It has become clear that President Obama doesn’t believe in free-market capitalism. But which economic theories does he embrace? How exactly does he propose to create new jobs and get our economy functioning again? Andrew Klavan, a contributing editor with the Manhattan Institute, spells out the president’s beliefs and policies. It’s not a pretty picture, suggesting we won’t be “in the money” again anytime soon.
This just in…It’s being reported that President Obama is brewing beer in the White House. If true, this would be the first US manufacturing job created since his election.
Hear more on Obama, his Baskin-Robbins plaque, Ahmadinejad’s latest boasts, Fareed Zakaria’s reinstatement at Time and CNN, and other hot topics of the day as Jodi Miller anchors NewsBusted.
Reason Magazine Editor Matt Welch joins Kennedy on a New York City rooftop to provide a sneak peek of the magazine’s October issue and its cover story — “The Recovery That Wasn’t.” Practically on a monthly basis, a different member of President Obama’s administration trots out a wildly optimistic prediction about the upwards direction of the economy. Reason juxtaposes these phony proclamations with the actual economic data to make a comical, and sad, commentary on the state of the job market during the Obama years.
In a show of independence, Reason also takes a swing at Republicans for refusing to shave defense spending as a means to shrink the federal deficit. Pollster Scott Rasmussen has penned a piece on that topic, and the public’s growing acceptance of defense cuts with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan winding down.
Out of work? Looking to land a cushy job, never mind the rotten economy? You don’t need an unemployment counselor to advise you. But you absolutely must devote three minutes of your life to watching this video, memorizing every line recited by the various applicants and then studiously forgetting them — because if you repeat this patter at your next job interview, you’re S-O-L and it’s your own damn fault. H/T Friday Noon Show
In his one-minute “Save Us Chuck” radio spot, longtime game show host Chuck Woolery reflects on the month of June, when only 80,000 new jobs were created, yet 85,000 Americans applied for disability. Woolery opines that we’re in the midst of a disability crisis, noting, “It seems we’re injuring people 19 percent faster than we’re creating jobs.” H/T Capitalist Preservation
In a special report for Reason.TV, Ted Balaker draws parallels between the Great Depression and today’s Great Recession, the longest and deepest on record since the 1930s. Balaker interviews UCLA economics professor Lee Ohanian, whose research along with fellow UCLA economist Harold L. Cole has shown that FDR’s anti-market policies actually prolonged the Great Depression by seven years. And what about Obama’s policies? When the unemployment rate finally does improve will he receive credit for rescuing America from the Great Recession or blame for prolonging the crisis?
“If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.” So said President Obama July 13 in a speech at Roanoke, Virginia. And with those words, he cast aspersions on all of America’s business owners, denigrating their hard work, intelligence, leadership and vision, implying whatever they accomplished, got served to them on a silver spoon. Obama’s administration has been openly hostile to businesses from the get-go, imposing vast reams of regulations that have contributed to the country’s economic malaise and abysmal job-creation record. But by so nakedly expressing the anti-capitalist ideology behind his policies, Obama has met his Waterloo.
Mitt Romney surrogate John Sununu, the former governor of New Hampshire, schools Fox News’ commentator Juan Williams in a heated duel on job outsourcing. Sununu not only refutes every charge leveled against Romney, but successfully turns the tables back on the Obama campaign, casting the president as lacking in both character and competence. No doubt about it: You’d want him in your corner, whether you’re engaged in a debate or a boxing match. H/T Nice Deb
Mike Rowe, host of the TV show Dirty Jobs, bemoans the existence of high unemployment at the same time there’s a serious and growing shortage of skilled laborers in America. Because of this “skills gap,” close to a quarter of a million blue-collar jobs are going unfilled. “We’re screwed because we have a dysfunctional relationship with work,” Rowe says. “We’ve become disconnected, in a fundamental way, from the people who do those (skilled blue-collar) kinds of jobs.” H/T Maggie’s Farm
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie demonstrates why he’s a stand-up thinker in a July 9 talk at The Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. Asked if he would support a federal subsidy to hire more public employees at the state level, Gov. Christie refused to take the bait, saying that approach “is always a temporary band-aid,” when applied as a means to reduce unemployment. “The fact of the matter is I have more government employees per square mile than any state in America. Please don’t send me any more money to hire more public employees. Please don’t.” H/T Riehl World View
