Rescuing the Lost Generation
With 25 million unemployed or underemployed Americans, there’s a segment of the population that is generally being ignored: today’s youth. The unemployment rate in April of this year for 20- to 24-year-olds is 13.2 percent. According to a Pew Research Center study completed in December of 2011, the share of young adults aged 18 to 24 currently employed of 54 percent is the lowest since the government began collecting data in 1948. And the gap in employment between the young... Read More
Why We Should Be Talking About Immigration
The Obama administration has effectively marginalized the Republican Party when it comes to immigration by characterizing Republicans as anti-Latino, which is nonsense. Republicans are simply demanding that the government follow current immigration law, which means that immigrants need to go through the proper steps to become a U.S. citizen – something that immigrants have been doing for more than 150 years. To curry favor of Hispanic voters, the Obama administration is working... Read More
When It Isn’t Good to be Number One
America loves to be number one. But now we have the dubious distinction of being number one in a category that nobody wants: we have the highest corporate tax rate in the world. The result is that the U.S. tax code continues to drive American employers to outsource jobs overseas. Since 2001, Japan had levied the highest combined corporate tax rate among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries at 39.5 percent. They recently lowered their rate... Read More
When It Isn’t Good to be Number One
America loves to be number one. But now we have the dubious distinction of being number one in a category that nobody wants: we have the highest corporate tax rate in the world. The result is that the U.S. tax code continues to drive American employers to outsource jobs overseas. Since 2001, Japan had levied the highest combined corporate tax rate among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries at 39.5 percent. They recently lowered their rate... Read More
Obama Declares War on Coal and Jobs
If there was a commodity that brings $16 billion to the American economy through exports and directly and indirectly employs around 1.5 million American workers, this would be a commodity that would naturally be supported by everyone. That commodity is coal — which is not supported by at least one group: the Obama administration, which has literally declared war on the American coal industry, and the jobs that come with it. Last week the Obama administration proposed new measures... Read More
Compromised Secrets Compromise Job Creation
Secrets are a trust between individuals and groups. They play a role in security and building sustainable relationships. But when secrets are compromised, trust is the victim. There have been two recent situations where secrets are being compromised — both of which will compromise job creation. The first surrounds the supposed secret deliberations by the Supreme Court over Obamacare. The cost of implementation and compliance with a government controlled healthcare system will... Read More
Bernanke Is Addicted to Morphine Economics
Last week, Richard Fisher, the president of the Dallas Federal Reserve and a member of the central bank’s policy-making committee, compared Wall Street’s addiction to the Fed’s economic policy as “monetary morphine.” I coined a version of that term more than three years ago because it aptly describes how the Federal government is handling the economy. Ben Bernanke, current chairman of the Federal Reserve, is the “morphine dealer” as he continues... Read More
Traditional Donor Base Lukewarm on Obama Re-election
If you’re looking for proof that President Barack Obama has lost his luster with his voter base, two of his traditional big donors – labor unions and Hollywood — are taking a tentative look at supporting the Democratic Party with big money. While the AFL-CIO will certainly support Obama and Democrats, they are not generating the kind of money that Democratic presidential candidates are used to receiving. And they certainly are not as enthusiastic as they were in 2008, when... Read More
Obama Counting on Rising Oil Prices to Fuel His Green Movement
Talking about oil prices is like moving through an avalanche zone. One loud outcry and the whole thing collapses. That’s what has happened with our saber rattling over Iran. Gasoline prices are rapidly rising attributed to uncertainty about Iran and the loss of Iranian oil supplies to the world market or a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 17 million barrels of oil, or about 20 percent of total world production, flow each day. Already, the national average price... Read More
Manufacturing Needs to be Remanufactured
Nationwide, an estimated 600,000 manufacturing jobs are going unfilled, according to a survey published last year by Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute. The survey found 5 percent of current manufacturing jobs are unfilled due to lack of qualified candidates, 67 percent of manufacturers have a moderate to severe shortage of qualified workers, and 56 percent expect the shortage to increase in the next three to five years as older workers retire. Most of these unfilled jobs... Read More
