The theme becoming familiar with all who are interested in the economy (judging by the latest labor statistics, I suspect there are many) is whether a president can actually create jobs. The answer to that question is obviously no; he can’t, at least not in a free enterprise system. However, a president can certainly pollute the environment and kill jobs as a consequence.
To whet your appetites and pique your interest, here is a list of job destroying regulations. Then consider Obama’s own recent retreat on EPA regulations and you see the proof.
1. NLRB’s Boeing Complaint
2. MACT and CSAPR Utility Standards
3. Boiler MACT Rules
4. Cement MACT Requirements
5. ‘Coal Ash’ Regulations
6. Grandfathered Health Plans
7. EPA Ozone Rule
8. EPA Farm-Dust Regulations
9. EPA Greenhouse-Gas Requirements
10. NLRB ‘Ambush’ Elections Rule
Now Obama and his sycophants are saying his presidency is just as much a victim to the economic circumstances as the American worker and businesses. That’s saying something considering 14 million people unemployed and more than 25 million unable to find full-time work. In fact, President Obama and his government-first Democrat cohorts have actually made the economy worse and prolonged the recession.
So his $447 billion jobs plan is a mix of stimulus, tax increases on the wealthy and corporations, spending cuts, and temporary reduction in Social Security taxes. This is really nothing more than a dose of Tylenol for a flu patient. It will work temporarily but you are still faced with a full week’s worth of the flu. It’s the same scenario here, too. Once this stimulus runs out, we are still stuck with a sickened economy. However, in the case of the flu, it subsides and the body flushes it out. In the case of Obama’s economy, we are left with damaging effects. Those effects are from his administration’s love of harmful regulations.
A temporary gimmick used to pad his re-election chances can undo nothing that has already been enacted under his presidency. In addition to the list mentioned above, consider two more job killing regulations, the Dodd-Frank legislation and the Durbin Amendment. Despite warning from financial analysts that the new regulations would have disastrous consequences on Americans and the economy, Dodd-Frank was passed. It imposed massive new regulations on banks, investment companies, payment card transactions and much more.
- Bank of America announced last week plans to slash 30,000 jobs by 2014 as a result of recent financial regulations cutting into company profits. (http://tinyurl.com/3k824t9)
- The Wall Street Journal noted in a recent editorial about Bank of America’s layoff plans that “given the real-world results for bank employees, politicians should not be allowed to pretend that there are no consequences when they deliberately reduce the profitability of employers.” (http://ow.ly/6tbMS)
- One key provision of Dodd-Frank, which was billed as a win for consumers, is the Durbin Amendment (which imposes new regulations on debit card processing) that has turned out to be nothing more than an $18 billion windfall for retailers. In a September 21st Daily News (New York) article, NBC’s Today financial editor Jean Chatzky said the regulation was “great for retailers, who were paying an average of 44 cents per [debit] transaction, but bad for banks. In some ways, at least, it’s bad for customers, too.” (http://tinyurl.com/3jxezw5)
- It was reported this week that the Durbin Amendment, ironically, is also going to force retailers, such as RedBox, McDonald’s and Starbucks, who rely on high volume, small ticket debit card purchases to end up paying more for these purchases than they were pre regulation. This will result in consumers paying more for goods and services, which is the last thing Americans trying to make ends meet need right now. Many in the financial industry warned the Fed and Congress about this unintended consequence of the regulation.
Consider the fact that there are currently 4,200 new rules, 845 of which affect small businesses, making their way through Congress, and it becomes obvious that no amount of stimulus or political gimmicks can correct our economy. We need a complete undoing of the system that Obama and the Democrats created.