The Top Ten Obamanomics Failures

From Big Government:

Top 10 Failures of Obamanomicsby Vince Haley


President Obama unveiled his latest economic proposal in Cleveland recently in a desperate attempt to boost the Democrats’ fleeting hopes of maintaining control of Congress this November. But after two years of massive government spending and job-killing policies, the damage has already been done and it’s clear this fall’s election will be boiled down to a simple choice: job killers versus job creators.







With unemployment at 9.6%, the American people are clamoring for candidates with a solutions-oriented agenda for job creation as an alternative to the job-killing policies of the Obama-Pelosi-Reid machine.



Intel CEO Paul Otellini described it this way: “I think this group does not understand what it takes to create jobs. And I think they’re flummoxed by their experiment in Keynesian economics not working.”



Simply put, candidates who propose job-creating policies and show how their opponent’s policies are killing jobs will win decisively in 2010.



American Solutions has already put forth its Jobs Here, Jobs Now, Jobs First plan, so let’s examine the top 10 job-killing policies of the Obama-Pelosi-Reid machine.





1. $1 Trillion ObamaCare

Despite being law for less than a year, ObamaCare has already had a devastating impact on the economy. For example, Milwaukee-based Assurant Health is eliminating 130 jobs due to the new healthcare law, while one of Iowa’s largest companies, Deere & Company, said ObamaCare will cost them $150 million. AT&T, meanwhile, was hit with $1 billion in new costs related to the law. And that is just the tip of the iceberg. According to a study from the National Federation of Independent Business, within the first five years of ObamaCare over 1.6 million jobs will be lost because of the employer mandate alone.



2. $800 Billion Failed Stimulus

Despite having no basis in economics—and widely mocked as unserious—the Obama administration foolishly continues to claim the stimulus “saved or created” millions of jobs. However, for a far more accurate characterization look no further than the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which calculates that more than 2.5 million jobs have been lost since the stimulus became law. If you factor in jobs “lost and dislocated,” that number could be as high as 4 million.



3. Cap and Trade Energy Tax

According to the Heritage Foundation, Waxman-Markey, the House-passed version of cap and trade, could kill more than 1 million jobs per year, raise annual energy costs by $829 for the average family, and increase gasoline prices by $1.38 per gallon. The Senate version of cap and trade, Kerry-Lieberman, is equally destructive. A study by Chamberlain Economics found the Kerry-Lieberman bill would kill 522,000 jobs in 2015, and up to 5.1 million jobs by 2050. Families would also face an additional burden of $1,042 per year as a result of the bill.



4. 2011 Automatic Tax Increases

If the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts are not extended by January 1, 2011, then a $3.8 trillion tax increase will hit every American who pays income taxes. According to the Tax Policy Center, expiration of these tax cuts will increase the average tax filer’s burden by $1,368 per year. Additionally, analysts at Deutsche Bank predicted that GDP could drop by as much as 1.5% if the tax cuts expire. Just last week, 31 House Democrats sent a letter to Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Hoyer indicating their support for extending all of the tax cuts.



5. $13 Trillion National Debt

If you add up the massive expansion of government outlined in this list and elsewhere, the national debt has increased by $2.4 trillion under President Obama’s watch to a total of over $13 trillion. Even worse, the White House projects the national debt to double by 2020 to over $26 trillion. As CBS News’ Mark Knoller wrote, “If you could buy stock in the National Debt, do it. It’s headed for the moon.”



6. Financial Regulation

The recently passed financial regulation legislation did nothing to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two mortgage giants that helped trigger the financial crisis. It did, however, guarantee future bailouts of large companies that fail, forcing taxpayers to foot the bill for private companies’ mismanagement. In the end, government control of America’s financial system will help London, Tokyo, Frankfurt, Shanghai and other foreign financial centers while killing jobs and reducing economic activity in the United States. Predictably, four out of five Americans believe the legislation will not help avoid another crisis, a Bloomberg poll found.



7. Death Tax

Under current law, the death tax is zero for 2010. But if the Obama-Reid-Pelosi machine gets its way and Congress doesn’t act this year, the death tax will jump to 55% next year. This would devastate small businesses and family farms by forcing them to sell off assets, land, or lay off workers in order to pay the massive death tax levy upon the death of a family business owner. According to a study by Douglas Holtz-Eakin, former director of the Congressional Budget Office, permanently repealing the burdensome death tax would create 1.5 million jobs.



8. Big Labor’s Card Check

Card Check, otherwise known as the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), is the top legislative priority for big labor and their allies in Congress. It is an enormous power grab by union bosses that would strip workers of their right to decide by private ballot whether to join a union, and their right to freely negotiate their contract. According to a study by noted economist Dr. Anne Layne-Farrar, for every three workers coerced into joining a union under Card Check, one job will be eliminated. That means an estimated 600,000 jobs could be lost due to Card Check in the first year alone.



9. Drilling Moratorium

The Wall Street Journal uncovered internal White House documents that show the Obama administration foresaw its moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico would kill 23,000 jobs, but proceeded with the ban anyway. In addition, rigs are already leaving the Gulf for countries like Egypt and the Republic of Congo, taking hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in future revenue with them. The company that owns the rigs cited the “uncertainties surrounding the offshore drilling moratorium” as the reason for the relocation.



10. No 2010 Budget

The Democrats’ failure to pass a budget in 2010 – at a time when America’s small businesses are being forced to make tough choices in order to survive – reinforces their irresponsible big spending approach to governance. If they can’t even pass something as basic as a budget, how can they be trusted and taken seriously to create jobs? If Congress believes it can speak for working men and women who live on fixed incomes, then it needs to start acting like it.



November 2nd can’t come fast enough.