A Voters Guide To The Economy And Jobs

Voters be ware: You will be exposed to economic gimmicks mixed with political talking points by leaders and surrogates for both political parties the next two months.

The debate, if it reaches that point, in the end is only window dressing. The winning political party may set a direction and a few rules. It does not set monetary policy for investors to stop hoarding their money and encourage them to take risks that provide businesses with capital to create jobs.

President Obama kicks off the post-Labor Day war of words and quest for control of both houses of Congress in a speech leaked deliberately in advance he plans to deliver Wednesday.

It amounts to a $100 billion mini-stimulus plan for building and repairing the nation’s roads and bridges, increasing tax credits for research and development by 3% to 17% and extending the Bush tax cuts for those earning under $200,000.

The costs will be offset in part by closing corporate tax breaks for multinational and some energy companies — only if it survives a filibuster in the Senate by Republicans.

These short-term goals spelled out at a speech at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland will be contrasted to the “failed policies” enacted by Republicans during the first six years of the Bush administration.

The location of the speech, crucial in only the minds of Democratic strategists and Ohio voters, is to counter one given last month by House minority leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, at a Cleveland business group.

Boehner grabbed news headlines by demanding Obama fire his economic team — political claptrap — but did fire a deadly dagger at the heart of the administration: The economy is bound up by “endless spending sprees, entangled tax structures and bureaucracy run amok” while calling for reducing federal spending to 2008 levels.

Listen carefully to these speeches in the coming months. A few may offer band aids to the bleeding economy, most likely focused on the short term.

Pay close attention to the Fed, the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. If the smaller, community banks are given the same credit terms as those largest ones on Wall Street, the freeze on equity and lending now hoarded by the fat cats may thaw. Those much needed investments in the private sector are what will create new jobs. Not the temporary spurts created by government stimulus.

The recent trickle of new jobs in the private sector running between 43,000 and 65,000 per month nationally in a nation of 330 million people is pathetic.