Thursday's Speech

The subject of today's discussion is an article from the Huffington Post. Please take a second and look it over.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/06/obama-jobs-plan_n_951294.html

Using an article from the Huffington Post is sure to raise a few eyebrows, but the article is used in the spirit of bipartisanism, which is badly needed. The article gives hints to what will be said during the President's Thursday speech, and no surprise the President is asking for pay-roll tax cuts, extension of unemployment benefits and tax credits for businesses. A conservative estimate of the costs is around $80 billion.

The question is, is this what we need, and is it worth it? There are two ways to go about this discussion:
 (1) We can extoll the benefits of our Robin Hood government helping the destitute.
Or….
(2) We can think in practical terms.

The former has been done over and over again, because it never fixes the problem. It simply gives the dispute a temporary unstable-crutch.  So, let us take a moment and think about the latter. Remember, practical is not always pretty, but it is practical and is therefore doable.

For starters we need to end the extension of unemployment benefits. Non-profit organizations have the capabilities to help these people, so we should let them do just that. Like I said, practical is NOT always pretty, but a Robin Hood government is not sustainable. Exhibit A is Europe.

The President seems to have the right idea when it comes to taxes. Apparently the President will be asking for an extension of: (1) the payroll tax cut, (2) tax credits for businesses that hire the unemployed and (3) tax breaks that allow businesses to deduct new equipment. These types of ideas need to be implemented.

Some people will argue that Congress needs to enact legislation to help the unemployed, at the expense of the employed. This logic is totally backwards. Our government needs to give tax relief to the employed (particularly to employers, and small businessmen). Tax relief puts money in their pockets, which eventually leads to them hiring more people. In other words, the public sector needs to help and encourage the private sector toward job growth. This is because the private sector is always quicker to respond then the public sector, especially when the former has money in its pocket.

So Mr. Obama when you give your speech on Thursday please remember that lowering taxes, tax breaks and tax cuts are helpful tools which can (and WILL) spur job growth!