With Congressional Democrats facing a November shellacking, President Obama is floating new programsto aid troubled homeowners and create jobs that will prove costly and ineffective.
Despite rock bottom interest rates, residential sales are at historic lows and two million families face foreclosure this year, because Americans need decent jobs to buy homes and pay mortgages.
With President Obama’s $787 billion stimulus package at maximum force, his health care reforms inexorably socializing 19 percent of the U.S. economy, and Wall Street revamping to met new financial regulations, the economy lost 54 thousand jobs in August, the private sector added a mere 67 thousand jobs, and unemployment rose to 9.6 percent.
Of new private sector jobs, 40 thousand were in health care and social assistance—largely financed by government largess and federal mandates—while temporary services accounted for another 17 thousand.
Morici’s index of core private sector employment—private sector jobs less health care, social assistance and temp services—was up a paltry 10 thousand. On an annual basis, that would be less than five percent of new high school and college graduates.
Now, the President wants another $50 billion in infrastructure spending, stretched over six years and funded by cuts elsewhere. Though adding to construction and supply industry employment, cutting other spending would subtract jobs elswhere.