Three cheap ways for Obama to spur job growth
“We should not have to choose,” President Barack Obama said this past week, “between getting our fiscal house in order and jobs and growth.”
If that sounds unobjectionable, that’s because it’s another of those “false choices” Obama imagines to be filling the minds of everyone else in America.
But the solution is not more public spending now and higher taxes later to pay for it.
Corporate balance sheets are flush with cash. Banks have the problem of a “reverse run”: Instead of a rush of withdrawals, they have too much money coming in (which are recorded as liabilities and raise their deposit-insurance costs).
Private money is available. But capital has gone on strike.
The way to get jobs and growth without adding to the debt is not to seize it through taxes or government borrowing and force it into the economy. Washington has tried that.
What hasn’t been tried lately is encouraging private actors to put their money to work on their own volition. Here are three low- or no-cost possibilities for Obama:
1. Make some phone calls.
Not to business leaders, but to his own Cabinet secretaries.
In a recent appearance on Fox News, a former chief economist for the Labor Department, Diana Furchtgott-Roth, said Obama could “make things a lot easier on employers and on hiring” by telling the bureaucracy to stop making new rules that crimp businesses.
“He could call EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and say, ‘Why don’t we just hold off on those new ozone rules, or clean air rules, until the unemployment rate is down to 7 percent?’ ,” Furchtgott-Roth said.
“He could call his Interior secretary and say, ‘Why don’t we just allow more oil drilling in the Gulf [of Mexico]?’ Because there’s been a moratorium since the BP oil spill — that’s about a year and a half ago.
“He could tell his National Labor Relations Board acting general counsel, Lafe Solomon, ‘Hey, why don’t you just lay off Boeing?’ Because Boeing wants to open a new plant in South Carolina to build [787] Dreamliners, and [Solomon] says they can only a new plant in Washington state, where they have their existing plant.”
The list, she said, is long. “Each cabinet secretary is doing things that impede businesses from creating jobs.”
2. Temporarily lower the minimum wage.
I don’t mean lowering existing workers’ wages. Rather, allow companies to pay additional hires a little less. To sweeten the deal, the government might continue to pay the new worker a portion of any jobless benefits to which he or she is still entitled, to offset the lower wage. This would save the government from paying full unemployment benefits while lowering the company’s cost.
One of the more ill-timed moves by Congress in recent years was that of the new Democratic majorities in 2007 to raise the minimum wage in three steps. Even after the recession hit, the floor for wages kept rising. The higher wages have only hurt the millions of low-paid workers who lost jobs.
In fact, the jobless rate for high-school dropouts began rising soon after the 2007 bill. By this July, it stood at 15 percent — much higher than any other grouping by education level.
The absolute number of 16- to 19-year-olds with jobs in July was the lowest since 1963 — when there were 5 million fewer Americans in that age range.
3. Tear down some houses.
Normally, I would agree with 19th century French economist Frederic Bastiat’s “broken window fallacy.” You don’t create wealth by destroying wealth.
But hundreds of thousands of foreclosed houses are already destroying wealth by bringing down the value of other homes. And the longer they sit empty, the more likely they’ll become uninhabitable anyway because of mold or other conditions.
The feds own about 248,000 foreclosed homes. They should follow the example of some commercial banks and raze a portion of them. This would create truly shovel-ready jobs in an ailing sector, and perhaps end the freefall of home values.
– By Kyle Wingfield
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357 comments Add your comment
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
August 20th, 2011
4:49 pm
“I will bet you the Tea Party’s problem is race”
——————
Sometimes when people make statements like that they are able to back them up in some way. This is not one of those times.
carlosgvv
August 20th, 2011
4:50 pm
Linda – 2:01
I am not posting about space aliens today because:
1. I try to post along the lines of what Kyle is talking about and not go off on a tangent.
2. I doubt many here know anything about exobiology. In your case, I seriously doubt you even know what it is.
carlosgvv
August 20th, 2011
4:55 pm
Linda – 4:32
“Boehner is darker than Obama. Would you vote for him”?
That is probably the most mindless thing you have ever posted.
“White people voted for Obama”
Not all of them did. And yes, Linda, there really are white racists in America.
