What should be done to turn around the economic fear?
Fear.
Despite the better than expected jobs report today — unemployment fell to 9.1 percent in July as 117,000 new jobs were created — fear has taken over the stock and job markets. There is increasing talk of a double-dip recession.
Unfortunately, the tools generally available to deal with those problems are much fewer in number. The 2009 stimulus package stopped us from going over a cliff, but it didn’t restart the job engine. Now, rather than spending money to create jobs, the federal government is cutting spending. And the Federal Reserve already has cut short-term interest rates to near zero and had two rounds of bond-buying with limited results.
Meanwhile, companies are sitting on about $2.5 trillion in cash. But hiring lots of workers doesn’t appear to be on their agenda. At least 250,000 to 300,000 new jobs need to be created each month to put a significant dent in the jobless rate.
What do you think should be done? Tax cuts? Infrastructure spending? Let the free market runs it course?
- Henry Unger, The Biz Beat
For instant updates, follow me on Twitter.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
80 comments Add your comment
redweather
August 5th, 2011
8:58 am
“Let the free market run its course?” That’s a good one. Was the free market still free when the government, i.e. the American taxpayer, ponied up $700,000,000,000 for the Wall Street bailout? I don’t think so.
And how about that $2.5 trillion in cash companies are sitting on? Oh wait, they won’t begin to spend that on things job creation unless they get some more tax breaks.
Uncle Joe Liberty
August 5th, 2011
8:59 am
I hope Mr. Obama and company had a wonderful time at his birthday bash. He has a lot to celebrate. He has managed to destroy the US economy, enable Muslim terrorists to advance in the Middle East and elsewhere, and bring more hatred between blacks and whites, have and have nots, etc. Not bad for a community organizer.
Once this administration is just a bad memory, we should follow Herman Cain’s good example and cut taxes, government red tape, and numerous wasteful spending (tax money to restore foreign mosques, ACORN, guns for Mexican drug gangs, failed school programs, for instance), Instead of the government waste programs, provide the private sector with more incentives. Stop penalizing individual incentive and success, while rewarding incompetenced and graft.
KeepinItREAL
August 5th, 2011
9:03 am
People just stopped looking!!! True rate is over 18% at least!
Baker
August 5th, 2011
9:04 am
If the folks in D.C. could actually push through some real cuts in Social Secuirty, Medicare, Medicaid, and (as the Pentagaon itself says) unnecessary defense programs, maybe that could free up some room for continued tax cuts and stimulus spending. Let’s hope this time that the stimulus spending doesn’t just go to Dem pet projects and actually some real infrastructure needs.
Having said that, we all know they won’t push through significant cuts, so we’re looking at a long haul.
Jim
August 5th, 2011
9:05 am
Why would a company go and spend the money they are sitting on when consumer spending is weak, confidence in the economy is low and ultimately cash is king? Most companies spend cash to see a measurable return on their investment – sales, marketshare, mindshare, etc. It is tough to justify spending right now as a business or consumer. I can’t say I blame them for sitting on their nest eggs for now. Contrarty to certain beliefs in DC, we won’t be able to spend our way out of this mess. I hope we do not see a double-dip. I’m hoping that the market is correcting itself as it seems to have grown to a “false” level. Lets keep our fingers crossed that things gradually start to improve. I’d much rather see slow and steady growth versus a big spike. With these big ups comes a down (see housing bubble circa 2008).
Logic
August 5th, 2011
9:09 am
What should be done to turn around the economic fear?
Repeal Obamacare
Balanced Budget Amendment
Repeal the amendment allowing the Feds to have income tax and replace with Fair Tax
New President, Senate & Congress who will do the 3 above
Problem Solved
rightwingextreme
August 5th, 2011
9:09 am
this report is bogus in that the only reason the “unemployment rate” went down is that an additional 193,000 people dropped out of the labor force….in other words they’ve given up looking for a job. factor those in and the rate should be somewhere around 9.3 or 9.4%.
i think the obamites in the financial media are starting to get smart…for the month of july they low-balled the estimated jobs to be created at 85k. so now the media can report jobs beat expectations as opposed to the other way.
real unemployment in this country is around 23-25%. just look around. we all know someone who is looking for a job. look at the shuttered windows in the strip malls. think about your own situation and ask yourself….is this really getting better?
