South By North Strategies, Ltd.

Writing for CBS MoneyWatch.com, economist Mark Thoma raises concerns about the Obama administration’s recent jobs proposal. Says Thoma:

This proposal is not very specific, and if it makes it through the legislative process it will likely change quite a bit. But as it stands there are three problems with it. First, it does not create jobs directly, all job creation occurs indirectly through incentives such as reduced capital gains taxes for small businesses, other measures that make investment cheaper, rebates for home weatherization, etc. The program relies upon people acting upon these incentives, which they may or may not do, and even if the incentives are acted upon job creation is likely to be slow due to its indirect nature. Second, the amount, $70 billion, is too small to make much of a difference given the size of the unemployment problem. Third, it’s disappointing that one of the best job creation/preservation measures the administration could have proposed, more help for state and local governments battered by budget problems arising from the recession, is not part of the proposal.
…
We need more direct and more immediate job creation than this proposal puts forth, and we need a much larger job stimulus package to make a noticeable dent in the problem. The argument for the package as announced is that this is the most that the administration can possibly get, anything larger or involving direct hiring won’t be politically feasible due to worries over the deficit and worries that direct hiring amounts to wasteful “make-work” (a view I disagree with).