Can't Candidates Answer the Question Asked?

In the Oct. 5 Viewpoints, Rep. Cheryl Bustos, D-East Moline, and challenger Bobby Schilling, a Colona Republican, were asked a simple question: "Can you offer 10 specific recommendations for tackling the nations economic problems?"

Neither did.

Mr. Schilling, rather than making the "10 specific recommendations," requested, wrote:
"The most important thing ... for a better economy (is) to end gridlock ... to elect ... Congress(men) ... totally focused on making a positive contribution.

"In 2010, I ran for Congress because I was deeply concerned. ...

"I refused to participate in the congressional pension.... I cut my budget by 11 percent. ...

"I fought against government shutdowns. My opponent had six opportunities to avoid last year's shutdown. ...

"It is very important for economic expansion to cut runaway government spending.
"In my two years in Congress we succeeded in spending fewer dollars. ...

"I ... worked in a bipartisan manner ... to maintain and grow ... the Rock Island Arsenal. We also worked together to replace the Interstate 74 bridge. ...


"Economic expansion (is) critical to ... sustain ... funding of essential government programs. ... we need to stop wasting so much of our budget on interest on the debt ....

"We need to fundamentally simplify our tax code to ... reward work, saving, investment, and job creation. ...

"We need tort reform to stop frivolous lawsuits. ...

"I have offered five ... modifications to Obamacare to lower health care costs and stop the parts of Obamacare that ... destroy thousands of jobs.

"We need a robust energy policy -- more domestic energy ... and ... ... incentives to produce ... renewable energy ... so we can become the leading exporter of renewable energy." This will lead, he said to prosperity in the decades to come.

So, did Mr. Schilling answer the question asked? Are these "10 specific recommendations?"

Perhaps on simplifying the tax code, modifying Obamacare and a robust energy policy.

And did Rep. Bustos make the "10 specific recommendations requested?" She wrote:

"1. I introduced the Government Waste Reduction Act ... that would save ... billions of dollars by eliminating duplicative services.

"2. The federal government currently pays billions of dollars to dead people... My ... Improper Payments Agency Cooperation Enhancement Act, which recently passed the Senate, will put an end to this ... wasteful spending. ...

"3. I'm a ... sponsor of the No Budget, No Pay Act.. .. We cannot solve our nation's fiscal problems on the backs of working families. Our nation's economy will be strongest when we have a ... thriving middle class....

"4. I support the Bring Jobs Home Act, which would give businesses a tax credit for creating jobs in America while ending tax breaks for companies that outsource jobs....

"5. I introduced the Access to Education and Training Act, which would allow students who receive Pell grants to take advantage of them year-round. ...

"6. I also support the Bank on Students Emergency Loan Refinancing Act to allow students to refinance their existing loans. ...

"7. When the president visited Galesburg, I successfully urged him to bring the nation's first-of-its-kind Digital Manufacturing Lab to Illinois....

"8. I also worked across the aisle with Sens. Durbin and Kirk ... to pass legislation to improve our nation's locks and dams using public-private partnerships.. ...

"9. I launched Partnering for Illinois' Economic Future with experts from the University of Illinois and other economic development, education and business leaders. ....

"10. I joined "No Labels," an organization made up of Democrats and Republicans ... united in the goal of breaking congressional gridlock....."

Like Mr. Schilling, Rep. Bustos didn't answer the question. Instead, she re-wrote the question to tell what she has done during her two years in Congress; how she has sponsored or introduced a bunch of bills. She doesn't say that any have become law. (One game representatives from both parties play is to sponsor or introduce bills with glorious sounding names to show constituents they are working diligently: e.g., "A Bill to Cure all Evils in the Known World." These bills never pass, and would be useless if they did.)

In one respect, however, Rep. Bustos answer was superior to Mr. Schillings: She demonstrated she can count to 10!

So what might the candidates have said? Here are four specific recommendations John F. Kennedy made:

1. No tax increases. They will not solve our deficits or our economic problems.
2. Full employment. It is the most important thing we can do to tackle the nations economic problems.
3. When more people work, the government collects more taxes.
4. If the government collects more taxes (and if it can avoid spending increases), it will have money to cut the deficit and fund existing programs.

