Sense on Cents

Are creating jobs the same as saving them?

Please listen closely to the Obama administration on the topic of jobs. Why? Very subtly, Obama and team are defining their employment efforts not only as ‘creating jobs’ but as ‘saving and creating jobs.’ While one may deem this broader definition as a worthy and admirable approach, it is pure politics.

Please tell me what prior administration would have addressed employment in this manner? I mean, taking a counter approach, who would accept a politician as credible if they pronounced, “well, we are looking to create millions in new jobs but we are really not concerned with saving jobs.” The American public is being fed pure political pandering and the media will not call Obama on it.

Why has Obama “lowered the bar” on the jobs front? In typical management fashion, Obama is playing the “undersell to overdeliver” game. Why does he feel compelled to “play this game?” Pure politics on one hand, but Obama appreciates real economic peril on the other. What does that peril encompass? The fact that the Brave New World of the Uncle Sam Economy is not going to have meaningful job creation anytime soon.

We see evidence of that this morning. The Wall Street Journal puts forth, Cuts Are Here to Stay, Companies Say:

Many companies that have cut jobs, pay and benefits during the recession may not be quick to restore them.

The Washington Post similarly addresses this topic in writing, Recovery’s Missing Ingredient: New Jobs:

The likelihood of severe unemployment extending into the 2010 midterm elections and beyond poses a significant political hurdle to President Obama and congressional Democrats, who are already under fire for what critics label profligate spending. Continuing high unemployment rates would undercut the fundamental argument behind much of that spending: the promise that it will create new jobs and improve the prospects of working Americans, which Obama has called the ultimate measure of a healthy economy.

Without real stability and improvement on the employment front, our economy will not see meaningful improvement in retail sales and inventory buildup.

Do not be surprised to see renewed talk out of Washington of the need for another Stimulus Package despite the fact that the first one has currently had little to no impact.

Obama and the Democrats are running into a wall of public fatigue in regard to the exploding fiscal deficit. Public opinion polls show the deficit is viewed as much more pressing than Obama’s health-care reform.

Has Barack bitten off more than he can chew? While the media does not keep him honest, the public at large is not totally clueless.

A penny saved may in fact be a penny earned, but in regard to jobs that principle does nothing for our nation’s unemployed.

LD