“Obama getting more abuse than Bush”
It’s the venom and bitterness and pure hatred being directed against him that makes me suspect racism.
Michael H. Smith
August 20th, 2011
5:05 pm
GT
August 20th, 2011
10:05 am
I only wish you weren’t such a chicken sh*t coward and used your real name when you make your wager betting on what I hate.
I’d bet between the two of us you are,,, as you would say the RACIST.
MarxV –
August 20th, 2011
10:18 am
Nothing I could ever do could top your stupidity. Only Bruce Wilcox tops you on being the all time stupid idiot of these blogs, you socialist fool.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
August 20th, 2011
5:15 pm
It should be no surprise that venom and bitterness and pure hatred are directed against Obozo, although probably not as much as our President Bush received. Obozo is doing a horrible, disastrous job, and millions have become unemployed and/or lost savings during his failed regime. Poverty and food stamp use are at unprecedented highs.
You would expect this loser to be greeted with showers of rose petals?
Why Bother?
August 20th, 2011
5:19 pm
Oil Drilling – 300 jobs per platform and we are use to $3.75 per gallon now – why bother?
Lower Wages – Interns work for free – why bother?
Tear down houses – still on Bank of America’s balance sheet – why bother?
Michael H. Smith
August 20th, 2011
5:20 pm
carlosgvv
August 20th, 2011
4:55 pm
So, anything said against obumer just has to be RACIST?
I love this kind of stupid thinking. It truly reflects the mindset of a bigot.
Get this carlos, GT a.k.a. Brucie Wilcox the SoB of these blogs and to jerko MarxV: Everyone I know including me hates obumer’s socialist markxist fascist style of governing that has proven to be a complete failure. Now if you idiots can turn that into RACISM it tells me one thing conclusively: You people have ran out of any valid arguments to persuade even yourselves for supporting this miserable failed inept leader.
Linda
August 20th, 2011
5:27 pm
GT@4:46, Get your head out of the race bucket. Racism is over. It’s been over for years. The only racists left in America today are a few old black men trying to keep the anger going among black people, leaders whose goal is to keep minorities dependent on them & govt. entitlements. That’s the strategy of the Democrats. When you realize it, you will finally be free, at last.
The main goal of the Tea Party is fiscal responsibility & no, there will be no compromise until we cut the fed. govt. to a size & to a spending level that is affordable. The Tea Party will be no more compromising than the credit rating agencies, who are all new members of the Tea Party.
Would be fair for the person you call a redneck to turn around & call you the N word? Is one word more insulting than the other?
Michael H. Smith
August 20th, 2011
5:45 pm
Not for these people Linda, they need the race “social-crutch” to functionally remain alive. Without race to prop-up their world as they mentally know it in their weak minds it would collapse around them
GT@4:46, Get your head out of the race bucket. Racism is over
Linda
August 20th, 2011
5:47 pm
carlosgvv@4:50, Space aliens are certainly on Kyle’s topic, since he mentioned the EPA, which, I’m sure you know, is regulating without legislation, again, another one of Obama’s initiatives to bypass Congress. I’m sure you believe in man-made global warming because the Democrats said it was true. I’m sure you believe your exhaled breath, carbon dioxide, is causing the ice to melt in Santa Claus country, & that it is a pollutant. I’m sure you believe that NASA’s contributions to the corrupt UN IPCC are all above board, because, after all, they are a govt. agency, which can do no wrong. If you have been following exobiology, the search for ET, have you heard the latest from NASA?
MarkV
August 20th, 2011
5:47 pm
GT @4:46 pm: I do not think it is possible to debate rationally with people who believe that “Racism is over. It’s been over for years, “ or “Nobody starves in this country.”
MarkV
August 20th, 2011
5:52 pm
It may not be a coincidence that the same people who think that racism is over and people are not starving also do not hesitate to display their ignorance about the role of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Michael H. Smith
August 20th, 2011
6:00 pm
Point in case, Linda: The incapable continue to intellectually hobble along.
Linda
August 20th, 2011
6:01 pm
Greetings from Mars!
The globe is warming! A NASA Planetary Scientist & Penn State has produced a joint study (with taxpayer money) entitled “Would Contact with Extraterrestrials Benefit or Harm Humanity? A Scenario Analysis.”