Then the candidates might have added:

-- We need to get the work force participation rate well above 62.7 percent.
-- We need to repeal or amend laws that encourage owners to turn full-time jobs into part-time jobs, or to lay off employees.


Posted Online:  Oct. 17, 2014, 11:00 pm - Quad-Cities Online
by John Donald O'Shea

Copyright 2014
John Donald O'Shea

Obama on Economy: Oblivious? Delusional? Lying?

On Oct. 2, President Obama told an audience at Northwestern University, "It is indisputable that our economy is stronger today than when I took office. ... By every economic measure, we are better off now than when I took office."

Sadly, that statement is demonstrably false. And unless the president is oblivious to inconvenient economic facts or delusional, it is a demonstrable lie.

In the movie, "Truman," President Truman utters the line, "I'm just the man holding this office. If I dirty it, the dirt doesn't leave with me when I go, it stays here to rub off on whoever comes after me from now on." The line may be pure Hollywood, but that doesn't make it any less true.

It is not "indisputable" that the American economy is "stronger today than when he took office." Below are facts from non-partisan sources which clearly indicate that what the president told the American people is far less than the whole truth.

1. In January 2008, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the labor force participation rate was 66.2 percent. In 2014, rather than improving, that rate declined to 62.8 percent.

2. In 2008, 28 million individuals receiving food stamps (annually); in 2014 the number has increased to 47 million.

3. In 2007, according to the Census Bureau publication "Income and Poverty in the U.S: 2013," the median income in the U.S. (50th percentile) was $51,939. This is a decline from 2007, when the median income was $56,436.

4. The Real Median Household income for Asians dropped from $72,000 in 2008 to $67,000 in 2013. For whites, it dropped from $61,000 in 2008 to $58,000 in 2013. For Hispanics, from $42,000 in 2008 to $41,000 in 2013. For blacks it dropped from $38,000 in 2008 to $34.5 in 2013, according to the Census Bureau publication "Income and Poverty in the U.S: 2013."

5. According to the same report, the "number in poverty" rose form 35 million in 2008, to 45.3 million in 2013.

6. According to the same report, the Annual Average Consumer Price Index for 2008 was 316.2. It increased to 342.1 in 2013. That represents a 7.6 percent decline in household purchasing power.

7. In 2008, 11.8 percent of families had total income under $15,000; in 2013, 12.7 percent. In 2008, 12.6 percent of families had incomes between $50K and $75K; in 2013, 11.9 percent of families. In 2008, 12.6 percent of families had income between $75K and $100K; in 2013, 11.9 percent. In 2008, $13.3 percent of families had income between $100K and $150K; in 2013, 12.4 percent.

8. The Department of Labor publishes statistics showing full-time vs. part-time employment, for persons aged 16 and over; 35 hours or more is considered "full time." The focus is on "total hours worked." Full-time status may result from multiple part-time jobs.

a. Of those employed age 16 and over, 83 percent had full-time employment in 2008; 81.3 percent in 2014. In 2008, 17 percent of workers had part-time employment; in 2014, the number has risen to 18.6 percent.

b. The Employment Cumulative Changes since 2007 shows full-time employment (ages 25-54) has decreased by 5 percent. Part-time employment has increased 0.4 percent (advisorperspectives.com/dshort/commentaries/Full-Time-vs-Part-Time-Employment.php).
Unless Mr. Obama is oblivious to inconvenient economic facts or delusional, there is only one reason why a president would say, "It is indisputable that our economy is stronger today than when I took office."

He wants to keep his party in power and he is willing to lie to achieve his goal. The Watergate plumbers did what they did to insure President Nixon's re-election. We impeached President Nixon because he lied to cover-up what had been done. I consider President Truman the greatest president of my lifetime (I was too young to know FDR) precisely because he refused to lie. Here's something President Truman actually did say:

"The fundamental basis of this nation's laws was given to Moses on the Mount. ... If we don't have a proper fundamental moral background, we will finally end up with a totalitarian government which does not believe in rights for anybody except the State."

It is one thing for the government to mislead our enemies. It is another thing for the government to mislead the American people for partisan advantage. If we can't believe the president when he talks about how the economy has improved during his tenure in office, how can we believe him when he tells us what we need to do to destroy the Islamic State (ISIS), to protect the homeland from terrorism and Ebola?