Jon
August 5th, 2011
9:10 am
Companies will hire when demand warrants. Demand is driven by the middle class in this country. Slash their taxes, direct stimulus to them. The wealthy will be ok with their tax rates when their income soars off increased sales.
Logic
August 5th, 2011
9:10 am
Jimmy Carter is back in the form of Obama
What ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
August 5th, 2011
9:10 am
Does not count the following:
Recent graduates – college and highschool
People who ran out of unemployment
People who cant qualify for unemployment due to the companies lying about why they let them go. (This happens all the time)
People who are working part time as a clerk when their profession is a engineer, you know that stuff
Real unemployment numbers are actually above 20%
Thanks Obama and your DUMOCRATIC cronies. You have managed to shut the business world down while maintaining your BIG UNION cronies and taking over the AUTO Industry and BANKING industry. I guess their friends who keep them in office are more important then the country they represent. Who could figure.
Obama
August 5th, 2011
9:11 am
I can’t wait till my next birthday.
What ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
August 5th, 2011
9:12 am
Oh forgot, Do you know the umemployment rate on blacks is upward of 30%. I hope all black people fall on their knees and honor the man (OBAMA) who has done nothing but create the race card again and turn his back on the Blacks in this country.
When will people realize that Obama represents his own interests and THAT IS ALL. He cares nothing about this country or our Americans.
Paul Revere
August 5th, 2011
9:13 am
The Numbers are bogus! Next month, as always, they will be revised downward and it will be forgotten.
Can we believe anything coming from this government? Do U believe anything coming from Washington nowadays except our tax bills?
I don’t!
A Conservative Voice
August 5th, 2011
9:22 am
You and I and everyone else knows that this figure (9.1%) is pure BS. After the fiasco last week, I don’t believe anything that comes out of DC nor do I believe anyone connected with our federal government. They are all corrupt and need to be swept out like the trash they are. I am so tired of hearing each side saying…..”we won, we won”, what about the american people they are sworn to represent? A message needs to be sent on November 6, 2012.
Terry
August 5th, 2011
9:22 am
Get a new president
Laurie
August 5th, 2011
9:23 am
I’ve been tired of the conflicting stories about employment, housing, and our economy in general, for a while now. Most people know personally how bad things are in the US. ALL those yahoos in DC need to kicked out of their plush government offices and stripped of their jobs, pensions,and healthcare.
Greg
August 5th, 2011
9:29 am
The govt lies. How many times has obuma changed the actual gdp numbers. First qtr goes from 2.1 to .4? It;s probably actually negative. No doubt q2 was negative. Q3 will likely be too. But the obum will tell us it isn’t. Over 200 regulations he’s thrown into our face just this year. THey cost over 2 trillion a year. Then his god awful health bill and hey free health check ups for women, free birth control, free everything! Oh wait. Someone has to pay for it! Through much higher premiums! Funny how they left this part out of the cbo cost! So who wants to hire with this bs going on? Get the turd out of office, hopefully vote in some decent congressman and senators, repeal this hideous health care and deregulate, keep taxes where they are and money will invest and jobs will come and the economy will rocket. There’s trillions just waiting to work thanks to ben the idiot. It’s just a matter of getting the right leader and policy to get that money to work.
Ben
August 5th, 2011
9:33 am
I love the generic vitriol towards Obama with regards to the Unemployment rate. Fact is, it’s a month to month review and it’s flucuating all the time.
Henry, the fact is that there is nothing that can be done to assuage fear about the economy. Many people have been so shell shocked by the last few years that, psychologically, it will stay with people for the rest of their lives.
It’s going to take a generation to pull out of this.
Educated
August 5th, 2011
9:38 am
Can we get the educated people to chime in now. Attention all dummies. Time for you to shut the hell up!
