CNN: The Obama disco-jobs bill
posted at 1:36 pm on February 16, 2010 by Ed Morrissey
Ready for leisure suits, gold chains, Angel’s Flight skin-tight polyester pants, and the Village People? If you liked the economic policies of the Carter presidency, you’ll love Barack Obama’s new jobs bill, CNN reported yesterday:
The ghost of Jimmy Carter’s one-term presidency is hovering over President Obama as the Democrats try to pass a jobs bill in time for this year’s elections. So why is the centerpiece of the measure — a tax break for companies that make new hires — a play straight from Carter’s economic policy circa 1977? …
Critics of Carter’s plan — and Congress’ now — say that the problem with any jobs credit is the potential for waste. It’s estimated that of the companies that claimed the tax credit under Carter’s plan, two-thirds would have hired those employees regardless of the tax break.
“It’s a windfall for companies that want to expand anyway,” says Rea Hederman, a senior policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation. Should the bill pass, Hederman says the big beneficiaries of the tax credit this time around would be companies in the big-growth areas of health care and education.
Another problem with the 1977-78 effort is that many companies, especially small businesses, didn’t even know about the tax credit. A survey by the National Federation of Independent Business found that only 43% of their members knew of the law in January 1978.
Meanwhile bigger companies were, and still are, better-equipped to take advantage of the tax breaks because their armies of accountants can keep up with the complex changes. (Never mind that the law behind the 1970s tax credit was called the Tax Reduction and Simplification Act.)
Supporters of Carter’s bill point out that the unemployment rate dropped two points over the following two years from a peak of 7.8% when Carter took office. However, as CNN notes, the economy in 1976 and 1977 had begun a rather robust recovery. Real GDP increased 5% each year, a level which would have created jobs regardless of the tax policy. Since that growth started well before Carter took office, it’s more reasonably attributable to the normal economic cycle than to Carter’s policies. In fact, the Whip Inflation Now buttons have a better case for claiming credit, and that’s not saying much.
This bill has the same structural problems as Carter’s, which is that it targets a business decision on which it will have little influence. No business will hire someone and pay them $106,000 to get $6000 back in only one year without additional demand to support the $106,000 salary. Barack Obama’s suggestion that small businesses will take out loans to expand employment is ludicrous on its face. No business looking at a flat economy will expand its labor force without being sure that sales will support the added costs — which, by the way, go beyond the actual salary when counting benefits and expenses.
The effect of a tax benefit will be to further subsidize the already successful and to put struggling businesses at a greater disadvantage. If two entities in a market already have a competitive mismatch, the hiring tax credit will aggravate it by allowing the better business to slightly reduce costs while bringing more forces and product to market. That will allow them to lower prices (or not hike them) more readily than their competitors, which would create a government-induced bias that could drown the disadvantaged entity.
CNN concludes that this package “isn’t big enough” to actually create a broad-based hiring binge, but what they mean is that it’s not comprehensive enough to do it. In order to get capital off the sidelines and investing in business growth, the administration has to reverse its price signaling over the past year on health-care and energy costs, as well as tax policy on capital gains. Reversing the big-government, high-spending agenda would do wonders for the markets and encourage a stampede back into venture capitalism, the engine of small-business growth and economic expansion. The current jobs-bill proposals are just another version of The Hustle.
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He needs to get out of there and campaign for senators and congresspeople who are in trouble at home.
OmahaConservative on February 16, 2010 at 1:40 PM
Disco sucks!
And so does this jobs bill!
pilamaye on February 16, 2010 at 1:41 PM
Best Barry picture EVER, Ed.
Knucklehead on February 16, 2010 at 1:42 PM
disco duck strikes again
cmsinaz on February 16, 2010 at 1:43 PM
… stomach is turning.
upinak on February 16, 2010 at 1:43 PM
Welcome to Ed Morrissey’s Friday nights.
amerpundit on February 16, 2010 at 1:44 PM
The problem is you are not getting the message that he’s putting out there. Perhaps if he just explained this a little better…
Youngs98 on February 16, 2010 at 1:44 PM
He’s Barry Revolta.
jgapinoy on February 16, 2010 at 1:46 PM
No business is going to take the bait. Come on, $6,000 back in one year might be enough to pay the unemployment taxes here in CT for a new hire.