This team of American researchers think extraterrestrial environmentally-conscious aliens could become so appalled by our planet-polluting ways that they “could attack & kill us, enslave us, or potentially eat us…”
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/200769/20110819/alien-attack-nasa-global-warming.htm
We now have to worry about the planet AND the whole universe. Wonder if they exhale carbon dioxide on other planets. Wonder if they will be red or green. What if they land in Washington, DC & ask to be taken to our leader. Will they be told that we don’t have one & to come back in 2013? If they are taken to Obama, will he ask them if they are millionaires & billionaires? Will he give them health care insurance, unemployment checks for 2 years, food stamps & welfare? Or, will he take away their corporate UFO loophole tax breaks? Will he give them amnesty? I hope they aren’t fat & look like cats.
I have to go. I think I hear something on my roof.
brad
August 20th, 2011
6:02 pm
Michael Smith, Linda, and Lil’ Barry: the voices of the New Right. Paranoid, angry, and truly pathetic.
Michael H. Smith
August 20th, 2011
6:06 pm
brad
August 20th, 2011
6:02 pm
More like the voices that your little paranoid, angry group doesn’t want heard.
brad
August 20th, 2011
6:08 pm
Actually, Michael, it’s entertaining.
LOOK HERE FOLKS !!
August 20th, 2011
6:14 pm
The EPA should back off on the new clean air rules for the reasons you indicated Kyle, but here are a few more:
Most of the numbers used to sell us on the new rules are fictional. They quote joint studies between FERC (the entity responsible for maintaining the reliability of the nation’s electrical grid) that supposedly show reliablity will not be threatened by the closure of over 22 gigawatts of generation. Only the studies didn’t happen. The director of FERC recently stated that no such report was conducted or sent to the EPA.
A draft of the new rules was released in March 2011 which included an estimate of the cost of implementation, a few months later a revision was released cutting the estimate by HALF!! Now it is obvious that if a sincere effort was made with the first estimate that you can’t reasonably cut that estimate by 50%. They are pulling statistics such as this, millions of “green jobs”, millions of people not dying of pulmonary diseases and the average electric bill only going up by $39.00 a month as a result of the new EPA rules ….out of thin air in an effort to promote their agenda.
The public should demand that the EPA withdraw the new clean air rules until a detailed review can determine what is truth and what is fallacy. As it stands now the EPA is not accountable to anyone and we can’t rely on the courts to do what is right!
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
August 20th, 2011
6:21 pm
Tell us what a great job Obama’s doing, brad.
Linda
August 20th, 2011
6:38 pm
brad@6:02, If you are referring to my post @ 6:01, I’m not making this stuff up.
I’m not a member of the party who is paranoid about space aliens landing on my roof.
I’m only angry that our country’s wealth is GONE, that money has been spent wrecklessly on junk, with money we did not have, money borrowed from countries that do not respect us, money that we currently have no means of paying back, creating debt left on the back of generations to come. Am I wrong to be angry, to care about future generations?
I’m pathetic for believing our country should be fiscally sound?
Michael H. Smith
August 20th, 2011
6:58 pm
Someone (namely barack hussein obumer) spends trillions of dollars to lose millions of jobs: Now why would anybody cast blame & disparagement on a person of sane mind for expressing a single word against such failed, stupid, incompetent, mismanagement of economic affairs?
Now socialist marxist obumer idiots, you morons were saying something about pathetic?!
!
reusha2000
August 20th, 2011
7:03 pm
Rick Perry accused of hypocrisy as he comes under fire for investment in America’s largest pornography distributor
By John Stevens
Last updated at 10:14 PM on 20th August 2011
Leading Republican contender and prominent Christian candidate Rick Perry has been accused of hypocrisy after it was revealed that he invested thousands of dollars in the country’s largest pornography distributor….
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2028353/Rick-Perry-comes-investment-Americas-largest-pornography-distributor.html
Linda
August 20th, 2011
7:05 pm
LOOK HERE FOLKS !! @6:14, Bless your heart! You have discovered a grain in the sand of what Obama’s EPA is doing to our country. Furthermore, the EPA in only a grain in the sand of the Obama Adm.’s various agencies that are trying to destroy our country. Furthermore, the various US agencies are only a grain in the sand of what the UN IPCC’s & other international bodies are planning to destroy our country for a new world order.