Ga Guy
August 5th, 2011
9:40 am
You should say “elect a congress who does not subscribe to the primary goal of wanting the president to fail”. Seriously, even if you are President Obama detractor and adamantly against what he is doing, have you ever in seen this much vitriol toward a President from the very people he is supposed to be working with directly?
I agree that the (rapidly shrinking) middle class is the true block of persons in need of the breaks given to the wealthy and lower income in this nation. Once middle class confidence is restored, you’ll see a turnaround.
Companies sitting on 2.5 Trillion dollars, yet won’t hire. Oh thats right. They are sending most of the jobs overseas. That is President Obama’s fault too correct? That is also where we need reform. These companies shipping jobs overseas, yet still have tons of breaks. Doesn’t seem right to me.
If we repeal “Obamacare”, what is the replacement? Why is it that many nations can have universal healthcare (which, last I checked what the world is wrong with ensuring every member of society has access to basic healthcare without being indebted for decades?) but it passes here and people are in an uproar? It doesn’t seem to be destroying the other score of nations that have some form of it in place.
Provide the private sector with more incentive: Small businesses, yes. Corporations have tons of incentives and aren’t hiring. Record profits, yet still laying people off?
One day, I really hope we as a collective body of people wake up and realize its much deeper than (D) v. (R). Divide and conquer works. Black v White. Gay v. Straight. Legals v. Illegals are all marginal at best. The real separation is “Wealthy” vs “Everyone else”.
Oh well.
Brian powdertown
August 5th, 2011
9:47 am
Do not be sheep people. Do not believe anything you see from ajc or the ap they are monitored by the government so they will push what they have been told. They are no different than al jezzera or whatever that state run arab news channel is called.
Tate
August 5th, 2011
9:53 am
Hey Ben ya fool. It’s HIS policies that have caused businesses to lay people off and not hire. It’s HIS massive regulations that have suffocated businesses. Get it now? Probably not. Once a dumbass, always a dumbass.
Tom
August 5th, 2011
9:53 am
To “Educated” who is obviously a “right thinking person”:
Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.
This is known as “bad luck.” — Robert Heinlein
—–
President Obama’s philosophies tend to bring a fair amount of “bad luck”.
Joel
August 5th, 2011
10:00 am
You can almost feel the hatred of Obama here. Remember folks – the day President Obama took office we were losing 800,000 jobs a month. We have now had 22 consecutive months of adding jobs. Put that in your tea……
Jim
August 5th, 2011
10:05 am
Joel, please continue to tell us how much better things are today and how Obama has laid a great foundation for growth down the road. I’d be interested to hear what else we can put in our tea besides “shovel ready jobs” and “change”
Nojoke
August 5th, 2011
10:05 am
I work for the CDC, we are federal government, our jobs are safe, yeahhhhhhhh!
FairTaxTime
August 5th, 2011
10:08 am
The Fair Tax can make a positive impact on the economy. Imagine if you collected your entire paycheck. No payroll taxes means you’d have 29% more income coming in. Drug dealers, illegal aliens, foreign tourist would be finally paying in to our new tax system. You only pay taxes on what you buy. Go to http://www.fairtax.org , and get educated on this outstanding and well researched plan. Don’t believe the lies that other government organizations are spreading about this sensible idea. Also, learn the history of income tax, and you’ll probably be as disgusted as I am.
GaMom
August 5th, 2011
10:10 am
I’m glad to see so many have seen through this “fake” number…. They will twist figures to make you think what they want. If they are reporting these bad figures – just imagine what the real truth is!!! Obama is ruining our economy – I pray we can survive until Nov. 2012……
Tom
August 5th, 2011
10:13 am
Hey Joel, we are just yelling into the wind as you keep your fingers in your ear chanting lalalalallala
These are the issues we are fussing about. You see a number the government puts out, we see the reality.
“The labor force participation rate, and the reason why the general unemployment rate declined to 9.1%, just dropped to 63.9%, the lowest in 16 years, or matches the participation rate from January 1984.”
This is why we are getting upset.
Taxpayer
August 5th, 2011
10:19 am
Ga Guy:
Seriously, even if you are President Obama detractor and adamantly against what he is doing, have you ever in seen this much vitriol toward a President from the very people he is supposed to be working with directly?