Johnnyreb on February 16, 2010 at 1:46 PM
So the democrats once again show that they don’t have a clue as to what they are doing….
…..well at least the “adults” are showing some consistency…..stupid as he!!…but a least they are consistent.
Baxter Greene on February 16, 2010 at 1:47 PM
FIFY!
Ed Morrissey on February 16, 2010 at 1:47 PM
This President is Carter on steroids. I hope he’s a lame duck for 3 years.
kingsjester on February 16, 2010 at 1:48 PM
Ed, Bravo on the picture. I seriously spit out my tea and laughed so hard at work.
cubachi on February 16, 2010 at 1:48 PM
Disco Demolition
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Xsrz-6U_hc
Awesome photo Ed!
CTSherman on February 16, 2010 at 1:48 PM
I’d totally welcome that :)
FontanaConservative on February 16, 2010 at 1:49 PM
Yes, I agree with one of the previous commenters…
Heh.
Obama needs to get BUSY and get out there and campaign for all of the Dems who are “in trouble” – in fact he needs to campaign for all of them!
That should just about guarantee turnovers in both the House and the Senate this Fall….
GeorgiaDoe on February 16, 2010 at 1:49 PM
The president really needs to better explain how he intends to create jobs. I suggest another address to Congress. But it would have to be followed the next two evenings with prime time press conferences.
myrenovations on February 16, 2010 at 1:49 PM
I prefer Dick Cheney’s thursdays.
lorien1973 on February 16, 2010 at 1:50 PM
I’m beginning to think he opens up a big “bible” of past policies and administrations from democrat presidents, closes his eyes, points and says “That one!”
Then when they try to argue he says “Silence! I am Obama! And make sure MY policy is written in RED!”
Ingenue on February 16, 2010 at 1:50 PM
Heh. Good times. Good times.
amerpundit on February 16, 2010 at 1:50 PM
What is to stop a company with minimum wage employees from laying off a bunch and hiring new ones?
keioki on February 16, 2010 at 1:51 PM
Don’t look at the nation’s mood ring Babmi. You won’t like what you see.
viking01 on February 16, 2010 at 1:51 PM
Get ready for stagflation!
orfannkyl on February 16, 2010 at 1:52 PM
Actually he’s Jimmah on meth. If he were on steroids there would be some bulking up involved instead of a steady spiral to nothingness.
thomasaur on February 16, 2010 at 1:52 PM
Ed Morrissey on February 16, 2010 at 1:47 PM
’76-’80 – College years…brown corduroy leisure suit…yikes!
kingsjester on February 16, 2010 at 1:52 PM
Look to the left, look to the right, stand up, sit down, then lie, lie, lie. That’s the Obama Hustle.
capejasmine on February 16, 2010 at 1:54 PM
Wait, wait, you mean that CNN just compared Zero to Jimmuh Carter!? You gotta be kidding.
iurockhead on February 16, 2010 at 1:54 PM
I can’t wait for the mandatory wage and price controls again. That worked out very well IIRC.
Johnnyreb on February 16, 2010 at 1:56 PM
Let’s hope it’s the President’s….Last Dance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohDEd14_NUo&NR=1
yoda on February 16, 2010 at 1:57 PM
We’re gonna ring your bell in November, Barry. Ring your bell…ringa…ringa…ringa.
SouthernGent on February 16, 2010 at 1:57 PM
Wonder if Ed envisioned becoming a blogger back in those days. And the Bee Gees were awesome! I still got my pumps and gold chains.
Rovin on February 16, 2010 at 1:58 PM
Expect another celebration in Cominsky Field this summer.
WashJeff on February 16, 2010 at 1:59 PM
DAMN! Now I have at least eight or nine lousy songs that will be playing in my head for the rest of the day because you guys had to bring up the accursed word DISCO!
