The Left Is At It Again

When I think of that old saying that you can lead a horse to water but you can't force him to drink, the left and this whole idea of jobs creation comes to mind. What are they talking about again? A transportation bill to create thousands of jobs. But what about the Keystone pipeline? What about the mining bill in Wisconsin? What about natural gas? What about fracking? All of these things would create tens of thousands of jobs, and in the case of natural gas and fracking, would also help to reduce some of our dependency on foreign oil and reduce the cost every American faces at the pump, presumably leaving more money in working American's pockets to buy things that would help to reinvigorate the slumping economy. For whatever reason, there seems to be a strong resistance by the left toward these things.

And speaking of oil, wouldn't getting out of the way of drilling and exploration also create tens of thousands of jobs in this country?

So far as I can tell, the jobs we're so desperately seeking are right under President Obama's nose. They have been right under President Obama's nose from the jump. My thought would be that if you really want to help get the economy moving again, these are the jobs that matter the most, because these jobs would come from the private sector. The taxes and commerce they create collectively would increase revenues into the government's coiffures. Then if you want to work on rebuilding our nation's highways, fine. You can do that. And it would help to be one more step in the effort to move the economy forward.

The problem is that a transportation bill would cost us money before it would produce any tangible results. Sure, building roads certainly does help the economy in some ways, but it shouldn't be the first resort. Obviously building roads will require concrete, petroleum products, parts for equipment to be maintained, and certainly the workers would ultimately spend their money somewhere. So would the businesses that would benefit from the projects. So there's no denying at least some impact. But isn't this sort of like taking from Peter to pay Paul? This is government money, and most of the taxes they would collect on any wages earned would simply be government money trickling back into the tax rolls a few pennies at a time. And by the way, speaking of roads, isn't this a road we've already been down? How much has it helped the economy so far? Again, there's no arguing at least some impact. But focusing on the private sector would have had a much more profound and lasting impact, and it's an area the left seems loathe to support.

According to the Obama administration, if it isn't a government job, or a union job for that matter, it's not a job worth having.

It's got to be hammered into the psyche of the Administration that it is not the government's job to create jobs. It is the government's jobs to create conditions that are favorable to the private sector to create jobs, and this is exactly the opposite of what they've actually been doing. As far as they see it, the private sector is nothing more than hungry, greedy bastards who have no regard for the working people of this country.

That could not be farther from the truth, and until that psyche changes, the economy is not going to go anywhere but sideways or down.