Obama on the Obama Economy
The speech was more notable for what was not said than what was said. There was no mention of:
- The effects of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on reduced hiring.
- The incentives in the ACA to hire part-time workers rather than full time and temp and contract workers rather than regular employees.
- The effects of extended unemployment benefits, expanded food stamps and other welfare benefits (estimated by Casey Mulligan to be responsible for half of the excess unemployment).
- The effects of Dodd-Frank on reduced lending and investment.
- The effects of Washington-generated uncertainty on the labor market with respect to tax law, labor law and the cost of health insurance.
When it came to specifics on how to reverse course, there were none. There was no suggestion on:
- How to reverse the harmful effects of The Affordable Care Act, Dodd Frank and Washington-generated (especially White House-generated) uncertainly on the labor market.
- How to liberate children from failing schools.
- How to liberate workers from a medieval guild-type labor market in which one of every three jobs requires a government license or union membership.
This blog post could’ve just said:
Obama on the Obama Economy
It was a typical Obama speech.
I would say the same about any political speech from any politician, pretty much.
Right, politics is politics.
The Administration doesn’t understand how its policies created perverse incentives that inhibit job growth.
I wonder if they actually think what they’re doing is bad or if they think that it’ll be better in the long-run.
*Sorry, I mean if the effects of their policies are bad, not the actual policies themselves. Are they surprised and concerned about hiring reductions? Or do they think that more people on government assistance is good?
He only mentions productivity once:
“The link between higher productivity and people’s wages and salaries was severed”
Which is a great point, but he doesn’t follow it up with anything
I know that I will be watching for “productivity” in his next few speeches.
Check out this link about productivity and wages:
http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2012/04/the-wedge-between-productivity-and-wages.html
Doesn’t Obama understand that he already won re-election? It’s time to be substantive!
He’s a campaigner, not a leader. He should’ve stuck to the former.
He should have addressed more issues, but let’s be fair, there is no way he could have addressed all of those issues concretely in one speech.
Well he should’ve addressed something.