Obama is the president of the US in name only. George Soros is our leader, a man who brought down the British sterling & several countries & whose goal is to bring down our (the world-wide) currency & our country. Do your own research on him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOjckJWqb0A
Michael H. Smith
August 20th, 2011
7:14 pm
Just wondering something Linda, maybe you can fill me in on the facts. If the congressional black caucus had doubts about prez obuma’s leadership and some members expressed those doubts publically, possibly some seemed… well just a little miffed… I mean, with 16% black unemployment and among black youth 40% unemployment has been rumored: Would these folks be RACIST or traitors, terrorists, hostage takers or at least somewhat bad intellectually deprived people for showing their malcontent toward “dear ruler” mm,mm,mm?
Linda
August 20th, 2011
7:16 pm
reusha2000@7:03, I’ll make a deal with you. If I promise not to cite Rush Limbaugh & other very conservative sites, would you promise not to cite the dailymail & other very liberal sites? Can we move away from propaganda, what I perceive on your part & what you perceive on my part? Would that be fair?
Linda
August 20th, 2011
7:35 pm
Michael@7:14, I saw the town hall meeting between Maxine Waters & her constituents. I’ve heard other comments from the black leaders. I don’t believe for a moment that the Black Caucus nor black leaders are against Obama’s policies.
The black leaders do not have the best interests of minorities or poor people at heart. They are using their constituents for votes. Furthermore, they do not have the best interests of the country at heart. They are lying about entitlements, using class warfare & overwhelming the system, as recommended by Alinsky.
Rafe Hollister
August 20th, 2011
7:37 pm
“Scientest” warning us about space aliens, can you imagine? Dems who would laugh uncontrollably at Sarah Palin or Michelle Bachman for something similiar, have nothing but respect for these scientific “geniuses”. These are the morons blaming the US for global warming, climate change, rising tides, or environmental disaster, or whatever the term in use this week. They laugh at Rick Perry because he doesn’t believe that mankind is causing climate change, but they do not laugh at these alien greeters.
Warren Buffet should go ahead and send in his check and the “progressives” should voluntarily turn off their A/C and start bicycling. If you believe things so strongly, you should put your words into deeds or shut up.
Rafe Hollister
August 20th, 2011
7:54 pm
Looks like everyone is gone. I sure hope the Mother Wheel has not descended and wrecked its havoc on all my blogger friends.
Steve - B.
August 20th, 2011
8:00 pm
reusha2000@7:03
Why do people post things that have nothing to do with the article we are commenting on?
Norcross
August 20th, 2011
8:06 pm
No wonder ajc’s subscription base is tanking. Wingfield’s buffoonish tripe isn’t fit for print.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
August 20th, 2011
8:09 pm
Still waiting for someone to explain the “Obama Miracle” to me.
@@
August 20th, 2011
8:11 pm
The feds own about 248,000 foreclosed homes. They should follow the example of some commercial banks and raze a portion of them.
But Obama is planning on being landlord over those 248,000. Wouldn’t wanna disappoint him now, would we? He can follow in Rezko’s footsteps.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
August 20th, 2011
8:55 pm
How’s that Nobel prize looking?
Rich
August 20th, 2011
8:57 pm
Oh, hell, Kyle, why didn’t you just add tort reform to your list, too. Republicans look for every opportunity to shove their damming agenda down everyones throats. Your party’s solution for EVERYTHING is lower taxes for the well to do, tort reform, less regulation and stepping on the backs of “commoners” to raise yourselves up. Give a thought to using your power for good, and the benefit of ALL Americans.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
August 20th, 2011
8:59 pm
Rich, businesses aren’t leaving the country in search of higher taxes, more onerous regulations, and unfunded government mandates.
Hillbilly D
August 20th, 2011
9:00 pm
The Georgia Legislature passed a tort reform bill in 2005. From where I sit, I can’t see as it made any difference, one way or the other.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
August 20th, 2011
9:05 pm
Of course not. It was overturned in 2010 by some activist judges.