Thanks for nuthin’ Hotair!
pilamaye on February 16, 2010 at 2:01 PM
Today is February 16, 1978, and Democrat president Barry Carter is in trouble. I’m looking forward to that new sci-fi series advertised called Battlestar Galactica that will debut in the fall.
Good times ahead.
Top 100 songs of this year:
1. Shadow Dancing, Andy Gibb
2. Night Fever, Bee Gees
3. You Light Up My Life, Debby Boone
4. Stayin’ Alive, Bee Gees
5. Kiss You All Over, Exile
6. How Deep Is Your Love, Bee Gees
7. Baby Come Back, Player
8. (Love Is) Thicker Than Water, Andy Gibb
9. Boogie Oogie Oogie, A Taste Of Honey
10. Three Times a Lady, Commodores
11. Grease, Frankie Valli
12. I Go Crazy, Paul Davis
13. You’re the One That I Want, John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John
14. Emotion, Samantha Sang
15. Lay Down Sally, Eric Clapton
16. Miss You, Rolling Stones
17. Just the Way You Are, Billy Joel
18. With a Little Luck, Wings
19. If I Can’t Have You, Yvonne Elliman
20. Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah), Chic
21. Feels So Good, Chuck Mangione
22. The Best of Nick Gilder – Hot Child In the City, Nick Gilder
23. Love Is Like Oxygen, Sweet
24. It’s a Heartache, Bonnie Tyler
25. We Are the Champions/We Will Rock You, Queen
26. Baker Street, Gerry Rafferty
27. Can’t Smile Without You, Barry Manilow
28. Too Much, Too Little, Too Late, Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams
29. Dance With Me, Peter Brown
30. Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad, Meat Loaf
31. Jack and Jill, Raydio
32. Take a Chance On Me, Abba
33. Sometimes When We Touch, Dan Hill
34. Last Dance, Donna Summer
35. Hopelessly Devoted to You, Olivia Newton-John
36. Hot Blooded, Foreigner
37. You’re In My Heart, Rod Stewart
38. The Closer I Get to You, Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway
39. Dust In the Wind, Kansas
40. Magnet and Steel, Walter Egan
41. Short People, Randy Newman
42. Use Ta Be My Girl, O’Jays
43. Our Love, Natalie Cole
44. Love Will Find a Way, Pablo Cruise
45. An Everlasting Love, Andy Gibb
46. Love Is In the Air, John Paul Young
47. Goodbye Girl, David Gates
48. Slip Slidin’ Away, Paul Simon
49. The Groove Line, Heatwave
50. Thunder Island, Jay Ferguson
51. Imaginary Lover, Atlanta Rhythm Section
52. Still The Same, Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band
53. My Angel Baby, Toby Beau
54. Disco Inferno, Trammps
55. On Broadway, George Benson
56. Come Sail Away, Styx
57. Back in Love Again, L.T.D.
58. This Time I’m in It for Love, Player
59. You Belong to Me, Carly Simon
60. Here You Come Again, Dolly Parton
61. Blue Bayou, Linda Ronstadt
62. Peg, Steely Dan
63. You Needed Me, Anne Murray
64. Shame, Evelyn “Champagne” King
65. Reminiscing, Little River Band
66. Count On Me, Jefferson Starship
67. Baby Hold On, Eddie Money
68. Hey Deanie, Shaun Cassidy
69. Summer Nights, John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John
70. What’s Your Name, Lynyrd Skynyrd
71. Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue, Crystal Gayle
72. Because the Night, Patti Smith
73. Every Kinda People, Robert Palmer
74. Copacabana, Barry Manilow
75. Always and Forever, Heatwave
76. You and I, Rick James
77. Serpentine Fire, Earth, Wind and Fire
78. Sentimental Lady, Bob Welch
79. Falling, LeBlanc and Carr
80. Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood, Santa Esmeralda
81. Bluer Than Blue, Michael Johnson
82. Running On Empty, Jackson Browne
83. Whenever I Call You “Friend”, Kenny Loggins
84. Fool (If You Think It’s Over), Chris Rea
85. Get Off, Foxy
86. Sweet Talkin’ Woman, Electric Light Orchestra
87. Life’s Been Good, Joe Walsh
88. I Love The Night Life, Alicia Bridges
89. You Can’t Turn Me Off (In the Middle of Turning Me On), High Inergy
90. It’s So Easy, Linda Ronstadt
91. Native New Yorker, Odyssey
92. Flashlight, Parliament
93. Don’t Look Back, Boston
94. Turn to Stone, Electric Light Orchestra
95. I Can’t Stand The Rain, Eruption
96. Ebony Eyes, Bob Welch
97. The Name of the Game, Abba
98. We’re All Alone, Rita Coolidge
99. Hollywood Nights, Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band
100. Deacon Blues, Steely Dan
keep the change on February 16, 2010 at 2:01 PM
It’s just your jive talkin’. You’re telling me lies, yeah.
