Obama: My First Job Is To Put People Back To Work

Except that it really isn’t.

BEDFORD HEIGHTS, Ohio (CNN) — President-elect Barack Obama hit the road to promote his economic stimulus plan Friday, saying that although the country is starting the new year “in the midst of a crisis unlike any that we’ve seen in our lifetime … it is not too late to change course — but only if we take dramatic action as soon as possible.”
“The way I see it, the first job of my administration is to put people back to work and get our economy working again,” he said.
But even if his stimulus plan wins approval, Obama warned, “recovery won’t happen overnight. It’s likely that, even with these measures, things will get worse before they get better.”

That last is a nice bit of lowering the bar for himself. I can’ just see his 2012 campaign slogan now: “Our economic stimulus will work…eventually!”
Anyway, Obama’s assertion that his “duty” is to put people to work speaks to his basic misunderstanding of the appropriate role of government in a free society. The government doesn’t run the economy. The government doesn’t create jobs outside of those government employees necessary to perform the basic functions of government. The government exists to create an environment where a free market can flourish and create jobs and prosperity on its own.
That means law and order. Basic infrastructure. Things like that. Not “We’ll put people back to work.”
If Obama really wants to see people back to work, he should unburden the people who actually employ other people. That means corporations. Businesses. And business owners, many of whom make above that $250,000/year (or whatever it is) threshold that Obama has said is undeserving of a tax break.
Those are the people who create the jobs. And until some of the burden is taken off their backs, this economy is going to remain weak.