Posted Online:  Oct. 10, 2014, 11:00 pm - Quad-Cities Online
by John Donald O'Shea

Copyright 2014
John Donald O'Shea

Bustos, Schilling Ignore Best Job-creator: the Private Sector

 

In Viewpoints [last] Sunday, our two candidates for Congress in the 17th District, Democrat U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, and Republican challenger Bobby Schilling, stated the action they would take to help create and retain jobs in the area.

What struck me in what each wrote was that both seemed clueless as to how jobs are created in America. Both seemed wedded to the notion that jobs are created by "government spending." The programs of both harkened back to the 1930's New Deal programs of FDR. Neither wrote of what they would do to facilitate the creation of private sector jobs.

Rep. Bustos spoke of Cheri on Shifts, the Make it in America initiative, her "one-on-one visits," and the new Goose Island Digital Manufacturing Lab which was funded by the U.S. Department of Defense (according to U.S. Sen Dick Durbin, D-Ill.).

She also talked about the opening of the Thomson prison facility, which is expected to create "1,100 good paying jobs," and upgrading "aging locks and dams along the Illinois and Mississippi rivers."
Mr. Schilling touted his efforts to keep the Rock Island Arsenal going strong, and his belief in the need to "invest in public infrastructure," such as "transportation networks," highways and the Interstate 74 bridge.

Do not misunderstand me. The jobs at Goose Island, at Thomson and at the Arsenal are important. But to create them, the government taxes all of us to raise the money needed to pay the salaries and their related fringe and retirement benefits.

The advantage of jobs created by the private sector is that you and I are not taxed and are not paying the salaries with their related fringe benefits and retirement benefits.

When John Q. Public opens a yoga studio in downtown Moline, he pays the salaries, fringe and retirement benefits allotted to himself and his employees.

To understand the significant difference, consider this:

If there were only 11 American taxpayers, and if all earned $110,000 per year, each would have to be taxed $10,000 per year to pay the salary of one government employee being paid $110,000 per year. If two of the 11 were government employees, all 11 would have to be taxed $20,000 per year. If all 11 were government employees, each would have to be taxed 100 percent of his 2014 salary to pay his 2015 salary of $110,000. And of course, the above figures take no account of fringe and retirement benefits!
There is no question but that we must have arsenals for our nation's defense and road and bridges. Similarly, there is no question that the people who work in our arsenals and who build our roads and bridges work at necessary jobs; good jobs.

But there is a limit to how many people can be on the government payroll before the system crashes. Putting it another way, there is a limit as to how much people working in the private sector can be taxed to support people working in the public sector. At some point in time, taxes on the private sector make it unprofitable for the private sector to remain in business and pay taxes. Neither candidate discusses that.

The key issue in job creation is not how to create public sector jobs; rather, it is how to create private sector jobs. Public sector jobs are funded by taxation. True private sector jobs are funded by ordinary people who go into business and the people who work in the businesses; not by the government.
Any candidate for Congress discussing "jobs" needs to address not only government stimulus and public works programs, but how to get the private sector going.

President Obama and the Democrats have had six years to get the economy going. Unemployment is decreasing only because people who don't have jobs and have quit looking for work are erased from the unemployment roles, and moved to the role for people who are no longer looking for work. It is a cruel shell game.

Some people believe our Internal Revenue Code is about raising money to finance government operations. Others believe it is about income redistribution.

In either case, the best way to increase revenues is to increase the labor force participation rate from 62.8 percent. It is not complicated. If 62 people pay $1 each in federal income taxes, the government gets $62. If 95 people pay $1 each, the government gets $95.

The question that these two candidates need to be discussing is, how do we increase job creation in the private sector? Small businesses create most of the jobs. Are they over-regulated? Are they being taxed out of existence? What needs to be done to encourage them to hire? The labor force participation rate, according to Mr. Schilling, is at a 36-year low.. If 62.8 percent is too low, what are you going to do, Mr. Schilling and Rep. Bustos, to make it easier for private businesses to succeed and hire?

Government stimulus is good; it can create jobs. But it is dependent on taxation. Tax too much and you depress the private sector. One-hundred percent of Americans can't work for the government.

Posted Online:  Oct. 3, 2014, 11:00 pm - Quad-Cities Online
by John Donald O'Shea

Copyright 2014
John Donald O'Shea