The stalled trade agreements
In one of his many economic commentaries in recent weeks, President Obama mentioned the employment benefits of new trade agreements with South Korea, Columbia, and Panama.
They all sit unsubmitted on his desk. It is estimated that the agreement with South Korea alone could lead to over $10 billion in new exports for the U.S., and these are industrial jobs, infrastructure development jobs, and upscale consulting jobs. A Columbia agreement could create over $1 billion in new export revenue of like kind. Panama, who knows, golf course mowers for our military that hides there in riskless jobs and expats who enjoy a better life than here in this heavily taxed and harried country.
All of this sits on Obama's desk because he refuses to break any actions into pieces that can be digested by the House of Representatives. In this case it is a job retraining stipend that he will not allow to be voted on separately. Most of the jobs that this is associated with are call center jobs which have nothing to do with the kind of higher paying productive jobs that could be produced by the trade agreements.
Job retraining expenditures are a laudable concept, but let's face it. With 99 weeks of unemployment insurance, with the housing "depression" that prevents mobility, and I use quotes because that's exactly what it is, and with the many lame bureaucrats that run these job retraining programs, they produce little benefit.
One could wonder whether Barack Obama and Michelle Obama's minds are focused on only personal bias, or political positioning, or wonder upon wonders the actual benefit to the public and job creation.
There are aspects of Obama's administration that I admire, but this roadblock to new good jobs is not one of them. His open lie about supporting these initiatives is just awful. He should get on with it, submit the proposals, and then let the House of Representative which was elected by U.S. citizens decide on the next step. In the interim, good jobs will be created, exports will expand, and he will have lived up to his word.
They all sit unsubmitted on his desk. It is estimated that the agreement with South Korea alone could lead to over $10 billion in new exports for the U.S., and these are industrial jobs, infrastructure development jobs, and upscale consulting jobs. A Columbia agreement could create over $1 billion in new export revenue of like kind. Panama, who knows, golf course mowers for our military that hides there in riskless jobs and expats who enjoy a better life than here in this heavily taxed and harried country.
All of this sits on Obama's desk because he refuses to break any actions into pieces that can be digested by the House of Representatives. In this case it is a job retraining stipend that he will not allow to be voted on separately. Most of the jobs that this is associated with are call center jobs which have nothing to do with the kind of higher paying productive jobs that could be produced by the trade agreements.
Job retraining expenditures are a laudable concept, but let's face it. With 99 weeks of unemployment insurance, with the housing "depression" that prevents mobility, and I use quotes because that's exactly what it is, and with the many lame bureaucrats that run these job retraining programs, they produce little benefit.
One could wonder whether Barack Obama and Michelle Obama's minds are focused on only personal bias, or political positioning, or wonder upon wonders the actual benefit to the public and job creation.
There are aspects of Obama's administration that I admire, but this roadblock to new good jobs is not one of them. His open lie about supporting these initiatives is just awful. He should get on with it, submit the proposals, and then let the House of Representative which was elected by U.S. citizens decide on the next step. In the interim, good jobs will be created, exports will expand, and he will have lived up to his word.
posted by John Borden at 9:23 AM
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