Yes, there was quite a bit of vitriol towards George Bush. Why did Obama vote against raising the debt ceiling when he was a Senator? Why do the Democrats blame the debt on “Unfunded Wars” but yet we are still in Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantamo and a “New Unfunded War” Libya? Wake up and realize the Rep. & Dems. are lying to you. You might want to open your mind to other voices in the political arena.
Refugee
August 5th, 2011
10:20 am
All govt statistics are lies to manipulate the sheep. Economic collapse is because of govt actions, not the lack thereof. Read Doug Casey or Charles Hugh Smith; if you can follow the logic you may not be a sheeple. Just do not let govt or the sheeple find out. You will be put on a “list” lol.
Optimist Club
August 5th, 2011
10:27 am
What should be done to turn around the economic fear?
Nothing can be done until President Obama can be kicked out of the Oval Office. There is no confidence in this man as our nation’s leader. He can’t get even get a small victory out of Bin Laden’s demise. When you give someone like Obama power they don’t earn – this is what happens. The bulk of the people that voted for him care nothing about what was about to happen to this country. These people wanted to make conservatives suffer, but they are the ones that are suffering the most. Many of them stil have their head buried deep! Of course Obama did not initiate these problems, but the socialist and entiltement mentality of his beloved Democrat party did.
I find it hysterically ironic that on our President’s 50th Birthday that the financial markets suffered. That was a wake up “gift” to the American public that Obama is ineffective and needs to be shown the quickest routes out of Washington DC!
People like “Educated” and “Joel” need a big “Bless Your Heart”.
Joel
August 5th, 2011
10:30 am
It is quite simple. Adding jobs is better than losing them. If you want to argue the numbers are wrong – or that we should be adding more jobs – then go ahead.
Trends
August 5th, 2011
10:30 am
Unemployed is the new Entrepreneur
Obama is the new Carter
Ben
August 5th, 2011
10:31 am
Tate, WOW. You have no idea what you’re talking about but thanks for the insults and name calling. I’ve come to expect nothing less from the uninformed right.
You’re the reason discourse in this country is in the toilet.
Lost in space GOP/TEA Party contract on america
August 5th, 2011
10:36 am
Gop is at WAR on worker!!!
Pile it higher
August 5th, 2011
10:41 am
“The 2009 stimulus package stopped us from going over a cliff”- Yeah, and up is down and water ain’t wet…….
Point/Counterpoint
August 5th, 2011
10:41 am
Whatever!!!!! – “People who cant qualify for unemployment due to the companies lying about why they let them go. (This happens all the time”
Hey Chief, when your finished ranting, here’s some helpful info for you.
1. The unemployment process leans very heavily towards the EMPLOYEE. I.E. the burden of proof in termination falls 100% on the EMPLOYER to provide a reasonable explaination as to the decision to terminate.
2. If you are denied benefits, you can appeal the determination which will lead to an Appeals Hearing. In the hearing you will have an opportunity to defend your position, and the employer can defend theirs. Usually credible documentation is the determinaig factor in the outcome of this hearing.
3. If you don’t like the decision of the hearing officer after the appeal, you can then submit a request for a review of your case by the Georgia Department of Labor Board of Review.
4. If you are not satisfied with the determination form the GDOLBOR, you can then appeal to the Georgia Superior Court and name both the employer and the Labor Commissioner as co- defendents in your request.
Simply saying that you can be denied unemployment because the employer “made things up” shows a clear lack of understanding as to how things actually work. Which leads me to believe that perhaps you should spend more time analyzing rather than raving.
Prophet
August 5th, 2011
10:42 am
the only and literal answer to the question of the day (and also, should we make it to tomorrow) is:
TURN AWAY FROM FEAR, THEN TURN TOWARDS FAITH IN GOD!!
peace
What is the new mantra?
August 5th, 2011
10:44 am
Let me see if I get this straight, we should give more tax incentives to corporations
and they will hire more folks. Heeeeeellooooooooooo !!!!!!
They were given tax incentives and companies are not hiring.