Jive talkin’, you wear a disguise.
Jive talkin’, so misunderstood, yeah.
Jive talkin’, you’re really no good
OmahaConservative on February 16, 2010 at 2:02 PM
I was at Disco Demolition night. It was scarier than “seat cushion” night, when Tony LaRussa got booted from the game and 35,000 seat cushions got thrown out onto the field.
Fun times!!!
Knucklehead on February 16, 2010 at 2:02 PM
I hear you pilamye…I also hate Disco. Sorry for the Donna Summer song above. ( :
yoda on February 16, 2010 at 2:04 PM
New conservative marching song leading us to 2012 —-Stayin’ Alive!
Rovin on February 16, 2010 at 2:04 PM
It’s more of a Time Warp, and we’re living the Baracky Horror Picture Show.
rw on February 16, 2010 at 2:04 PM
Quick! Get to Nebraska and help Ben!
cntrlfrk on February 16, 2010 at 2:06 PM
This is why you cannot call a “progressive” progressive, they don’t learn from the past or experience.
They keep falling back on bad, failed ideas from the past, pretending they are new or something, and will work this time. Maybe since they are feeling they are so much smarter than Carter and his cadre, this failed idea will work for Obama and his cadre.
They are “regressives”, and should be labeled such. Or, retarded, if you want to step into that briar patch.
Harry Schell on February 16, 2010 at 2:08 PM
He desperately needs a PIZZA!!!!!!
pilamaye on February 16, 2010 at 2:08 PM
Best of the list.
OmahaConservative on February 16, 2010 at 2:08 PM
This ones for you!
FontanaConservative on February 16, 2010 at 2:08 PM
He ain’t gettin’ no stinkin’ pizza here.
OmahaConservative on February 16, 2010 at 2:09 PM
Obama still isn’t communicating honestly. We all know the stimulus bill was to save the bacon of the states.
They couldn’t even meet their unemployment bills, nevermind the other programs.
AnninCA on February 16, 2010 at 2:11 PM
Bee Gee’s in the background, the bobbing of the head, the swagger of the hips….
OMG, Ed is John Travolta!!!!
upinak on February 16, 2010 at 2:13 PM
Cap’n Ed,
You got to add the right soundtrack for this jobs bill: Stayin’ Alive.
newton on February 16, 2010 at 2:13 PM
Is a “disco job” anything like a “disco stick?” Cause I’m pretty sure they both screw you…….
di butler on February 16, 2010 at 2:13 PM
It was pretty much like putting a band-aid on a sucking chest wound here in CT. Next year is going to be really, really bad.
Johnnyreb on February 16, 2010 at 2:13 PM
WHAT?!!!!! NO BOBBY SHERMAN?!!!!!
pilamaye on February 16, 2010 at 2:15 PM
I’m going nowhere / Somebody help me! – Obama
newton on February 16, 2010 at 2:15 PM
I can’t claim I was there, nor would I want to, but I was a HUGE Steve & Gary fan back then. I used to like you! A Sox fan? Hmm?
I apparently have a passion for pain and heartache= Cub fan.
