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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 14, 2011)
opinion Jobs Report: ‘The Neighborhood’s Doing Bad’ “challenging people to Shape a Better Future Now” B ErNIE F oStEr Founder/Publisher B oBBIE D orE F oStEr executive editor t ED B aNkS advertising Manager J Erry F oStEr account executive l ISa l ovINg news editor h ElEN S IlvIS Multimedia D avID k IDD graphic Designer M oNIca J. F oStEr Seattle office Coordinator J ulIE k EEFE S uSaN F rIED Photographers The Skanner Newspaper, established in October 1975, is a weekly publica- tion, published each Wednesday by IMM Publications Inc., 415 N. Killingsworth St., P.O. Box 5455, Portland, OR 97228. Telephone (503) 285-5555. E-mail: info@theskanner.com World Wide Web site: http://www.theskanner.com Fax: (503) 285-2900 the Skanner is a member of the National Newspaper Pub lishers Association and West Coast Black Pub - lishers Association. All photos submitted become the property of the Skanner. We are not re - spon sible for lost or damaged photos either solicited or unsolicited. © 2011 the Skanner. ALL RIGHTS RE SERVED. REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITHOUT PERMISSION PROHIBITED. knowing What’s Important can change your life! Subscribe to The Skanner – don’t miss an issue! please sign me up for: q 1 year $74 q 2 year $140 q New Subscription q Renewal ________________________ Name _________________ address _________________ city _________________ State ______ ZIp ________ phone Mail with check or money order to: The Skanner P.O. Box 5455 Portland, OR 97228 L istening to the sound bites and news tickers, it seems like everyone’s got a jobs report. Mitt Romney announced that he would announce his jobs plan, and then he dropped a 150- page “plan” that includes phrases like “A robust investment tax cred- it, extending the write-off for cap- ital expenditures for an additional year, and a lower payroll tax could each have a positive effect if prop- erly structured.” COULD??? Hey Mitt, most plans choose words like “will”. And Gov. Perry has got his jobs “miracles”…to which the “mira- cle” part is still up for debate. So it would seem that any old day now we should expect a jobs plan from S dot Palin? Why not, I’m sure she’s got some ideas she’s seen from China. And while they are all at it, I’ve got my own jobs report to drop: THE HOOD IS DOING BAD!!! But seriously, I don’t actually have a jobs report, as I’m still trying to wrap my head around the true purpose and place for said report. Last I checked, we were bickering and impressing upon each other how we would “create” t hE S kaNNEr N EWS Rob Ingram jobs- notice the simultaneous two- fingers-wiggling making the quo- tation marks. It’s going to be tough going trying to really create jobs, and I don’t think the American people are looking to a report to tell them that. Simple math says you have work, then you have work that needs to be done, then you find a way to afford much work out there is going undone? Better yet, where’s the money for this labor? Where it is now and how will we get it into the hands of our citizenry? So for the Job Reporters- the phantom team that “creates” these jobs- please respect our intelligence. Do not try to pass off patronage positions, handouts, non-sustained and non-subsidized plans that show big numbers, but don’t trans- spells wonk overload for some, sheer boredom for others), but that our Commander in Chief should adjust the timing of one of his most critical reports for the begin- ning of an athletic competition- not a Bowl game, or Game 7, but a game. I’m a football fan (49er Faithful Baby!!!) and I’m all for the hope, camaraderie and plain good tradition that these contests conjure up, but we’ve got to get and keep our priorities in order. The game that night has created the jobs it will create, and you cannot make arm- chair QBing a full-time gig- though many have tried. ESPN isn’t look- ing for any new ana- lysts with the skill set most of us carry around; which is usually just enough to argue around the water cooler and not get splashed. All I’m saying is as much as we know a simple report delivered won’t immediately changes the lives of the thousands who are out of work, but can’t we be grown up enough to admit we wet the bed on that call. We can do better! It’s going to be tough going trying to really create jobs, and I don’t think the American people are looking to a report to tell them that late to bills being paid, groceries bought and savings accounts (I guess we just gave up on the middle-class retiring one day?). I said all of that to say this: what twisted, convolut- ed state we MUST be in that we actually thought that the President’s speech needed to be considerate of the opening NFL game? Bad enough there was insistence of the Republican party (that kinda made sense though- debate and speech in one night ...what convoluted state we MUST be in that we thought that the President’s speech needed to be considerate of the opening NFL game? to pay someone to do that work, and you’ve created a job. How Views and