Jobs in the State of the Union

Job proposals in the state of the Union


The president gave his State of the Union Address on Wednesday. In the address he announced several specific job creation proposals. He spoke for a little longer than an hour and mentioned the word "job" or "jobs" 29 times.

In the state of the union address the president proposed the following methods:

1) An additional stimulus plan
2) extended unemployment benefits
3) Small business incentives such as:
a)Increased small business lending by community banks by $30 Billion.
b)Tax credit for new hiring
c)Eliminate capital gains taxes on small business investment
4) Tax incentives to invest in new plants and equipment for large businesses
4) Infrastructure project like high speed rail and clean energy facilities
5) Home energy efficiency grants

The president admitted there was jobs deficit of 7 million jobs.

He also announced a national export initiative to double US exports over the next 5 years. It will help farmers and small businesses export as well and better align export controls with US security interests.

The best job related quote was "That is why jobs must be our number one focus in 2010, and that is why I am calling for a new jobs bill tonight."

Summary

We are all learning how complicated creating good jobs really is. We are also getting a great lesson in economics and how the world really works. For many decades the US and it's middle class workers have been insulated from the global and domestic economic reality.

Jobs are a both and input to and a by product of the production process. Good permanent jobs are difficult to produce through direct government actions. Instead the president and congress, have many indirect methods such as subsidies, taxes and investments to affect the economic. One of the effects is job creation.

Job creation is really the long term issue of our generation.

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