Thread: The Jobs Speech

Originally Posted by CYDdharta

Everyone seems to be missing one of the points that stuck out to me;


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/09/us...pagewanted=all

... because the quickest way to lower unemployment obviously is to pay people to not work.

Extending unemployment past it's current extended state admits failure in the past on part of the federal government in helping the work force. Direct allocation of insufficient funds hasn't worked yet so it's not too likely to work in the future.
Paying people to re-train and relocate seems a more plausible way to get jobs seekers back into the workplace. Politicians of many districts aren't too likely to be keen on paying people to relocate as it cuts down on the headcount for congressional representation and tax dollar allocation.

People do however need a roof over their heads and food in their belly...where's that supposed to come from with an unemployment rate over 8.5%, where there are 5 people for every open job?

Originally Posted by CoolBreeze

To sum up the President's speech, "I have a plan, and I wil tell you about it when I figure it out myself."

Yeah, it does seem like it's a tad incomplete. The speech was spent on shoring up public support and framing the discussion for further debate. Outlining goals with little concrete detail leaves lot's of room to disarm opposition in debate as well.

Originally Posted by JDJarvis

The President spoke last night, the proposed bill isn't here yet but last night the President outlined many points.



So a grand plan that on the surface requires something we are short of: Money

I was surprised to see nothing about Green Jobs. (Did I miss it?)

Transportation reform was mentioned but a solution of High-Speed Rail was not.

He has peppered the speech with talk of "cuts" which look to be a trap agaisnt his political opposition. If this is good or not for the nation we have yet to see.

There were only a few concrete claims and dollar figures given to us and while they certainly look good on the surface they may have deeper impact on systems that must be reformed to deal with the cuts.

Not as bad as previous Jobs speeches but a whole lot of possibilities and only a few solutions mentioned.


Text of speech (used in my review of speech) here: President Obama's Jobs Speech | The Weekly Standard

His plans with no details remind me of this:

Monty Python - How To Do It - YouTube

Originally Posted by JDJarvis

So a grand plan that on the surface requires something we are short of: Money

This is the false narrative that is killing you. You DO have the money. How much is a ten year treasury note: 1.98%. Do you know what that means? That means people are more than happy to lend American money because they are sure they will get repaid. You can borrow more in the short term with no problem whatsover. You need to fix the jobs crisis first then the deficit crisis later. The GOP want cuts now because it will hurt jobs and they have no interest in creating jobs until a Republican is president and they can claim credit for it.

Originally Posted by Danny

This is the false narrative that is killing you. You DO have the money. How much is a ten year treasury note: 1.98%. Do you know what that means? That means people are more than happy to lend American money because they are sure they will get repaid. You can borrow more in the short term with no problem whatsover. You need to fix the jobs crisis first then the deficit crisis later. The GOP want cuts now because it will hurt jobs and they have no interest in creating jobs until a Republican is president and they can claim credit for it.

Easy for you to call for more and more and more debt - you don't have to repay it.

As your idol says, you "don't have any skin in the game".

Originally Posted by CYDdharta

Everyone seems to be missing one of the points that stuck out to me;


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/09/us...pagewanted=all

... because the quickest way to lower unemployment obviously is to pay people to not work.

There was another thread from like a week or so ago that was asking what we thought he was going to propose and it was noted at that time that this was one of his proposals. The thing is, liberals actually argue that unemployment benefits help the economy. You know, Pelosi's line about how every $1 of unemployment benefits leads to $2 into the economy. It's intellectually vapid, but you'll never convince the liberals otherwise.

Originally Posted by Danny

This is the false narrative that is killing you. You DO have the money. How much is a ten year treasury note: 1.98%. Do you know what that means? That means people are more than happy to lend American money because they are sure they will get repaid. You can borrow more in the short term with no problem whatsover. You need to fix the jobs crisis first then the deficit crisis later.

Danny deeper debt isn't seen as a solution to all. Short term loans with no revenue to pay them off become long term problems.

T-notes under 2% don't speak to the value of investing in T-bills for a large return, they are secure but with a low low rate of return.

A $1,000 T-bill at 1.98% would cost about $999.84 dollars....woo hoo.

Originally Posted by JDJarvis

People do however need a roof over their heads and food in their belly...where's that supposed to come from with an unemployment rate over 8.5%, where there are 5 people for every open job?

Family, community charitable organization, welfare as a last resort. Isn't that what welfare is for, for people in hard times who have no where else to turn? There's no excuse for someone who couldn't find work during Obama's entire first (hopefully only) term in office. Will they be underemployed? Almost undoubtedly, but that will still be better for them and for the country.

Originally Posted by MattInFla

Easy for you to call for more and more and more debt - you don't have to repay it.

As your idol says, you "don't have any skin in the game".

It doesn't change the fact that the low interest rate on treasury notes is indicative of how much more you can borrow in the short term with no problem. People know you can pay it back with very little effort down the road where nobody suffers and nobody has to pay $6K/year more in medicare costs or abolish their social security. You just need to adopt a more progressive tax structure to do it.

Originally Posted by Danny

It doesn't change the fact that the low interest rate on treasury notes is indicative of how much more you can borrow in the short term with no problem.

Except that means there's no reason to buy a note. If there's a 1% rate, why would anyone buy one?

Originally Posted by Danny

You just need to adopt a more progressive tax structure to do it.

Oh, I see, so actually what you're doing is making the RICH repay your T-bill, among other things. So you're really saying that "the low interest rate on treasury notes is indicative of how much more you can borrow FROM THE RICH in the short term with no problem. I SEE.