Phil's Tel-A-Gramm
August 20th, 2011
9:27 pm
Five years just isn’t enough time to test a Republican’s tort reform. I wonder how long it will take to determine whether any Republican legislation will work.
Rafe Hollister
August 20th, 2011
9:34 pm
Rich
Your party’s solution for EVERYTHING is lower taxes for the well to do, tort reform, less regulation and stepping on the backs of “commoners” to raise yourselves up.
Let me rewrite that for you. Your partys solution for EVERYTHING is higher taxes on the producers, more handouts for the parasites, more regulation, and pulling down the productive to make things “fair”, so you don’t have to do anything to improve yourself.
I like my rewrite much better.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
August 20th, 2011
9:54 pm
PTAG, the tort reform reduced malpractice premiums and made health care more affordable.
Don’t fear facts.
Phil's Tel-A-Gramm
August 20th, 2011
10:08 pm
Of course not. It was overturned in 2010 by some activist judges.
Facts. What facts.
Phil's Tel-A-Gramm
August 20th, 2011
10:10 pm
the tort reform reduced malpractice premiums and made health care more affordable.
It accomplished both of those things, huh.
Michael H. Smith
August 20th, 2011
10:40 pm
“Every time politicians say they’re going to create jobs, they end up destroying more jobs than they create. Here’s the (delete) approach to unemployment: cut taxes and spending, and let the free market work.
“Government intervention in the free market is what causes unemployment. There are many examples of this, well known to many economists. Minimum wage laws cause unemployment. Government-mandated unemployment insurance causes unemployment. Welfare and food stamps cause unemployment. Occupational licensing laws cause unemployment.”
“One especially destructive factor is government prohibition of at-will employment. Because the government won’t let employers hire, maintain, and fire employees on a truly at-will basis, it makes employment much riskier. Employers are scared to hire people because it can be so difficult to fire them if they don’t work out, and employers are sometimes even scared to interview people because they might be forced to hire them. The result? More unemployment.
“What about all the ‘stimulus spending’ we’ve seen during the last two administrations?
“Stimulus spending doesn’t create jobs, it destroys them. The government spends money by extracting it out of the productive private sector, which causes a net loss of jobs.
“Stimulus spending makes our future less secure, without doing any good in the present. It destroys jobs today, as well as down the road.
“Back in 2009, the Obama administration was worried that unemployment might reach 8 percent. So they pushed through a massive stimulus program, and unemployment went up even higher, to 10 percent. The stimulus program made our problems worse.
~
I’d bet this came from some old TEA PARTY website!
Michael H. Smith
August 20th, 2011
10:56 pm
Well the above post or paste, it could have been taken from some old TEA PARTY website.
But it wasn’t.
It was taken from a Libertarian, actually.
This time without the deletion –
Libertarians say ‘more jobs, less government’
As unemployment in the United States remains stuck above 9 percent, Libertarian Party Executive Director Wes Benedict released the following statement: “Every time politicians say they’re going to create jobs, they end up destroying more jobs than they create. Here’s the Libertarian approach to unemployment: cut taxes and spending, and let the free market work…
http://westmorelandtimes.com/news/2011/08/libertarians-say-more-jobs-less-government-20081112201602/
The TEA PARTY can say exactly the same things as the Libertarian Party and yet none of these democrat socialist liberals will attack Libertarians with their hate, bigotry and lies in the same extremest manner, even though, the agendas of The TEA and Libertarian Party run parallel in ideology.
Just saying…
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
August 21st, 2011
5:36 am
The TEA PARTY can say exactly the same things as the Libertarian Party and yet none of these democrat socialist liberals will attack Libertarians with their hate, bigotry and lies
————————
The Libertarians rarely defeat Democrats in elections. It has nothing to do with the policy or the facts. It’s all about the tea party taking away the Democrat’s power and the threat of shrinking government that scare the Dems.
Michael H. Smith
August 21st, 2011
6:22 am
Exactly.
Michael H. Smith
August 21st, 2011
7:19 am
How many times have I heard this lie told…
You just want to give the big corporations trillions of dollars and make the poor, pitiful poor people and minorities pay these evil rich fat cat corporation’s fair share of taxes.
