A Real Jobs Program

With Obama set to address the nation Thursday, we can hopefully have the excuse of the NFL season opener to avoid his joint address to Congress. He'll probably schedule around it, but maybe I won't watch. We know what he'll say already, more temporary tax cuts and bridges. Maybe some more high speed choo-choos and some training programs thrown in. Then he'll demand that we the people force Congress to "do its job" and pass this legislation. Which is really rich, considering that there is no actual legislation and that Obama never does his job of leading. Here is part of an email the President sent me:

Friend --
Today I asked for a joint session of Congress where I will lay out a clear plan to get Americans back to work. Next week, I will deliver the details of the plan and call on lawmakers to pass it.
Whether they will do the job they were elected to do is ultimately up to them.
But both you and I can pressure them to do the right thing. We can send the message that the American people are playing by the rules and meeting their responsibilities -- and it's time for our leaders in Congress to meet theirs.
And we must hold them accountable if they don't.

Of course the right thing is always to pass something, anything so that Obama can claim victory.

We already know that temporary changes to the tax code aren't very productive. People and businesses want to plan for the long term. The reduction in social security taxes has been a disaster, as no one is hiring more people, because they know their long term costs will go up when the tax reprieve is lifted. It has increased the deficit at the same time.

Here's what a real jobs program looks like, and I caveat that any tax code changes have to be permanent. Most of this proposal comes from Jon Huntsman, of all people. Mr. Huntsman is unlikely to ever be a Tea Party favorite, but this is why having a lot of candidates in the race is good for the nation. Looking at his plan from the Tea Party perspective shows a lot to like.

• Streamline the individual tax rates to three brackets — 8%, 14% and 23%.
• Reduce the top corporate tax rate to 25% from 35%.
• Get rid of taxes on capital gains and dividends and eliminating the alternative minimum tax.
• To pay for changes, scrap all the tax breaks, even mortgage interest and municipal bonds.
• Repeal Obamacare.
• Repeal Dodd-Frank. (Codifies "too big to fail.")
  
• Repeal Sarbanes-Oxley.
  
• Reign in excessive regulation at NLRB, FDA, and the EPA.
• Open Alaska and Gulf of Mexico for oil exploration.

This shows why almost any Republican President would be preferable to Obama, Huntsman is certainly not the most conservative or libertarian candidate in the race, but has released a pretty bold proposal.

B-Daddy would add the following

• Liquidate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, divest the federal government of responsibility and spin them off into smaller corporations. This would rapidly return the housing market to equilibrium and bring investors.
• Make serious progress on entitlement reform. (Block funding Medicare, raising retirement age, means testing SS and Medicare, etc.) This will let the markets know we are serious about tackling long term issues and restore investor confidence.
  

The picture at the top is a screen capture of the Obama Clock app, available for iPhone. Explanation of the indicators is found here. I am really disappointed it is not on the Android yet.