What the country needs is another study group...not | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: Jim Bispo's weekly column appears in the Beaufort Observer

    It is truly comforting to know that the Anointed One is turning to the creation of jobs - or do you suppose that is but more rhetoric intended to give him something that sounds good to talk about as he pursues his reelection bid (which has clearly already started)?? Add that to the "Waste, Fraud, and Abuse" campaigns he has been promoting for some time and you have the base for perhaps forty or fifty "stump" speeches and enough "talking point" papers to choke a horse.

    One of the things he recently did that related to jobs was establish a "Council" composed of 26 private sector leaders to develop ideas that will accelerate job growth and improve America's competitiveness. (This was after spending the first two years of his administration pretty much standing on the side lines while "queen" Nancy and Harry "the dealer" dreamt up and enacted the so called Obamacare health care program that we are still "learning about". But I digress.) And who do you think he put "in charge" of the Council?? No one other than Jeff Immelt, CEO of General Electric. That would be the big dollar corporation that made a ton of money last year and not only ended up paying no taxes but had a "carry forward" credit against this year's taxes. That would be the same Jeff Immelt who led GE from a stock price of over $40 per share in 2007 to under $20 in 2011. Clearly, a real winner. Yeah... Or could the appointment have anything to do with GE contributions to the Anointed One's campaign?? (They are reputed to do things like that in Chicago where the Anointed One is said to have learned his trade - which clearly was not management.)

    In the June 13 Wall Street Journal opinion page, Mr. Immelt and his partner Ken Chenault treated us to some early conclusions reached by the Council (which certainly helps explain the GE stock price plunge).

    First we are told that there are more than 2 million jobs open because companies cannot find workers with the "advanced manufacturing skills" required to do the jobs. (Maybe the first thing we need to be told is just exactly what the term "advanced manufacturing skills" means and what those skills are. Could those skills include the ability to read with understanding, write with clarity and do sums without a hand held calculator??) We are then told that we need to train workers for those jobs. I don't suppose that, even if the numbers cited are correct, that any of the companies who are unable to find the right people would (or even should) consider letting folks know what the jobs are, where they are located and what "advanced manufacturing skills" are required to be hired so that people can prepare themselves for whatever particular job they desire. But wait. Isn't that what they already do when they list their vacancies with their local unemployment office?? Way to go, Jeff....

    The second recommendation is another truly original idea - streamline "permitting". I suppose a good place to start that would be with Ken Salazar and his spear carriers at the Interior Department. Of course Mr. Immelt and his partner Ken Chenault want the streamlining to be accomplished "...without undercutting the protections that our regulatory system requires." . Obviously two really accomplished tight rope walkers. From the sounds of things, instead of streamlining permitting, it begins to look like the NLRB will soon be in the permitting business (along with most of the rest of the Anointed One's spear carriers) passing judgement on each company's relocation and expansion plans. It matters not whether congress gives them that authority; they can simply do it by administrative fiat just like most of the rest of the community organizer's sycophants seem to be doing. Hmmm...

    The third recommendation is to boost jobs in travel and tourism. The argument is that if we would only streamline our Visa procedures (Those would be the documents which permit one to visit our country, not the one that allows folks to "charge" almost anything they would like to purchase). Apparently, if obtaining the visitor visa was easier, more folks would visit and we would therefore need more people in our tourism industry. The truth be known, Ben Bernanke with his so called "Quantitative Easing" (i.e. the creation of money with his printing press) has probably accomplished more already than streamlining the visitor visa process ever could. He has caused the dollar to be devalued to the point where it becomes relatively less expensive for foreigners to visit. It might be interesting to hear what sorts of jobs would be included in the ".. hundreds of thousands of jobs" in our travel industry. Would that include jobs for the individuals that stand in the airport with a sign asking "their travelers" to identify themselves for a VIP ride to their hotel where the newly hired maids will conscientiously see to taking care of their room??

    The fourth recommendation is to facilitate small business loans. We apparently need quicker and easier access to SBA funding, which is a challenge already being tackled by the SBA, but they should work faster and prioritize their efforts. It is not clear what "prioritize" means. Could it possibly mean to prioritize as we did with the unions vs the Secured Bond Holders in the administration invented bankruptcy process used in the GM and Chrysler bankruptcy proceedings?? (That would be a process whereby the unions were put ahead of the Secured Bond Holders who under the "old" bankruptcy process were at the head of the line for recovery of their investment if the company sought refuge in Chapter 11 bankruptcy.)

    And the final recommendation is to "Put construction workers back to work." What an original and great idea. Perhaps what we need to do is find more "shovel ready" projects to pour money on. That should take care of this item. But wait. Didn't we already do this only to discover that there is no such thing as a "shovel ready" project?? "Shovel ready" would be a project which had been designed, successfully completed all the necessary reviews, had bids solicited and reviewed and were ready for award as soon as the funds were made available. Even at that, when a large project is awarded, a fair amount of lead time is required between award and notice to proceed with the work. The time is required to enable the contractor to firm up their sub-contracts, order materials and get them delivered, move onto the job site and otherwise get ready to do the work. Pouring money on infrastructure is a way to increase employment, but that increase will be primarily in government jobs for folks who design, specify, bid the jobs and take care of all the administrivia that goes along with government contracting. (It there is one thing that we do not need, it is more contracting folks in government.) It sounds like a great idea, but the administration has already proven that it doesn't work - at a cost of around $800B.

    If that's the best we can do, perhaps it's time to go to plan B. How about we dump John Maynard Keynes (and the Jobs and Competitive Council with him) and replace them with Milton Friedman, Thomas Sowell, and Arthur Laffer??

    D'ya think??