A focus on jobs creation, not the deficit, will stimulate the economy says former President Bill Clinton. In praising the Obama jobs plan, he suggests Congress take an ordered approach in getting Americans back to work.
On Sunday, the former President sat down in an interview, and outlined his vision of how lawmakers on Capitol Hill can repair the economy with a hot jobs focus.
"I think that we need to focus now on putting the country back to work," Bill Clinton said.
This is perhaps one area where bipartisan support can occur, given the rising unemployment rate -- now above 9%.
However, the disagreement among Democrats and Republicans is how best to approach the jobs situation without creating a set of unintended circumstances.
Clinton said this in a CBS News Face the Nation interview with Bob Schieffer:
"I'd like to see the economic plan that (President Obama) talked about in his address to Congress enacted first, then when the economy starts growing again in a year or two, then I'd like to put the hammer down on this deficit problem."
In Obama's plan on jobs creation, he proposes to get rid of the so-called Bush tax cuts that provided a seemingly unfair advantage to the wealthiest Americans.
This has been an area of disagreement among GOP and Democratic lawmakers. Furthermore, the votes on this issue have been largely split among party lines.
"I think the president is doing the right thing," said President Clinton who not only supports local jobs; he suggests creating the best jobs that offer the highest wages.
Clinton said Barack Obama's tax hike plan, his suggestion of an investment bank, and placing resources in infrastructure will go a long way in creating jobs. Then, he said the orderly thing to do is build a bipartisan plan around cutting the deficit.
One of the biggest obstacles in jobs creation is the lingering mortgage crisis that has not only driven up foreclosures, but spiked unemployment statistics nationwide.
However, if the Democrats and Republicans in congress pass legislation around Obama's jobs plan, at least one million workers can be put back to work.
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Comments: 5
Obama spent $887B in 2009 for the same reasons. Where did that get us? Bernanke instituted 2 rounds of Quantitative Easing to the tune of $1.2T. Did it help? The answer to both in no. If he really wants to jump start the economy, he needs to look at the $2T in cash that big business has squirreled away. The biggest obstacle to that is the 800 lb gorilla in the room called Obamacare that nobody wants to talk about in any jobs creation bill. Throwing more money at the problem isn't going to solve anything.
Just like any business, you spend money to make money, right? Tax cuts to stimulate the economy? What is that if not spending? Voluntary reduction in income has the same effect economically as spending more money (sometimes less impact depending on who get the tax cuts).
Where all the spending has gotten us so far is not in a 40 month depression. It has resulted in consecutive months of GDP increase (if slow). The opposite response (do nothing) was attempted in 1929-1932 (40 consecutive months of GDP decline under a Republican administration paralyzed by fiscal conservatism). That hole required huge efforts of deficit spending including World War II to get out of. World War II was nothing if not a massive government spending spree.
Your arguments, Eamon, are specious and don't take into account our history of economic downturns. This recession is the fault of GW Bush's administrations priorities and no others.