opinion
Jobs Report: ‘The Neighborhood’s Doing Bad’
“challenging people to Shape
a Better Future Now”
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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