Monthly Archives: July 2011

Economy, Media, Politics

Van Jones, Hijacked

On the subject of the debt ceiling talks, Van Jones had a statement on msnbc yesterday. Saying that “a very small number of extremists” are standing in the way of raising taxes. But Media-ite writer Francis Martel ‘quoted’ him as saying in the headline of this post: ‘A Small Number Of Extremists Hijacked The Base’

If you listen to the interview, it is quite clear that Van Jones was not speaking of the republican base. It is Martel that wants to characterize the Republican base as extremists. This quote is accurate, that there are “a very small number of extremists” on the right who refuse to raise taxes.

Van Jones . . .

We have a small group of people who have hijacked the discussion.

Emphasis on small. His (Van Jones) words. One can only hope that it also represents the Republican and Conservative base.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Of course Van Jones and Obama want to raise taxes. Not because they think it will spur economic growth, because it won’t. But because the economy as we knew it must be totally neutered before it can be rebuilt a-la your favorite European socialist country. Instead of growing out of this economic mess, Democrats want government to be in control of the economy. Free-market capitalism to this bunch is like a crucifix to a vampire.

What I would call an extremist, on this debt ceiling debate, is anyone who wants to raise taxes and increase spending. But being generous, instead of calling them extremists, like the Left does, I’d go with ‘economically challenged.’ The President is holding fast to his strategy. Borrow our way out of debt and to spend our way back to prosperity. You can tell they’ve spent way too much time at Harvard.

Van Jones and Martel both have it wrong. What was hijacked by extremists is The White House.

And what MS-NBC interview would be complete without a faux controversy and Michelle Bachman? What she ‘hoped’ for was that her campaign would gain steam, NOT that the unemployment would go up. But that’s the way the guest host set the premise. Then Van Jones demands an apology. Give me a break. Two liberals in heat.

Link: Van Jones: Budget Talks Are Stuck Because ‘A Small Number Of Extremists Hijacked The Base’

2012 Election, Economy

Obama And Jobs

Offering no new ideas on job growth, President Obama states the obvious, “we still have a long way to go and a lot of work to do.” Only 18,000 jobs were created last month, and unemployment rose .1 percent to 9.2 percent.

And did you notice Obama’s sleight of hand on people in the construction industry who are out of work? He used them as potential workers to push his proposed spending on roads, bridges and infrastructure.

The transcript illustrates Obama’s support for public sector labor union jobs, to the exclusion of private sector jobs in general. And that those jobs were a result of budget cutting, aka reduced spending. Too bad for everyone else that represents the majority of working people. Those are the ones out of work, not because of budget cutting, but because of Obama’s economic strategy.

And over the past few months, the economy has experienced some tough headwinds — from natural disasters, to spikes in gas prices, to state and local budget cuts that have cost tens of thousands of cops and firefighters and teachers their jobs.

There are a few things that we can and should do, right now, to redouble our efforts on behalf of the American people. Let me give you some examples. Right now, there are over a million construction workers out of work after the housing boom went bust, just as a lot of America needs rebuilding. We connect the two by investing in rebuilding our roads and our bridges and our railways and our infrastructure. {emphasis added}

If creating jobs in the private sector construction industry was important to him, he might have instead tried to connect the devastation caused by natural disasters all over the country and the massive rebuilding that is required, with the people who can and would do it. In my fantasy I was hoping he would try something like that. Putting those contractors to work, and all the employees and families that they support, would be the kind of job creation that the economy is starving for.

But no. Rather than try to do that, and not trying to rally the American people and their entrepreneurial spirit, he chose to stick with government spending projects that produce very little towards economic recovery and job creation.

Undaunted by public opinion and the economic reality of the consequences of his policies, President Obama is hell-bent on more of the same. Doing nothing to eliminate the FUD factor (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) from business and investment decisions. So this is the record he expects to run on next year?

Link: Obama’s Rose Garden address July 8, 2011