But, what disturbed me most about this report was our President’s reaction. He used it as excuse to extol Congress to pass the payroll tax cut and to
“..not slow down the recovery we are on. Do not muck it up.”
At the risk of being labeled a racist; this is the most egregious case of the pot calling the kettle black I have heard on this subject.
“Do not muck it up”.
Boeing decides to build a manufacturing plant in right-to-work state, South Carolina. The unions representing the workers in Washington state, throw a hissy fit. They file a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), claiming that Boeing’s decision on where to build is retaliation for the labor strikes called in the Seattle plants. Since it is retaliation, they claim, that it is illegal under the Wagner Act of 1935. Does the NLRB, lead by recent Obama appointees, laugh and tell the unions they have no power to tell a company where they can build their plants? No, it takes the case and eventually blackmails Boeing into signing a new labor agreement with the machinist union in Seattle. This cost Boeing millions in related costs. How likely are they, or another big company, going to be to build a plant in the US, in this kind of
environment?
“Do not muck it up.”
President Obama championed, and his fellow Democrats rammed a controversial, ineffective,
and financially burdensome healthcare bill, ObamaCare, down the throats of the American people. Businesses everywhere are trying to figure out how it will affect them. But, based on the amended costs of health insurance premiums, since the bill was passed; it is universally agreed that healthcare and healthcare insurance will be more expensive. Businesses are now forced to pay for insurance that will cover 25 year old “children’. Businesses respond by not hiring new people; focusing instead on improving productivity and approving more overtime.
“Do not muck it up.”
Canada desperately wants to build a north-south pipeline to send petroleum products originating from the oil sands in Alberta to our refineries along the Gulf Coast. The Keystone XL pipeline would create 20,000 jobs almost right away and hundreds of thousands of oil related jobs in the coming years. Obama at first gave his approval, and I gave him credit for that. But true to form he did the political calculus and put his re-
“Do not muck it up”
Using the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico as an excuse, Obama’s Secretary of State, Ken Salazar, issued a ban on all off shore drilling in the gulf. Salazar’s ban was thrown out by a judge on the grounds that the other companies drilling in the area had done nothing wrong and that Salazar had not present evidence that they were doing anything unsafe. Did Obama step in at that point, take Kenny aside, and tell him to back off. Nope. He let Salazar issued a brand new and improved ban of drilling off shore oil and has not issued a single new permit. Owners of the oil drilling platforms took their jobs to friendlier countries.Thus allowing Obama to claim, but only if he was honest, that he is outsourcing American jobs.
“Don’t muck it up”
Obama’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has implemented what are called Catch Shares. This is a system where the total amount of fish that, in theory, can be taken out of the sea and still allow the species to survive, is allocated to individual fisher-businesses in the form of shares. They are told that they can take so many fish and then they are done for the year. But, the result has been that small fishing operations are going bankrupt in droves as the limits have been set artificially, too low. Even enviros conceding that the fish are being helped only marginally. This program was not mandated under the legislation that allows it. Other solutions to over-fishing exist. Does Obama direct his NOAA team to investigate those, and stop killing all of those fishing jobs? Nope. He plays the ostrich and pretends there is no problem.
“Don’t muck it up”
The EPA has mandated new emission control regulations; called MACT, to further regulate coal fired power plants. According to the National Economics Research Associates (NERA)
“… complying with the proposed standards would cost power companies close to $18 billion per year for the next 20 years. Some coal-fired plants would be so expensive to retrofit they would simply be shut down.”
The NERA goes on to explain the impact of the inevitable higher cost of electricity caused by the reduced amount available.
“The most recent U.S. Census of Manufacturers found that the ten most energy-intensive manufacturing industries—including chemicals, cement, and iron and steel—employed almost 1.2 million workers. Because these industries have strong upstream and downstream linkages, also called “multipliers,” they support at least 9.6 million additional workers across the economy. Should America’s manufacturers, and in particular our energy-intensive industries, be forced to reduce capacity and lay off workers in response to externally-imposed energy cost increases such as those that would inevitably attend the rapid implementation of CSAPR and MACT, job losses would be recorded in many non-manufacturing industries as well.”
Obama has specifically given the EPA the power to mandate these changes by the proclamation that CO2 is a pollutant and thus subject to the EPA's regulations. Does Obama fight this nonsense? No, he is silent on the matter, letting his appointee, Lisa Jackson, spearhead more job killing regulations. This after he so proudly told us how he was working with Congress to do away with such things. His example of the dairyman and the spilled milk is laughable compared to this.
Wake up people. It’s not Congress, Republican or Democrat, who is mucking it up. It’s that economic fool that 28% of the voting age American public put into the White House. It is not
possible to tax ourselves into prosperity. Government does not create jobs; government kills jobs. We need less government. We need less regulation. We need Obama gone in November.
Do not muck it up.