Obama Has Left The Well Dry For An Economic Turnaround And Job Creation

If a government is going to do something positive to revive an economy, it takes money. A lot of money.  But, in less than 4 years, Obama has literally squandered the government's ability to realistically do anything to spur on any type of  recovery.  He's done that by increasing the nation's debt by nearly 50%; upping it from $10.6 trillion when Bush left office, to today's $15.8 trillion -- and counting.

Now, significant tax cuts are off the table because they, themselves, would seriously increase the nation's debt.  Tax increases would help lower that debt but, at the same time, cripple an already weak economy by draining it of much needed capital and discretionary spending.   Additionally, any government austerity, to reduce the debt and possibly reduce taxes, could actually have a debilitating effect because government employee layoffs would ensue and many forms of expenditures would be cut.  This could cause a ripple effect  and even higher unemployment.

The fact is that we are at an impasse in expecting the government to do anything related to taxes and spending.  The money well is dry.  The first thing that should be done is to freeze government spending at current levels; thus stopping any further increases in debt. Then, any excessive job killing government regulations should be suspended or repealed. This would spur on the private sector to create more jobs adding to economic revival.  Approve the Keystone pipeline and allow drilling areas that are now off limits.  This will also create jobs and put money in people's pockets because of lower prices at the pump.  Get the EPA off coal's back.  This too would help people with their expenses and allow money to be spent on something other than energy.

Further, dump ObamaCare.  It's reducing small business profits; it's causing health care insurance premiums to rise more quickly; and, it's associated taxes are taking money away from the economy.   Then, there is long term unemployment insurance.  There are 3.5 million jobs out there that people are applying for.  Often, this is because it's more comfy to stay on unemployment insurance than to find a job.  Lets cut insurance from the current 99 weeks to, say, 80 weeks and see if the job's situation improves.  If so, cut back the weeks of covered insurance even further. 

The bottom line is that we could get the economy going again without a lot of government spending and new taxes if our government would just get smart about regulations and wasteful spending. Obama has put our government in a box. It's the only thing left to do.