With Labor Day, the school year starting, and the Republican Presidential debate all over the news this week, it might be easy to overlook the most significant event of the week. It’s not the kickoff of the NFL season or even the somber events of the 10th anniversary of 9/11. President Obama’s jobs speech tonight before a joint session of Congress is overdue, and he faces an uphill battle in winning over a public that’s increasingly moving from skeptical to cynical. The President must inspire the 9.1% of Americans currently unemployed and give hope to American entrepreneurs and business leaders that he has the right plan of action to turn around a struggling economy. There are no easy answers and Americans are frustrated.
For the sake of the country and his own political future, the time has come for President Obama to step up and sacrifice a few sacred cows regardless of the consequences within his party.
The $800 billion stimulus package didn’t work. Some people argue that it wasn’t enough, while others say government spending is the problem and the $800 billion made the situation worse. As for extending jobless benefits, that’s not a solution, just a band-aid. Solutions require more than shifting money around, they require sacrifice – even collateral damage – from some of the things that matter most to the party faithful. In no particular order, here are eight ideas he should start from:
1 – Approve the Keystone XL pipeline: Daryl Hannah is free to exercise her right to free speech and get arrested in protest, but there are 100,000 Americans who will never make in a year what she makes for a single movie. That’s a lot of jobs at risk and it’s a no-brainer even if the economic outlook for the country weren’t so bleak. Posturing for the sake of environmentalists isn’t going to win any extra votes next year and it’s only delaying a critical economy-boosting engine.
2 – Stop ignoring the science of Clean Coal Technology: Fossil fuels may not be the long-term solution to the nation’s energy needs, but without truly viable alternatives, efforts to create clean coal technology have yielded results that can’t be ignored. A study by researchers from Yale suggests the EPA’s crushing restrictions on the industry will only translate in a 20 percent switch from coal to gas. That’s not a win for the environment, and a huge blow to the Americans who proudly work in one of the nation’s oldest industries. The President put the brakes on a major EPA initiative last week and he should do it again with this one.
3 – Support shale gas fracking: The uproar over fracking is another example of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. A federal investigatory panel – created by the President himself – found that fracking can be safely performed in an environmentally-responsible manner. What’s not responsible is letting fear mongering and hysteria ignore the science. Doing nothing to reduce reliance on foreign powers for energy and simultaneously restricting U.S. job creation is wrong.
4 – Stop insurance companies from dumping dialysis patients onto Medicare: Dialysis is the only medical condition that is provided under Medicare to Americans regardless of age. After a 30 month “coordination period,” patients and their families with private insurance are all dumped onto Medicare rolls. Many of these patients are productive middle-aged employees with private insurance who don’t want to switch to the federal program – but have no choice. The President and Congress can change this – and it’ll ease pressure on Medicare, reduce bureaucracy and create jobs.
5 – Regulate medical marijuana: It’s effectively legal in more than a dozen states and it’s the largest cash crop in the U.S. The tax revenue would create a windfall, the burden on law enforcement and prisons would be lessened, and most importantly, small businesses will flourish. It’ll take time to hammer out the right policy, but the number of new businesses and new jobs that would be created in the short and long-term by legalization could be immense.
6 – Fund public transportation: The President’s national transportation plan is admirable, but it’s useless. It’s embarrassing that states are rejecting billions in federal funds. Many recent studies demonstrate what types of transportation projects are best for creating jobs, but the plan doesn’t take into account the fact that 50 different states have 50 different priorities. If the President wants to make an impact, he needs to find an example to create as a template for the rest of the nation. By scaling back on ambition and focusing on one or two public transportation-hungry states – like California for example – results will be quicker. Transportation construction still has the same power to create jobs as it did during the Great Depression but it’s not just a jobs initiatives, it’s about traffic and saving energy costs.
7 – Invest in nurses: When 1 in 11 Americans are unemployed, why is it that there is a nationwide nursing shortage that could reach as high as 500,000 by 2025? There are plenty of reasons for the shortage, but few acceptable ones. The President should create a coalition of for-profit educational and healthcare institutions to rapidly create a pipeline for feeding hospitals with qualified nurses. Tax breaks and other incentives may be derided as gifts by some but hundreds of thousands of open jobs need to be filled. Putting more people to work can provide the spark to improve patient outcomes and reduce errors.
8 - End the tech talent shortage: Just as there’s a shortage in nursing, there’s a huge demand for geeks in Silicon Valley, the Research Triangle and other tech hotspots around the nation. Computer science majors are in high demand and get impressive salaries out of college but there still aren’t enough of them to meet the demand. Rather than waste time trying to get students interested, efforts need to be focused on retraining the job force for the tech industry.
A little over a year from the next election, both parties have become paralyzed by the need to appease their disparate factions. The gridlock has led to the President’s and Congress’ approval ratings to slip to historic lows. The President’s indecision, lack of leadership and desire to please everyone has disappointed many within his own party. Soon those “Hope” bumper stickers and t-shirts may be more like ironic kitsch than historic mottos of action.
America has long been the world’s leader in supporting ingenuity and entrepreneurship. Silicon Valley and Hollywood have been successful in growing multi-billion dollar industries from nothing. The best way to spur job creation is to let Americans create and think and take risks. President Obama can lead the way by taking a risk of his own. There isn’t much further he can fall, so he better do something now while it can still make a difference.