10 Facts About Corporate Taxes That Will Make Your Blood Boil
The facts that you are about to read will probably make you really mad. They are meant to make you mad. They are meant to help you understand that our tax system is deeply, deeply broken. The big multinational corporations do not pay their share of taxes, our representatives in Washington D.C. admit that they are always several steps behind the hordes of corporate tax lawyers and economic activity is being pushed out of the United States by our ridiculously high corporate tax rate. Basically, our corporate tax policy is a complete and total mess.
The following are 10 facts about corporate taxes that will likely make your blood boil….
#1 Once Japan’s corporate tax rate goes down in April, the United States will have the the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world.
#2 In the United States, the corporate tax rate is 35 percent. In Ireland, it is only 12.5 percent. Needless to say, hundreds of American companies have been moving at least some of their operations over to Ireland.
#3 As corporations have become experts at gaming the system, their contribution to federal revenue has gone way down. Back in the 1950s, corporate taxes accounted for about 30 percent of all federal revenue, but in 2009 corporate taxes accounted for just 6.6 percent.
#4 Switzerland has become an extremely attractive tax haven for multinational corporations. In fact, some cities in Switzerland do a booming business in setting up sham headquarters for foreign corporations. For example: Zug, Switzerland is home to 26,000 people and 30,000 companies.
#5 Transocean, the owner of the rig involved in the BP oil spill, has approximately 13,000 employees in Houston, Texas and about a dozen or so employees in Zug, Switzerland. But by moving their “headquarters” to Zug for tax purposes, Transocean has saved about 2 billion dollars.
#6 According to the New York Times, General Electric made a total of 14.2 billion dollars in profits last year. So how much did they pay in taxes to the U.S. Treasury? According to the New York Times, not one penny was paid. However, General Electric disputes this.
#7 Even though Boeing receives billions in federal subsidies every year and even though it has a bunch of juicy government contracts it did not pay a single penny in federal corporate income taxes from 2008 to 2010.
#8 Exxon-Mobil paid $15 billion in taxes in 2009, but not a single penny went to the U.S. government. Meanwhile, their CEO brought in over 29 million dollars in total compensation that year.
#9 It is estimated that U.S. companies have approximately 1.2 trillion dollars “trapped” overseas, because they cannot bring that money back into the country without being subjected to the 35 percent corporate tax rate. But that money certainly could go a long way towards stimulating the stagnating U.S. economy.
#10 Sadly, the 1.2 trillion dollars that is “trapped” overseas is just the tip of the iceberg. The largest corporations and the ultra-wealthy have turned tax avoidance into an art form. The truth is that according to an article in Forbes magazine, there is somewhere between 15 and 20 trillion dollars in offshore bank accounts, brokerage accounts and hedge fund portfolios. In fact, it has been estimated that a third of all the wealth in the world is held in “offshore” banks.
http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/10-facts-about-corporate-taxes-that-will-make-your-blood-boil
~ PS. If I had not read this same information so many times before I’d probably be mad as hell after reading this article as an objective first time reader of these facts and as someone who paid more taxes than these fat cat multi-national corporations.
But that’s not the case. Now it’s not about getting mad anymore – It’s about getting even!
The author of this article agreeably is correct to say fixing the broken tax system of this country will not be easy, because some people in our government and elsewhere don’t want it fixed. Not so agreeably to the author’s prerogative is the fact that simple, although very hard steps can be taken which are likely to solve a few very costly problems.
Phil's Tel-A-Gramm
August 21st, 2011
7:54 am
Corporations pay far less federal income taxes in the US than individuals pay. Further, many use places such as Ireland and other countries to set up shell corporations in order to reduce their US income taxes. Close the tax loopholes and help level that playing field.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
August 21st, 2011
8:10 am
Please be more specific about which loophole you believe should be closed.
Bill
August 21st, 2011
8:18 am
You can ease rules, eliminate the minimum wage, cut corporate taxes. It doesn’t matter. Companies will do the smart thing and sit on their cash until demand increases. Demand is the ONLY thing that makes companies hire. As long as they can meet their (low) customer demand, there will be no new jobs.
How do we create demand? As distasteful as many people may find it, the surest way to do that is to put money in the hands of people who have NO choice but to spend it.