The current American business mantra is;
“We can’t hire because the economy is slow. Oh, by the way,
we are eliminating more jobs due to the slowdown.”
Corporations are sitting on tons of cash, eliminating jobs and some
firms are actually making huge profits while jobs are few and far between.
More incentives….. I don’t think so !
Now, that I a chance to vent, rant and rave, it is sad to say I have
no solutions to this problem ! I will leave that up to the experts.
Lost in space GOP/TEA Party contract on america
August 5th, 2011
10:45 am
36% of Alabama now on welfare Fact!!and the hate government . your GOP at work to cut your own head off keep voting teacher job cuts and all government job they will cut you up worker! They are not for working class Fact. Name one thing they have done for working people?
ExExaminer
August 5th, 2011
10:56 am
Oh please. 9%?? Who believes this number is accurate??
askip32
August 5th, 2011
11:03 am
I know this will be real hard for us to think about but until this country turns back to God instead of trying to keep Him out of it, things will get worse.
Melissa
August 5th, 2011
11:05 am
Muzzle the media! They fan the flames of fear.
BYH
August 5th, 2011
11:07 am
Seems that “Lost in space” has some comments that are lost in translation.
Let's Be Reasonable
August 5th, 2011
11:13 am
Under Mr. Reagan unemployment did hover around 11%. However, unlike our current situation Mr. Reagan did not take office when the economy was on the brink of another great depression, and the market had not lost 20% of its value like it did in 2008. The auto industry was not facing extinction, nor did major investment firms go belly up. Mr. Reagan did not inherit a housing market implosion. Mr. Reagan did not come into office with two unfinished wars. Back during that time the American ecnomy did not have to compete with India, China nor Brazil, and European governments wern’t being bailed out. Rave about Mr. Obama’s policies if it makes you feel better, but please put things in perspective. Not even Superman can right this massive ship with all of its moving parts and an ever increasing interconnected world economy couple with a political system where winning is most important, in three years. The author of this piece writes about a positive move regarding the nation’s unemployment picture, and the Obama detractors totally ignore the smidgen of good news and go straight for the president’s throat. Sad indeed.
james
August 5th, 2011
11:16 am
lost in space=marta train prophet
Carlos
August 5th, 2011
11:23 am
People are fooling themselves if they think electing a Republican president will fix the economy. Like another post said, this problem will take a generation to fix. There is no quick fix and any one claiming so is trying to sell you something.
I say after the financial meltdown of late 2008. We are lucky to have 9-10 % unemployment.
LOL!!!!!
August 5th, 2011
11:35 am
Laughing at these clowns that think things will just be automatically fixed with a new president in 2012! LOL! Ya’ll trippin’!
plutocratarianism
August 5th, 2011
11:49 am
Letting the free market run its course will certainly lead to something called Capital Flight, this same exact thing happened to the Soviet Union economy during its collapse, it is when businesses and corporations pack their bags and shift their investment and capital over to rising economies like China and India. Unfortunately there is only very few ways to prevent Capital Flight from one country to another, and the government has to play a very large role in regulating that or giving incentives to bring back capital and investment to this country. If the government wants to try and play the incentive way and try to give tax breaks and lower wages to create jobs, well bad news because Americans will never ever win the global Race to the Bottom, unless they are willing to go to work at nearby sweatshops for 50 cents an hour and live in slums.
I don’t see the government trying to regulate the Capital Flight going on either, so in the long term unless it is stopped, then millions of more Americans are going to lose their jobs and the standard of living of this country will continue to stagnate until it compares to other third world countries.
All I can say is this country is going down the drain, I see alot of political, economic and social instability in the very near future of this country.
Point/Counterpoint
August 5th, 2011
11:55 am
Lets be Reasonable – “Not even Superman can right this massive ship with all of its moving parts and an ever increasing interconnected world economy couple with a political system where winning is most important, in three years.”
WHAT? Didn’t you get the memo? We need to eliminate all taxes and eliminate all regulation. While we’re at it, we need to have a National employers day where all the employees can bow down and worship at the alter of their benefactor and thank them with gifts of virgins and animal sacrifices for letting them keep their jobs for just one more day. That should get the economy going. Oh, and it’s all Obamas fault.