opinions expressed do not represent any agency, organi- zation or entity, but reflect the writer solely. ‘In the Black:’ Want Jobs? Have Faith U nemployment has been a hot button for going on a half decade and I thought it would be timely to shed some light on today’s unemployment envi- ronment. As I mentioned before I closely follow Brian Wesbury, Chief Economists of First Trust and he had some interesting thoughts on the job outlook. The reality is that the private sector created 17,000 new payroll jobs in August and the gov- ernment lost 17,000. The net was “zero.” Some would say that this is a per- fect metaphor for the econ- omy...a big fat zero. The stock market is getting drilled, politicians are frothing at the mouth, the Fed is having longer meet- ings, and investors are scared. So, what’s going on? First, let us say that we have been overly optimistic. We expect- ed better growth in jobs and the economy. We have been wrong, but we still don’t expect another recession. Employment data are notorious- ly volatile, are often revised and have a large margin of error. Verizon had 46,000 workers on strike in August who were counted as unemployed. The strike is over, and they will add to employment in Sep tember. The other jobs sur- vey (the Household survey) showed 331,000 new jobs in August. But, don’t stop reading there. We did not just say that “the economy is perfectly fine.” It is clearly underperforming. The question is: Why? And what should be done about it? Some say that economies always W Ealth M aNagEMENt Louis Taylor perform poorly after a financial crisis. Others say that the US gov- ernment must spend even more, but deficits are already so high that this seems spectacularly foolish. The answer can be found in one of our favorite parables about eco- corn, pick coconuts, fix the boat and the net, or trade some other good or service to their more pro- ductive neighbors. Living stan- dards would rise. Abundance and plenty would be created. Children and immigrants could be absorbed. Or...the eight without a boat could become envious and complain that a 10 fish-to-2 fish income ratio is unfair and that the rich fishermen should pay taxes. So, the island votes to institute an 80% tax on anyone that uses a net. Let’s assume that the fishermen with a boat continue to catch 20 fish a day. If so, the other eight would stop fishing and divide up the 16-fish tax between them. Everyone would still get two fish a day. Living standards would not rise. Kids and immigrants who did not know how to fish would be a bur- den. The benefits of the new tech- nology would go to waste. But, the desire to help people does not always mean that what we are doing is really helping. nomic growth. We borrow it from Paul Zane Pilzer. Imagine 10 people live on an island. Each person catches two fish every day, which is subsis- tence living. There are no savings. Children, or immi- grants who do not know how to fish, would be hard to absorb. The people would be desperate to increase production. But then, a miracle happens. Two of these people figure out how to make a boat and a net. They fish 200 yards offshore. The two of them catch 20 fish each day with this new technology, which replicates the daily GDP created by all 10 using the old technology. At this point, eight people no longer need to fish and the island has a choice. The eight could grow page 4 The Portland and Seattle Skanner September 14, 2011 the fish and give them away, the same thing happens. Borrowing the fish, and then consuming them, does not create new wealth. It only puts a burden on the less productive that they will never be able to repay. This is what has happened in Greece and many other European countries. Government spending, whether paid for with debt or with taxes, undermines job growth and wealth creation. Excluding defense, the US fed- eral government is spending more today as a share of GDP than it ever has in history. It is also re-dis- tributing more income than it ever has in history. We understand the impetus for this...we care about people too. But, the desire to help people does not always mean that what we are doing is really help- ing. In fact, the massive increase in government spending the US has instituted in the past few years is backfiring. It is undermining growth. We don’t expect an immediate recession. We don’t think the US econo- my will collapse. Technology is so amazing- ly strong that it is off-set- ting a great deal of the damage done by spending. But, if the US really wants growth and jobs it needs to reverse course, spend less and let technology lift liv- ing standards. We need more faith...Faith in markets and every- day people; not faith in govern- ment. Employment data are notoriously volatile, are often revised and have a large margin of error This is the problem with attempts by the government to be fair and socially just. This is also the problem with trying to spend our way out of economic pain. It doesn’t work. And even if we decide not to tax the fishermen, but instead borrow louis taylor president, senior financial advisor, taylor wealth Management