CTSherman on February 16, 2010 at 2:16 PM
Let him eat Tombstone!
pilamaye on February 16, 2010 at 2:18 PM
Now all we need is a rumor about Rahm Emmanuel snorting cocaine at a nightclub.
Mark1971 on February 16, 2010 at 2:18 PM
It’s just your jive talkin’. You’re telling me lies, yeah.
Jive talkin’, you wear a disguise.
Jive talkin’, so misunderstood, yeah.
Jive talkin’, you’re really no good.
Nobody believes what you say.
It’s just your jive talkin’ that gets in the way.
HondaV65 on February 16, 2010 at 2:19 PM
Ahhh, the soundtrack of my life in 8th grade. Thanks for the memories. When I hear any of these songs today, I go back.
Brat on February 16, 2010 at 2:20 PM
“Barack Obama’s suggestion that small businesses will take out loans to expand employment is ludicrous on its face”
I run the lender division for business finance dot com. If anyone knows that the above statement is right on….it’s me.
120,000 small businesses come to us every month to find a lender that is lending. For the last 2 years, they have found the credit market for small business loans is frozen shut. And small businesses with good revenue and cash flow cash flow will not take on any new debt or take out new loans due to uncertainty in the economy. So the statement is false on more than one front.
Opposite Day on February 16, 2010 at 2:20 PM
I was waay too young to understand that decade. I was 3 years old in 1977.
newton on February 16, 2010 at 2:22 PM
Whew Hoo. 1977 all over again. My dad drove a ’77 T-bird with T-tops, and mom drove a ’76 Granada.
The 70′s sucked. Why relive it if we don’t have to?
portlandon on February 16, 2010 at 2:22 PM
Nor can you claim that you were at a Cub’s World Series game. :-)
WashJeff on February 16, 2010 at 2:22 PM
I hope the Republicans Tear the Roof of the Mucka Sucka.
portlandon on February 16, 2010 at 2:24 PM
Obama’s tax-credit proposal: “Stayin’ Alive with Greenbacks for Gofers.”
BuckeyeSam on February 16, 2010 at 2:27 PM
I just want to know how the heck Ed knows about Angels Flight pants?
jewells45 on February 16, 2010 at 2:30 PM
BuckeyeSam on February 16, 2010 at 2:31 PM
I was at game one of the World Series in 2005. Can you make the same claim or do you have to “wait until next year” for how many years now?
Knucklehead on February 16, 2010 at 2:32 PM
I feel so left out, I was born in the 80s =(
Ingenue on February 16, 2010 at 2:32 PM
It looks like 1978 was a bad year for music and political ideas.
Old Fritz on February 16, 2010 at 2:32 PM
A much better Obama theme song ‘Jive Talking’ by the BeeGees. Maybe he can perform it for the expectant …
tarpon on February 16, 2010 at 2:38 PM
Ah, the ’76 Ford Grenada. The parents had one for the grocery shopping etc. Special ordered with a V-8 engine. It idled at about 35 MPH. You could chirp the tires just by looking at the speedometer and warp speed by sneezing with the foot on the gas. Too bad those years featured Ford’s famous rust through body and paint work. Good engine, non-existent rustproofing.
viking01 on February 16, 2010 at 2:42 PM
Mainstream media’s new theme song on November 3rd, 2010 —The “Sounds of Silence”
Rovin on February 16, 2010 at 2:43 PM
Anyone like me who lived through that year and still vividly remembers it knows all too well how true this statement is!
pilamaye on February 16, 2010 at 2:44 PM
Trust me, you didn’t miss much.
pilamaye on February 16, 2010 at 2:44 PM
That picture is a hoot.
Beaglemom on February 16, 2010 at 2:52 PM
Why do all the tax breaks (home, cars, employers) go to people who are going to do what is necessary to get the tax break, whether or not it is offered?
Politics. Taxpayers are spending billions (trillions?) so Barry’s “administration” can try and make themselves look good.
