally realize that the entire “earn one’s living” dynamic has changed dramatically…will anything finally be done to work on the problem.
Said another way: The problem is not “How do we create enough decent paying jobs?”…but rather, “How do we handle it if the reality is that decent paying jobs will never ever again be available anywhere near the numbers needed?”
We don't. The powers that be understand the need for worldwide population reduction. (After having everyone breed like rabbits and taking the profits from all the consumers it's time to thin the herd.) Many Americans will simply starve to death.The government has already made plans to deal with the civil unrest.