Saturday, September 11, 2010

Andy Stern in WaPo

The Beer: If you are headed to Martifest this weekend, check out the homebrews.

The Bicycle: Ready for 70 at Maywood.

The VRWC:

How to make jobs?

Let's start at the beginning: Job Sharing. In theory, it sounds good enough, but there are plenty of jobs currently unfilled. Generally, they are low-pay, zero benefits, but they exist. Bring unemployment compensation back from 99 weeks and quit extending it and people will go back to work. Further, who's job are you going to share? Someone who is already employed full time? So I should drop my pay be 50% to put someone else back to work? I assure you if I were on the other side of the unemployment fence, I wouldn't force that on someone already employed. And cost? Will this plan require the employer to provide the same benefits to both job-sharers? Raise the cost to thee employer and they will cut more heads.

Infrastructure Bank: How about changing the tax laws that drive capital off-shore. Failure to do that will only drive more capital off, not in. The coming capital gains tax increase will hurt....badly. Fundung infrastructure jobs with this money will have the same effect as ARRA. Big Fat Zero.

Youth Employment Programs: It is true that many youth cannot find jobs. But anecdotally, there are those in the 18-24 range who are happily living off unemployment and spending the summer partying, waiting for the unemployment to run out. There is nothing that stimulates the desire to work like an empty stomach.

Andy Stern is a best, a Statist and worst, a Marxist. His math is fuzzy: Total $130.5 billion 11.8 million jobs. Net Cost to Taxpayers = $0. This smacks of "somethin' for nothin'." A better choice is to extend the Bush tax cuts, bring unemployment insurance back to a reasonable time frame and get rid of Obamacare. You will see unemployment plummet and the economy take off. Andy Stern's plan is more of the same. And you know how insanity is defined.

1 comment:

Dad29 said...

As usual, the (D) plans SOUND a lot better than they are, although some might work in very limited circumstances, such as "job-sharing."

But even THAT doesn't work unless there's a dual-income situation allowing the job-sharer to part with some cash. Maternity or elder-care come to mind as possible reasons.