Thursday, December 03, 2009

Will Obama donors, academics and Union leaders lead to job growth?

I somehow doubt it. I wonder how jobs will grow when many of the people going to Obama's White House jobs summit today are either academics, Union executives or Obama donors or a combination? Few of these people know how to run a small business where jobs are created, or their politics are such that they may hinder growth by sucking up to bad policies to keep on Obama's good side. The only CEO on the list thus far that looked promising to me was Fred Smith (though the list is not exhaustive and there may be more):

Of the several award-winning economists slated to attend, some are academics who donated hefty amounts to candidate Obama, like Joe Stiglitz of Columbia University, an early supporter who doled out more than $4,000 for his presidential run.

Of the 29 known attendees, only one CEO -- Eric Schmidt of Google -- donated to Obama. Schmidt gave $25,000 in personal contributions to the president's inaugural celebration last January. Employees from Google Inc. doled out a whopping $803,436 for Obama's presidential campaign -- the fifth highest of any organization to donate to his record-shattering campaign bounty.

One other CEO slated to attend, Frederick Smith of Federal Express, gave money during the 2008 presidential campaign -- but not to Obama. Smith contributed $2,300 to Republican presidential nominee John McCain and served on the Republican's "kitchen cabinet" of campaign advisers.


I am glad to see that only one CEO donated to Obama. But it seems to me if you want to promote job growth, it would help to have small business owners or those who represent them more fully present, and to take their ideas into consideration. The regime uncertainly of this administration is certainly stifling job growth. Businesses are scared to hire because they don't know what to expect next. Maybe lessening the tax burden and regulations on small business would be a step in the right direction for job growth. I imagine this job summit is more for show, however, so I won't hold my breath waiting for any sensible policies to emerge. I hope I am wrong...

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11 Comments:

Blogger I R A Darth Aggie said...

You want job growth? cut taxes on businesses, especially small businesses. Which is where you can create a lot of jobs.

But no, those folks are standing pat, or trying to shed employees because they're uncertain what the future holds and would prefer to be understaffed than over.

10:45 AM, December 03, 2009  
Blogger DADvocate said...

Union leaders only care about maintaining their personal power. If they cared about jobs they (unions) would have been doing things differently for a long time.

As for the academics, their politics will override everything else. The Obama administration is way behind already in trying to stimulate job growth and is showing they have no idea how to go about it.

I R A hits the nail on the head: folks are standing pat, or trying to shed employees because they're uncertain what the future holds. With health care "reform", cap and tax, etc, people are afraid to invest. Obama's created turmoil in the business world and that ain't good.

11:21 AM, December 03, 2009  
Blogger Thor's Dad said...

I agree with RA - I predict that the only sector which will see job growth during the Obama nightmare will be government. Of course these are not wealth-creating jobs so taxes will need to be increased to pay for them. Unfortunately, the private sector will continue to shrink due to the onerous burdens placed on businesses by more regulation, more taxes, and other government initiatives which cost them more money and limit the amounts available for new job creation. Plus the admins precedent of taking over businesses scares the crap out of them too - who would want to grow a business in this climate. I think that's the difference between Reagan's 81 'stimulus' plan (and his deficits) - he promised tax cuts which inspired economic confidence - even though they hadn't taken effect businesses could start to expand because they had hope. This President does not inspire hope in the private sector - he inspires fear. I'm praying for an 'official' unemployment rate of 15-20% by 2010 (which means its really much higher). This should swell the ranks of Republican voters and hopefully bring some degree of sanity to DC.

1:00 PM, December 03, 2009  
Blogger Bill said...

I don't want Republicans in Washington. I want small-government fiscal conservatives. But there AREN'T any.

Bill

1:42 PM, December 03, 2009  
Blogger Dr.D said...

This meeting is 100% for show. They will do nothing at all toward creating jobs. This is simply to give BHO cover so that he can say he is working on creating job, even though he really wants to see unemployment rise to make more people dependent on the government. As usual with BHO, it is just one more fraud!

3:31 PM, December 03, 2009  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Clearly what we have in both the post and the comments is the usual anti-Obama and anti-Democratic outpouring. In fact, there were representatives from all areas of our commercial and academic world:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/03/no-easy-jumpstart-to-get_n_378226.html

small biz was represented.

4:10 PM, December 03, 2009  
Blogger Thor's Dad said...

Hey Fred,

Having been in academia all my life but with a wife in the business world - the last thing we need are academics who probably haven't worked a normal job a day in their lives telling us how to create jobs. And given that most academics, by their own admissions, are Liberals just creates an echo chamber for BO and his ilk. Larry Summers' economic experiments certainly left Harvard in fiscal shambles. Now he can wreck havoc on the nation's economy.

4:58 PM, December 03, 2009  
Blogger Sloan said...

I heard this morning on the news -- and they weren't even a Fox affiliate! -- that Obama's administration has the lowest percentage of officials who came to their positions from the private sector of any administration in the past 40 years. Something like 8%. Not surprising, given the downright hostility of this administration toward capitalism and free markets. But it IS depressing. Obama has surrounded himself with people who probably don't have the foggiest idea of how the economy really works.

5:17 PM, December 03, 2009  
Blogger Dr.Alistair said...

the people who run universities sure know how to do business though?

who are they?

6:33 PM, December 03, 2009  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Incoming calls aren't happening. Outgoing calls go straight to voice mail.

Any questions?

6:50 PM, December 03, 2009  
Blogger BlogDog said...

It was a "jobs summit" only insofar as those who invited the attendees are desperate to keep theirs.

7:34 PM, December 03, 2009  

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