Jonathan
August 5th, 2011
11:56 am
You want to get to the real root of the problem? Drive around rural America, or inner-city America, or small-town America a little and tell me what you see. You’ll see a world in which small-holders, local businesses, local markets have been sucked dry, where storefronts are boarded up, where the only shiny new looking buildings are banks and government buildings, and maybe some corporate chains. You’ll see a world where governments, the financial industry, and big corporations hold most of the cards- and it is a rapidly sinking world. All the machinations of financial capital and the support of governments cannot mask the basic realities behind the American economy: it is an economy controlled by and increasingly only benefiting the very few. It is an economy that produces virtually nothing, where most workers go in to work to shuffle papers and information around, or to rearrange products produced elsewhere. A world of dessicated communities, people united only by their shared reactions to the latest nonsense the entertainment industry has put out, or the political theatre Washington puts on. A world of corporatism and state-control, where faceless bureaucrats in some far-off center of wealth and power push the buttons and hand down decrees, whether they are the bureaucrats of governments or bureaucrats of some corporation. A world where the very people impacted by all of this fight and squabble amongst one another over which idiotic political party is responsible, and which one can ‘fix’ all our problems. Or worse, a world where one faction finds a scapegoat minority and affixes all the blame to them, whether that minority be Muslims, immigrants, or fundamentalist Christians.
Instead of tilting at political windmills, we must begin to imagine a different sort of world, a world that is not controlled by grasping corporations and paternalistic governments, a world in which the people who do the work profit from the work, a world in which we help each other and live in free communities, not the coercive ones of the state, a world in which markets are truly free and interconnected and serve the needs and desires of the people who participate in them, who buy and sell and make- not bureaucrats or officials in Washington or New York or wherever. A different world is possible, but it is not possible through the politics of the Washington circus. We- individuals, families, voluntary groups, neighborhoods, unions, churches- must work together, free ourselves from out many shackles, and build this better world. We’ve waited long enough for corporations and governments to build it for us.
Pundit
August 5th, 2011
11:59 am
I think following should be done immediately:
Increase Custom Duty (on all imports) by at least 100%. This move alone would put our citizens to work.
Cut taxes on lower income groups.
Cut welfare on all healthy young people and encourage them to get subsidized vocational training.
Out source our expensive prison system, at least those who have committed violent crimes.
There are many things we can do and put this country back on the rails to prosperity.
james
August 5th, 2011
12:40 pm
hows that change working for you lol
james
August 5th, 2011
12:40 pm
hows that change working for you lol
LJ
August 5th, 2011
1:12 pm
I am amazed by the ignorance of some posts. The assertion that corporations are greedy for “sitting” on cash(and that they are somehow holding the economy hostage to get lower taxes?) is completely false. In this economy cash on hand is INSURANCE. There is near zero certainty about tomorrow, let alone next quarter. Having ample cash on hand keeps operations running seamlessly when things go south and PREVENTS massive layoffs.
Get a damn clue.
Michelle
August 5th, 2011
1:55 pm
How about you, the news, stop spreading panic and fear?? How about you all shut up and maybe, JUST maybe, the economy would be just fine! Panic breeds panic. I am so sick of it. I am going to start boycotting news. Starting with AJC.
BRIN
August 5th, 2011
2:16 pm
If Obama announced he would not seek reelection or was impeached the markets would soar….that would be change we could all believe in !
Ken
August 5th, 2011
2:21 pm
I’ve owned a small business for 30 years now, any small business owner could have predicted where the economy was headed way back in the Bush
era. How do you go to war and cut taxes? Who’s paying for the war? When he sold the American people on the war it’s to bad he didn’t have to sell them on a tax increase to pay for it or no war. Not an Obama fan by any means, just feel he was handed a train wreck and now he gets more than his fair share of the blame. We need a President that knows
how to bring the people together to solve the problems, looking at the lot in Washington, not sure such a person exist.
timthebrave
August 5th, 2011
2:24 pm
Republicans and democrats are both awful. Why do democrats and republicans vote only along party lines? Do they all think alike or are they just worried about getting money from their party to get re elected? hmmmmmm……
timthebrave
August 5th, 2011
2:26 pm
If we didn’t spend 1.2 trillion on war maybe we could have a balanced budget…..
