Feb 23 2009
Obama’s Stimulus and Jobs?
So there’s a lot of talk about the stimulus package and what it does or does not do. One thing I think has been beat into the ground, so I’m not going to talk about it here, is whether everything does, or should, create new jobs.
I am going to touch on this, though, since even CNN commentators were pointing out one issue with this the other day. Arguably, any kind of spending creates jobs. The question to ask then is what kind of jobs are being created? Largely, the stimulus plan calls for the creation of short term job opportunities, and a few long term job opportunities. In the following sectors:
Short Term:
Construction
Roadwork
Long Term:
Police and Fire
Teachers
Public Works
Notice anything interesting about these jobs? That’s right. They’re all Union jobs. I guess that shouldn’t be surprising from a Chicago Democrat. The guy who was defending the proposal made the argument that this is actually a good thing, since Union jobs are the best jobs out there. But let’s look at that list again. Not only is it all Union work, it’s all skilled labor. These jobs are going to re-employ a very specific subset of the population. Joe Blow off the street is not about to go get a teaching certificate, and get a Union job (especially in some places, ahem, Chicago, ahem). He’s not going to pick up a jackhammer and build a highway. He’s not going to go fight fires.
This is not creating new jobs. This is Obama pushing the government to do what individual agencies and companies have been unable or unwilling to do: keep Union employees employed. It’s no secret that by and large, the Unions (except the teachers’ union) backed Obama against Hillary, and certainly that they all backed him against McCain. I’m curious to see how many Union-funded PACs contributed to his campaign. And I’m curious to see what Chicago union organizers he’s having lunch with.
Whatever his intentions, it does not look good for a Democrat from a very union/Democratic/(corrupt) city/state to come into office and push a trillion plus dollar stimulus package, which instead of putting the population at large to work, or encouraging long-term, sustainable economic growth, essentially guarantees a continued plethora of a) publicly funded, and b) Union work.
