1/20/2015
In his State of the Union address, President Obama will propose much he knows the Republican-controlled Congress will not enact, but his real agenda is to set the table for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.
Once again, the president will propose soaking the rich with higher estate, capital gains and bank taxes, while adding to entitlements for the working poor and middle class—new tax credits, higher child care allowance and more college tuition assistance.
It all sounds appealing in an economy where the top 10 percent have done quite well, while the rest struggle—but it is not that simple.
The president will argue the economy—and especially the rich—can afford the taxes he wants because economic growth is so strong—but that’s a fib.
Since the recovery began, GDP growth has averaged a mere 2.3 percent a year—that’s about half what Ronald Reagan accomplished climbing out of a recession of comparable depth.
Now the recovery faces tough headwinds. Falling oil prices are curbing drilling in places like North Dakota and Texas, and big layoffs are not far behind.
The dollar is quite strong against other currencies, limiting exports and boosting job-killing imports, because China’s growth is faltering, Japan remains in neutral and Europe is on the edge of collapse under the weight of statism—the very kind Obama and Clinton want to impose on Americans.
The president proposes to legislate the basic contract between employers and workers. On top of higher minimum wages and mandated business financed health benefits, he wants employers to pay for mandatory sick leave and six weeks of paid parental leave.
After five years, Reagan increased employment by 9.4 percent, whereas Obama has boosted jobs only 4.5 percent. Consequently, nearly one in six prime working age men between 25 and 54 is not working, and 72 percent of those are not even bothering to look.
Obama has made Medicaid, food stamps and social security disability quite easy to get, and idle men form a new leisure class by combining those benefits with handouts from relatives and girlfriends.
For employers, a higher minimum wage, compulsory health insurance, and sick and parental leave will make those men even more costly to hire.
Enter stage left, more worker replacing robots.
source
Once again, the president will propose soaking the rich with higher estate, capital gains and bank taxes, while adding to entitlements for the working poor and middle class—new tax credits, higher child care allowance and more college tuition assistance.
It all sounds appealing in an economy where the top 10 percent have done quite well, while the rest struggle—but it is not that simple.
The president will argue the economy—and especially the rich—can afford the taxes he wants because economic growth is so strong—but that’s a fib.
Since the recovery began, GDP growth has averaged a mere 2.3 percent a year—that’s about half what Ronald Reagan accomplished climbing out of a recession of comparable depth.
Now the recovery faces tough headwinds. Falling oil prices are curbing drilling in places like North Dakota and Texas, and big layoffs are not far behind.
The dollar is quite strong against other currencies, limiting exports and boosting job-killing imports, because China’s growth is faltering, Japan remains in neutral and Europe is on the edge of collapse under the weight of statism—the very kind Obama and Clinton want to impose on Americans.
The president proposes to legislate the basic contract between employers and workers. On top of higher minimum wages and mandated business financed health benefits, he wants employers to pay for mandatory sick leave and six weeks of paid parental leave.
After five years, Reagan increased employment by 9.4 percent, whereas Obama has boosted jobs only 4.5 percent. Consequently, nearly one in six prime working age men between 25 and 54 is not working, and 72 percent of those are not even bothering to look.
Obama has made Medicaid, food stamps and social security disability quite easy to get, and idle men form a new leisure class by combining those benefits with handouts from relatives and girlfriends.
For employers, a higher minimum wage, compulsory health insurance, and sick and parental leave will make those men even more costly to hire.
Enter stage left, more worker replacing robots.
source
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