Gwinnettian
August 5th, 2011
3:16 pm
This is really quite simple.
America will recover when we hire a Leader to lead us and we ‘drain the swamp’.
The problem has always been the Voter’s ability to choose that leader and identify exactly which people were the swamp. Making speeches is not a sign of Leadership – intergrity and experience are. Congress represents YOU!! Does your family have to trim its budget? – so should YOUR representative in Congress.
These are the principles of Conservatism. WE need to Conserve to survive. From the time of the Caveman to now. Its always the hard worker who works and saves who has the future. Its the ants and the grasshoppers…..how many comparisons can I draw?!
Road Scholar
August 5th, 2011
4:10 pm
Stop the whining. How do we get the economy reved up again?
In the past we did it partially with public Works where the government HIRED PRIVATE COMPANIES TO DO THE WORK! And we had something to show for it: better roads, bridges , airports, etc Those companies paid for materials, food, gasoline, wages…and thse in tern were passed along to other businesses…. Folks, that is trickle down, not the crap the tax breakers have spouted as trickle down…..sitting on their profits!
Oh, the uncertainty! Now for the onslaught from people who don’t understand or remember history!
tcurex
August 5th, 2011
4:15 pm
If the over 6 million unemployed who average getting nearly $300.00 per week were put back to work, the govt would save the $1,800,000,000 per week. The govt could reward the employer for each employee put to work and come out ahead by saving on one end and receiving taxes and social security payments on the other….
Don Nelson
August 5th, 2011
4:29 pm
Jobs will only be created when demand for products & services increase. Thanks to government directed Trade Agreements, we buy more imports made overseas than we sell in exports. So, in order to bring jobs back, the government can start by renegotiating the agreements it created that help start this entire mess of job losses. The started it, let them fix it. No one talks about this, but the government actually can stimulate job growth when our exports sales accelerate, until then….it is gonna be a long, long, long jobless recovery.
DeVante
August 5th, 2011
4:59 pm
“What do you think should be done? Tax cuts? Infrastructure spending? Let the free market runs it course?”
Bluto (to Flounder): “My advice to you is to start drinking heavily”.
tax more
August 5th, 2011
6:17 pm
taxes need to be raised on rich people and big corporations to get more money to pay all the government benefits. They better not cut my benefits.
James
August 5th, 2011
6:28 pm
No big surprise…small business are NOT hiring. They are not hiring because they do not trust the current administration’s policies and approaches.
James
August 5th, 2011
7:15 pm
Not even Bullwinkle can pull a rabbit out of this hat…
zeke
August 5th, 2011
8:25 pm
GET RID OF OBOZO AND ALL THE DEMOCRATS, RINOS AND THE OTHER LIBERALS, COMMIES, SOCIALIST, PROGRESSIVES AND INDEPENDENTS! THAT IS HOW YOU FIX THE ECONOMY AND STOP THE FEAR!
Amerigo M. Cimino
August 5th, 2011
9:02 pm
Jobs were “created”?
Whom” created’ the jobs?
More smoke and mirrors?
Who is supposed to be impressed by this job creation?
These reports are not without footnotes!
AND, We still have to press “1″ for English
Charles
August 5th, 2011
9:27 pm
askip32- You hit it on the nail!
Bob Walters
August 5th, 2011
11:43 pm
Send all illegal aliens packing and stop issuing work visas. Successfully pursue those two goals and enough jobs will be created for the unemployed to turn sentiment around.
Too Big to Fail
August 6th, 2011
6:16 am
Shut down Goldman Sachs for good.
Liz
August 6th, 2011
8:50 am
The illegals do the work nobody else will do!!! Why are the farmers suffering and restaurants have no dishwashers or food prep people. Wake up white or black people do not want to pick fruit or wash dishes!!!
