Good morning folks,
It’s the economy, stupid. In 1992 Bill Clinton was swept into office around that simple concept. In 2012, many would argue that Barack Obama was reelected in spite of it. For years now, poll after poll reveals that Americans top priority is, consistently, creating jobs and righting the economy. Full steam ahead on growth and job creation, right?
Not so much. As the Cook Report’s Amy Walter noted, our newly elected President barely give it a mention in his 2nd Ingural Address. “The one thing he didn’t talk about, which of course his campaign was based on, was the economy and jobs. This was an address that was very aspirational, in many moments – especially talking about equal rights- and at the same time I think there are a lot of Americas out there saying, ‘right, but where are are we going on jobs, what is the future of the American economy.” The Wall Street Journal’s Steve Moore noticed too. “In the whole speech he didn’t talk about jobs, he did not talk about private business and entrepreneurs and the free enterprise system. It was a very pro-government speech. Now the president has a big challenge ahead because we still have a near eight percent unemployment rate..”
So what gives? Don’t be surprised folks, we’ve seen this movie before. In 2009, after his stimulus failed to meet expectations and revive our economy, President Obama focused on ideological pursuits like his signature law, ObamaCare. As Liberal Noam Scheiber noted in a piece for the New Republic entitled, Of Course Doing Health Care Slowed the Recovery: “In my book, I describe a 45-minute Oval Office meeting between Obama and a Democratic Senator that August, in which the senator pleaded with Obama to ditch health care reform and focus on the economy. (Obama responded that he had a once-in-a-lifetime shot at bringing transformational change and he intended to take it.) The chief of staff to another senator told me he was uncomfortable with the White House’s singular focus on health care in the summer of 2009 given the country’s anxieties about the economy. My reporting suggests these views were relatively common in the Senate.”
Four years later in 2013, total employment remains about 3 million jobs below 2006-7 levels under President Bush. Despite an economy mired in a state of stagnation+, President Obama seems primed to instead focus his energies on ideological pursuits to deal with climate change and a controversial comprehensive rather than step-by-step approach to immigration. Conservatives would be wise to dust off the 2009-10 Playbook and focus on economic growth and job creation instead of austerity alone. In December, Steve Conover wrote in The American (Magazine of the American Enterprise Institute), “We should be focusing on economic growth, not the debt ceiling number.” He’s right.
TWEET TWEET
@JakeTapper: Cable showed Stevens discussing moving benghazi mission to adjacent CIA annexhttp://security.blogs.cnn.com/2013/01/22/clinton-prepping-for-benghazi-grilling/ …
@moorehn: Atari bankruptcy is another lesson in how the US squanders skilled workershttp://bit.ly/UTW8hb
@NationalJournal: Democrats grumbling about Obama’s new lobbying shophttp://njour.nl/XXtdcw
@ILoveCoffee: It’s probably not normal to drink coffee and simultaneously feel ready to fall asleep.#CaffeineProblems
@Politico: Frank Lautenberg’s age an issue, poll says:http://politi.co/YmWS2Q
@OKnox: Sign of the times: CSPAN 3 on cable is flickering, dropping. On computer? Working fine, and ahead of TV.
@Daveweigel: Shouldn’t CNN report that Beyonce DID sing, then backpedal after watching the whole tape?
@capitalweather D.C. area forecast: Biting cold sticks around with a little snow possible tonight and Friday http://wapo.st/UTvMM7
@SaraKliff: Long underwear under my tights? Check! Bring it, outdoors.
ON THE RADAR
Economic Growth/Tax Reform
Davos Forum: Governor Kasich - US Can’t Be Complacent on Job Creation: For years, the US held the top spot on the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index. This year, we ranked 6th… Our country’s creativity, plentiful natural resources, and dominant research and development capacity continue to be key advantages. However, a recommitment to high performance in workforce development can further strengthen our position. Ohio is helping lead the economic recovery in the US and has consistently ranked among the top states for job creation. The reason is that we have cut taxes, balanced our budget and are reforming regulations to create a more jobs-friendly climate. Our next challenge is to improve the way we train Ohioans in order to make sure that they and their employers can more successfully compete.