NoDonkey on February 16, 2010 at 2:55 PM
Don’t feel bad! I grew up in the 80s, and entered college in 1990! :-)
newton on February 16, 2010 at 2:56 PM
I am coming to the conclusion that it will never happen. You however, are in the company of GREATNESS:
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/7/2009/07/504x_48066624.jpg
CTSherman on February 16, 2010 at 3:01 PM
Interesting choice of a theme for this thread, since today on Fox and Friends they announced that, on this day in 1978, Stayin’ Alive was the #1 song.
But, back on topic:
Of course, you must realize that 0bama does not understand this. He thinks employee benefits are gifts from employers, reserved only for their most cherished top execs, and the only reason that any working class people get benefits is because Unions and democrats fight so hard for them.
UltimateBob on February 16, 2010 at 3:02 PM
How about….Michelle is just a decoy, and Rahm is really the first lady? LOL
capejasmine on February 16, 2010 at 3:03 PM
I can just see all these sham jobs that were created with Stimulus as a means for passing money to Obama supporters now lining up for tax breaks for hiring non-existent workers in non-existent Congressional districts.
My friends, all I can say is welcome to Chicago.
highhopes on February 16, 2010 at 3:04 PM
I should have known that was coming. Please come and clean the Pepsi off the computer LOL.
Truce??????
Knucklehead on February 16, 2010 at 3:05 PM
“And you know what hell is, folks? It’s Andy Gibb… singing Shadow Dancing… for eons and eons…” ~Dennis Leary
shibumiglass on February 16, 2010 at 3:07 PM
Ha ha…. my first car was a ’76 Mercury Monarch (same car, basically).
UltimateBob on February 16, 2010 at 3:08 PM
I guess that’s what Zero really meant about his High Speed Rails System.
viking01 on February 16, 2010 at 3:08 PM
I have another take on how bad this tax break can be. A company can lay off employees that doesn’t enable the company to take the tax break and hire new employees that have been unemployed for over 60 days to be able to take the tax break.
End result: no net job increases and a reduction of funds to social security at a time when social security is starting to go into a negative cash flow.
All your stupid ideas are belong to us!
PrettyD_Vicious on February 16, 2010 at 3:08 PM
Knucklehead on February 16, 2010 at 3:05 PM
Of course, but please tell me you BEAR DOWN.
CTSherman on February 16, 2010 at 3:16 PM
I drove one of these in 1978.
OmahaConservative on February 16, 2010 at 3:16 PM
Have you noticed, you Never Hear any of those songs on the radio. With good reason.
RADIOONE on February 16, 2010 at 3:22 PM
With all due respect my friend, you couldn’t be more wrong.
Rovin on February 16, 2010 at 3:27 PM
I did a little internet research on the 76 Grenada. Ours had the 351 Windsor V-8 5.8 liter engine under the hood… which could explain why when mother gently eased away at the traffic lights everyone else around got left far behind in the dust. It had an insane amount of horsepower for a mid-size family sedan.
viking01 on February 16, 2010 at 3:35 PM
I drove one of these in 1978
The 71 240Z was 500lbs lighter than the 72, and had no smog. It was a rocket ship, and if you kept good rubber on the wheels, it would stick.
Rovin on February 16, 2010 at 3:41 PM
Ed, Ed, Ed. … Ed?
Just wow. :>)
The Scientology-befuddled Disco Boy should sue y’all over that pic! Dayum.
hillbillyjim on February 16, 2010 at 3:46 PM
“Welcome Back Carter”
ThePrez on February 16, 2010 at 3:51 PM
Perhaps if The One had ever held a job or run a business he just might understand the total stupidy of that – typical useless socialist academic. . . .
karra on February 16, 2010 at 4:25 PM
If Disco-Zero would replace Gibbs with Don Cornelius the transition to the 70s would be complete.
Michello-O could be special guest on Dance Fever with Denny Terrio and “Motion” could teach her how to grease the hinges.
viking01 on February 16, 2010 at 4:28 PM
Look Boss! The perm, the perm!
Pat Patterson on February 16, 2010 at 4:41 PM
Hey, I’ve got one of those WIN buttons!
But disco still sucks.
IrishEi on February 16, 2010 at 7:50 PM
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