Jon
August 6th, 2011
3:32 pm
Stabilize the economy by negating and abrogating unfair trade agreements which allow slave labor to make products imported into the USA. Duties on imported goods would offset the deficit while making american labor more attractive.
Financial fraud by large wall street banks must be dealt with, there must be punishments including fines and jail time to restore trust and justice to a system knee deep in fraud and corruption.
Glass-Stegall on steroids must be made law, investment banking and commercial banking are and should be separate institutions and legal structures along with commensurate regulation. Financial regulation and oversight must be disconnected from the entities they regulate. The revolving door must be cemented shut never to be reopened.
Real estate foreclosures must be properly handled and systems should be put into place to help struggling mortgagees make their payments and hold onto their properties, such as extending the terms of loans and offering payment moratoriums for set periods. No one benefits from the collapse of our housing markets so we must all swallow some bitter pills and stop giving sugar and cash to the banking industry which in many cases holds fraudulent titles to these properties.
The rich must pay their fair share to exist in fair and just social system otherwise it is anarchy and we saw what happened during the french revolution. The rich will push as far as they can it is after all in there best financial interest until it isn’t and they become public and private targets.
Our entire political structure needs to be renovated and replaced, our corrupt congress should be swept clean and if the political and social will is present, perhaps replacing our 2 party system with a more parlimentary system of fractional representation of multiple parties.
Destroy all television sets and force people to socialize together and discuss our common problems and how to resolve them.
destin dawg
August 7th, 2011
10:48 am
Jon.. that’s just babble…. specifics please….1 or 2 4 year term limits… tax reform… like flat or Vat …. Tort reform… cut the lawyers free the Doctors..( with in limits )… cut tax loop holes to raise revenue.. not increase taxes… tax amnesty for overseas corp. $$$$ IF it is reinvested in the U.S… require public service for wellfare… 6 months unemployment w/job training… etc…
Nativebird
August 7th, 2011
11:20 am
Please, enough with the politcal apologists. Government intrusion into national housing visa vi legislation called “community re-investment act”, and Government greasing called Freddie Mac, Sallie Mae not only baited banks to take the easy money, but forced banks by Law to give it out…by the boatloads.
Muliply this enormous free lunch by massive debt-spending under numerous administrations and at SOME point this chicken simply MUST come host to roost. And it has my friend. Blaming a party for this to award your political leanings is like the Titanic going down while the Captain and the boat builder blame each other.
The government MUST get out of awarding winners and losers, especially to those who are their political constuents (read poor, minority, dependent) is the only answer….because it is truly the only underlying problem.
Jon
August 7th, 2011
12:58 pm
Destin Dawg, really your post is just babble, There is not one coherent sentence in your entire post. I have laid out the high points of what must be done to return the United States to a stable and inclusive economy that will quell social unrest and provide an economic path for all to participate.
We don’t need a VAT or a national sales tax. We need rational trade policies, we need effective investment regulation, we need institutions that are fair and just and we need to prosecute those who violate the laws. Even if they are millionaires or billionaires.
We need to rebuild our factories and our infrastructure, there are jobs enough for everyone if we make our priority trading with each other instead of the whole world. A global race to the bottom destroys everyone except a thin layer of ultra rich who use their leverage to become wealthier by making everyone else poorer. It is a zero sum game.
Fair trade not free trade, effective regulation and taxes. Fraudulent bankers in jail. Jobs for Americans making things and doing things for other Americans. It’s not radical and its not that imaginative, all one needs is to look at recent history since the 1960’s. Leaving the gold standard, trickle down economics, repeal of Glass-Stegall, giving China favored Trade Status, these were all factors that led to our current demise and malaise.
We must fix our errors, we have tried things that not only didn’t work, but actively destroyed things that did work. It is time to undo our mistakes, before we run out of time and face a nation on the brink as the French did during the French Revolution. Contrast the American Revolution to the French Revolution to understand the fork in the road we are currently standing at.
Unions Now
August 8th, 2011
10:59 am
employees nationwide need to form more powerful unions to keep their jobs and benefits—greedy republicans and the tea party are trying to take away jobs, pensions and healthcare benefits and give the money to rich people and big corporations. I’m tired of this!