American Action Forum Event: Getting Employment Incentives Right: The ARRA And Marginal Tax Rates. “The American Action Forum will host a presentation by Professor Casey Mulligan on his recent paper,’ The ARRA: Some Unpleasant Welfare Arithmetic,’ which examines the February 2009 stimulus law’s effect on the economic incentives for certain workers to seek employment. Despite being designed to induce near-term employment gains, Prof. Mulligan’s paper finds that the intersection of employment taxes and program phase-outs can actually impose a penalty on the employment decision for low-income workers. As the United States moves into a gradual economic recovery and contemplates reforms to the federal safety net, recent experience can provide critical lessons for program design going forward to properly align work incentives with fiscal stewardship.”
Jindal’s Bold Tax Reform. “If Bobby Jindal has his way, Louisiana’s personal and corporate income taxes are headed for extinction. Jindal wants the tax reform to be ‘revenue neutral,’ and he’s exploring by how much he would have to increase the sales tax (currently 4 percent) in order to achieve that. He’s also meeting with state legislators. Louisiana’s session doesn’t start until April 8, and Jindal’s office intends by then to release a detailed plan, filling in the broad outlines that have been put forward so far.”
Health Care
OBAMACARE 2.0 - Health Insurance Brokers Prepare Clients For Obamacare Sticker Shock: The President is accepting the premium hikes as an allowable consequence of his healthcare policies…. Simply cutting payment rates has consequences, or course. It reduces reimbursement without regard to value or need. But indiscriminate cuts to fixed rate schedules for everything from doctor visits to hospital stays are Washington’s standard approach for sanding down Medicare costs. The Affordable Care Act will institutionalize these same political tactics across the rest of the healthcare market. This is the next iteration of healthcare reform. Call it Obamacare 2.0. Doctors will become the next bogyman in Washington. The target is already being fixed to their hide. As for the rest of us, our health insurance will become increasingly illusory.
Harkin Health Bill Orders Stack Of Prevention Efforts. “A new bill from Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) would order more than 30 federal actions to encourage healthier living, from a penalty on certain tobacco manufacturers to targets for sodium reduction in U.S. foods.”
Immigration
Rubio Finds Support On The Right For Immigration Plan. “With leaders from both parties calling on Congress to take up immigration reform this year, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has been meeting with news outlets and conservative opinion-shapers to lay out his vision for a plan that would offer temporary legal status to undocumented immigrants. Those applying would have to pass background checks and other tests designed to eventually lead from permanent residency to citizenship.”
City Of San Diego Joins Push For Federal Immigration Reform. “The City of San Diego is joining the push for federal immigration reform. Mayor Bob Filner joined a local group of immigration activists on Tuesday to fix what they call ‘a broken system.’ They call themselves the San Diego Table on Immigration Policy. The group is promoting pathways to citizenship, a safer border and opportunities to allow legal migration into the U.S.”
Immigration Reform: Obama Needs To Close Gap Between Rhetoric And Reality. “Despite promises on immigration reform, Obama has deported people at a greater rate than George Bush. We expect better.”
X Factor
GOP Critics Get Opportunity To Grill Secretary Clinton On Benghazi. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify Wednesday that her agency is moving full speed ahead with recommendations to avoid a repeat of the attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, that killed a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans.
THIS & THAT
Running into Segey Brin on the Subway
I Love the 80′s - Memorex Mashup
Johhny Cash & his prison reform campaign
Mantei Te’o tells Katie Couric he lied
Attention Ladies of the 1990′s: Boy Band Super Tour
America’s 100 Best Beer Bars of 2013
Seize the day,
Brad Dayspring
Senior Advisor - YG Network
@BDayspring
Mark Bednar
@YGNetwork