FTA Hacker
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Remember the Alamo! Remember the Maine! Remember the unemployed!
At last count, 13.7 million members of the workforce were unemployed and millions more had stopped looking and were now listed as in school or caring for relatives, a category that conjures up an image of four uncles and three aunts sitting on a porch looking after two toddlers with one of the adults enrolled in a computer class.
Jobs, of course, was the constant theme in Washington from 2008 through 2010, when there was actually a conscientious effort to help those who were unemployed. Now the theme is scattered, diffuse, with jobs a comical afterthought. Cutting the deficit is not a jobs program, but in the manner that politicians still sell snake oil, the possibility that slashing spending across the board will stimulate the economy is the ruse of the hour.
The White House unveiled its list of hundreds of regulations that have some small stranglehold on economic growth. It is a decidedly Republican gesture that has broad appeal.
The proposals, for example, include one to stop categorizing milk as oil, which will save the dairy industry $140 million a year. A second proposal is to cross out an air quality requirement for gas stations that was sensible once, but now is accomplished through improvements in vehicles themselves. That will save about $670 million over 10 years, the White House said.
A nickle here, a dime there. The hope is that a savings of $140 million a year in the dairy industry will allow the industry to hire more workers. And this should work, which is to say, it may reduce the unemployment rate in Guatemala, where many of the hired hands on dairy farms come from these days. For that very reason, Spanish is frequently a requirement for graduation in dairy science programs in New York these days.
The regulatory relief program will provide some comic relief for journalists this year, more or less on the same order that it is comical to know that it is illegal for women to drive in a housecoat in California.
As for jobs, many of the gains will be on paper, a point underscored by the reaction to regulatory reform by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
"It appears the administration is making some common-sense recommendations that will save businesses some time, money, headaches, and resources. This is progress," said Bill Kovacs, senior vice president at the chamber, The Washington Post reported.
"This is also not nearly enough," he added. "They appear to have sidestepped the fundamental issues of cost and burden that have Republicans and Democrats alike clamoring for long-term regulatory reform."
He didn't say, "Gee, whiz, now we can start hiring more workers," did he?
Apparently, jobs are not on the Chamber of Commerce's list of immediate concerns. That's not necessarily good or bad, but it tells you where de-regulation is going. Only a fraction of the millions saved is headed for the bank accounts of the unemployed.
Deregulation is a sensible gesture, but not a panacea.
In international markets Friday, the Nikkei 225 index fell 0.42 percent, while the Shanghai composite index in China dropped 0.19 percent. The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong rose 0.95 percent, while the Sensex in India added 1.23 percent.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 index rose 0.51 percent.
In midday trading in Europe, the FTSE 100 index in Britain added 0.91 percent, while the DAX 30 in Germany rose 0.43 percent. The CAC 40 in France gained 1.12 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.6 percent.
At last count, 13.7 million members of the workforce were unemployed and millions more had stopped looking and were now listed as in school or caring for relatives, a category that conjures up an image of four uncles and three aunts sitting on a porch looking after two toddlers with one of the adults enrolled in a computer class.
Jobs, of course, was the constant theme in Washington from 2008 through 2010, when there was actually a conscientious effort to help those who were unemployed. Now the theme is scattered, diffuse, with jobs a comical afterthought. Cutting the deficit is not a jobs program, but in the manner that politicians still sell snake oil, the possibility that slashing spending across the board will stimulate the economy is the ruse of the hour.
The White House unveiled its list of hundreds of regulations that have some small stranglehold on economic growth. It is a decidedly Republican gesture that has broad appeal.
The proposals, for example, include one to stop categorizing milk as oil, which will save the dairy industry $140 million a year. A second proposal is to cross out an air quality requirement for gas stations that was sensible once, but now is accomplished through improvements in vehicles themselves. That will save about $670 million over 10 years, the White House said.
A nickle here, a dime there. The hope is that a savings of $140 million a year in the dairy industry will allow the industry to hire more workers. And this should work, which is to say, it may reduce the unemployment rate in Guatemala, where many of the hired hands on dairy farms come from these days. For that very reason, Spanish is frequently a requirement for graduation in dairy science programs in New York these days.
The regulatory relief program will provide some comic relief for journalists this year, more or less on the same order that it is comical to know that it is illegal for women to drive in a housecoat in California.
As for jobs, many of the gains will be on paper, a point underscored by the reaction to regulatory reform by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
"It appears the administration is making some common-sense recommendations that will save businesses some time, money, headaches, and resources. This is progress," said Bill Kovacs, senior vice president at the chamber, The Washington Post reported.
"This is also not nearly enough," he added. "They appear to have sidestepped the fundamental issues of cost and burden that have Republicans and Democrats alike clamoring for long-term regulatory reform."
He didn't say, "Gee, whiz, now we can start hiring more workers," did he?
Apparently, jobs are not on the Chamber of Commerce's list of immediate concerns. That's not necessarily good or bad, but it tells you where de-regulation is going. Only a fraction of the millions saved is headed for the bank accounts of the unemployed.
Deregulation is a sensible gesture, but not a panacea.
In international markets Friday, the Nikkei 225 index fell 0.42 percent, while the Shanghai composite index in China dropped 0.19 percent. The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong rose 0.95 percent, while the Sensex in India added 1.23 percent.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 index rose 0.51 percent.
In midday trading in Europe, the FTSE 100 index in Britain added 0.91 percent, while the DAX 30 in Germany rose 0.43 percent. The CAC 40 in France gained 1.12 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.6 percent.
