Good news. Republicans have just unveiled a bold new plan (see below) to create jobs in the private sector. Don’t worry, it isn’t another “wasteful” stimulus package that hires people to repair roads and bridges or helps state and local governments hold onto their teachers and firefighters. This one won’t cost the government a dime! It’s a simple idea, really. A good old-fasioned meet-and-greet, where throngs of unemployed Americans can claw their way through a crowd of equally desperate men and women looking to land the perfect mate. I mean a reasonable match. I mean any job whatsoever.
Are these people delusional? (rhetorical) What, exactly, is it that prevents them from understanding the root of the problem? Econ 101. Sales Create Jobs. Income Creates Sales. So easy a caveman can do it.
We don’t need to introduce employers to the unemployed — they can throw a rock and hit one every 10 feet. We need to introduce employers to new customers. Sales create jobs. The problem, as Cullen Roche points out again today, is that too many households are still struggling with high debt levels. As Cullen said, “spenders have become savers,” and this is hurting the economy. Until households finish de-leveraging (restoring balance sheets by paying down debt), there will be no new source of demand — i.e. customers — to support private businesses.
The government could provide that demand — directly, through a job guarantee program modeled on the WPA, or indirectly, through a full payroll tax holiday and another round of revenue sharing for the states. But it looks like the deficit owls are the only ones prepared to support those kinds of bold initiatives. Until then, Congresswomen like Lynn Jenkins (my own “representative,” by the way) will settle for a pathetic event that promises to pair hundreds of potential employers with thousands of job seekers.
Lynn Jenkins, CPA
Member of Congress
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