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President Obama has allowed his jobs council to expire – even though “strengthening [the] economy” and “improving [the] job situation” continue to be top priorities for the American people, according to the Pew Research Center.
This action fits with the President’s pattern of ignoring job-creating recommendations that don’t align with his views.
In 2011, at a big press conference at a General Electric plant in New York, the President created the jobs council to provide recommendations for how to lower unemployment and get the economy moving again. After two years and a full report, Obama quietly allowed the council’s charter to expire. The council met only four times, with the last session being over a year ago.
The council did come up with a list of recommendations that would achieve its goals. The report was a mixed bag, but the President chose only the recommendations that were consistent with his views that government can create net new jobs: making government buildings more energy efficient, “creating” more construction jobs, and providing tax credits for small businesses that were difficult to obtain. Two years later, unemployment is back up to 7.9 percent and the economy continues to languish.
Recommendations that were ignored included adopting an “all of the above” energy strategy (i.e., stop ignoring oil and gas), reforming the tax code (and eliminating the “territorial” tax system), and reducing the regulatory burden on businesses. Those ignored recommendations could have made a real difference in the economy and created jobs.
Worse, the President has pursued a strategy of tax increases on the rich—purportedly to close the deficit—despite the poor record of tax hikes in improving the economy.
Instead of listening to his jobs council and the American people, Obama has decided to continue pursuing his big-government agenda and ignoring proposals that might actually get people back to work.
