Jobs plans

Newsday had a story about one of Obama's attempts at a jobs programs a while back. The program gives businesses $1,000 (tax credit) to hire an employee that has been out of work for one year and exempts them from paying the 6.2% SS tax until the end of the year.
Obama and his economic wizards are proud of it and really think that it is working.

Let's see:
Suppose I hire an employee I don’t need for $50,000. I get $1,000 tax credit which is good. Now I am in the hole only $49,000 for hiring the guy I don’t need. And the Social Security waiver means I don’t have to pay 6.2% of his salary $3,500 to the government in social security tax. This is not money I get for hiring the guy I don't need; just money I don’t have to pay for an employee I don’t need.
I do have to pay the guy's health care and other benefits. And next year I have to pay more in Health care expenses for the guy I don’t need.

Incredibly, Obama borrowed the money from China in order to do this. A loan he will eventually raise taxes to pay back - assuming he is still in his current seat.

So, for hiring the guy I don't need I get $1,000 which don't cover the cost of his additional benefits.

The economic wizards of the administration believe that this plan will encourage businesses to hire people they don't need. These people are running the country!!!!We are doomed.

Easy but Not too easy

The Fed and the Administration want to provide more money to banks to lend to small businesses. One question needs to be asked before determining whether this makes any sense. Will the lending guidelines that will be forced upon the banks be the same as the government’s (almost non-existent) mortgage lending guidelines that created the current economic situation? Banks are supposed to lend to businesses that have an expectation of paying the loan back. Giving away money will not help anything. That does not mean they should not lend to small businesses or do so without risk. It means reasonable lending criteria. Some things are easy – like not giving mortgage credits to people in jail – but the government couldn’t manage to avoid that. Some are made harder with government interference, quotas and set asides.
Banks have money; the government just has to create the situation where they can lend and small businesses can expand. Immediate write-off of capital expenses would be a start; dropping all the expenses for a new employee would be a good follow up.

Consistent wrongness

The Obama administration has taken the position that there are so many illegal aliens that it is folly to try to do anything about them. Their plan is to make them legal aliens rewarding the people who are here illegally at the expense of other people who are waiting to get in - people who might actually have some marketable skills that do not involve a shovel or a paper hat.
Think about that. Their argument is that there are lots of them so let’s not catch any of them. There is ample proof that law enforcement does not catch all of the bank robbers, rapists pedophiles and perpetrators of assorted other illegal acts. But that is not taken as reason that because we cannot catch criminal A we should not try to catch criminal B. Just dopey.

Setback for who?

A judge ruled that a terrorist does not have the right to a speedy trial. The basis of the decision was not spelled out but the guy was arguing that he had 6th amendment rights. A judge has finally ruled that a foreign national that tries to blow up people is not entitled to the protections of the US Constitution. Good for the judge. The bad news is that the headline of the story was “Ruling a setback for high valued detainees”. “Ruling a victory for people who want to prosecute terrorists” seems to be more appropriate.

Fair fares

Suffolk County spends $36,000,000 to operate its bus system to service 6,000,000 riders. That would be $6 per rider. Since the fare is $1.50 the County loses $4.50 for every rider. The last fare increase was in 1992. Clearly, two things need to happen: Determine what can be done to reduce costs and put everything on the table - including union benefits and the number of administrators. Then pass a fare increase that brings prices into the 21st Century.

Pensions

Somehow it is a surprise to AG Cuomo that government workers are milking the NYS and municipal pension systems. Public sector jobs are paid 50% more than private industry in salary and benefits and this has been going on for years. They don’t contribute anything to their pension plans and can pad them at will before retiring. He also missed the part about the incredibly high percentage of them that retire as “disabled”. If someone is hurt on the job they deserve whatever they get, but when 99% of LIRR employees retire with a disability there is a problem. Or perhaps I underestimate the danger of injury from the ticket punching.

Unions again

Suffolk County wants to sell a country run nursing facility that is bleeding money. Alternatively, they tried to stem the losses by having the union employees agree to work a 40 hour week instead of 37.5 that they currently work. No loss of take home income – working 40 hours like in real (non-government paid for) jobs.
The union response was to deny it. Their position is to let the county sell to private operators.
Two comments:
Union policies are not concerned about whether jobs continue to exist. They are concerned with their members get as much money/benefits for as little work as possible.
Moving these jobs to the private sector is a good thing. The fewer jobs that are based upon government largesse the more efficient the job will be done. And it lowers the cost of funding ridiculous benefit packages for public workers.