Romer: Spend Now To Create Jobs, Address Rising Deficits Later
EmailABC News’ Matthew Jaffe reports: The Obama administration is focused on boosting job growth in the immediate future but committed to reining in the country’s soaring deficits over the long-term, one of President Obama’s top economic advisers said Tuesday. In a speech at the National Association for Business Economics’ conference this morning in Arlington, Christina Romer, chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, highlighted three proposals that the administration believes would help the “severely distressed” jobs market. She said a tax credit for hiring is “sensible, responsible policy”; additional fiscal relief to states would be “both particularly valuable and particularly effective”; and a lending fund for small banks could increase the availability of credit, a “critical” factor in economic growth. The government should spend now to spur job creation, Romer said, and then address the country’s ballooning deficits when the economic recovery is assured. “No one can look at these numbers and not be concerned,” she acknowledged, calling the rising tide of red ink “a challenge that simply must be addressed. But she cautioned, “It is virtually impossible to get the deficit under control when the unemployment rate remains near 10 percent.” “The sensible way to address the deficit is with a long-run plan,” she said. “It would be penny-wise but pound-foolish to deal with our long-run problem by tightening fiscal policy immediately or foregoing additional emergency spending to reduce unemployment.” Romer today also reiterated the administration’s calls for sweeping financial regulatory reforms, saying it was “absolutely essential” to put in place “good rules of the road.” — Matthew Jaffe
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The government should spend now to spur job creation, Romer said, and then address the country’s ballooning deficits when the economic recovery is assured.
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Wasn’t this the same thing she said last spring about the stimulus?! Now a Sen. Casey (a democrat who campaigned actively for Obama in PA) is one of the senators calling for a halt to that part of the stimulus spending related to some green energy because it is going to factories- IN CHINA!!! We borrow from them for the stimulus to send the money there and they pay them back what we borrowed with interest. WOW!! So far they have spent money to increase public jobs and wastefully spent to stimulate other country’s economies. The trust deficit is getting bigger not smaller here.
Posted by: obieone40 | March 9, 2010, 2:49 pm 2:49 pm
Now a Sen. Casey (a democrat who campaigned actively for Obama in PA) is one of the senators calling for a halt to that part of the stimulus spending related to some green energy because it is going to factories- IN CHINA!!!
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That is one small fraction of the green funds (which are one small fraction of the stimulus plan) which ends up purchasing component parts overseas.
The U.S. just did not have those parts available here – not all of them.
Worth noting part of the funding is going into research to develop those components in the U.S.
Posted by: tierra | March 9, 2010, 3:08 pm 3:08 pm
Jobs is the worst dropped ball.
Posted by: DontGet818OnMeNow | March 9, 2010, 3:22 pm 3:22 pm
That is one small fraction of the green funds (which are one small fraction of the stimulus plan) which ends up purchasing component parts overseas.
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According to Senator Casey it was 80% of $1.9 billion dollars in 2009 (which is what $1.5 billion all of it borrowed with interest from China).
Posted by: obieone40 | March 9, 2010, 3:39 pm 3:39 pm
Common sense should tell governments that deficits should not trump unemployment.
Those who object to jobs legislation and/or extending unemployment benefits simply don’t understand the way the economy works.
Posted by: Lydia | March 9, 2010, 4:08 pm 4:08 pm
JOB GROWTH? AS IN GREEN OR IS THAT GOVERNMENT JOBS? FROM THIS ADM. IT SURELY CANNOT BE JOBS CREATED BY THE PRIVATE SECTOR. THE PRIVATE SECTOR NEEDS A HECK OF A LOT MORE INCENTIVE THAN OBAMA IS WILLING TO GIVE!! WE HAVE THE SECOND HIGHEST CORPORATE TAX RATE IN THE WORLD – WHY DON’T WE START WITH THAT AND THEN ONWARD. NAW, MOT OBAMA – WON’T HAPPEN. GEE, WOULDN’T IT BE A LOT EASIER FOR FOLKS TO PAY THEIR HEALTH PREMIUMS IF THEY HAD JOBS? NAW, NO NEED FOR GOV RUN HEALTH-CARE THEN.
Posted by: Temagami | March 9, 2010, 4:53 pm 4:53 pm
“THE BIGGER THE GOVERNMENT GROWS, THE SMALLER THE INDIVIDUAL BECOMES.” I CAN THINK OF NO BETTER WAY TO DEFINE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES.
Posted by: Temagami | March 9, 2010, 5:16 pm 5:16 pm
“THE BIGGER THE GOVERNMENT GROWS, THE SMALLER THE INDIVIDUAL BECOMES.” I CAN THINK OF NO BETTER WAY TO DEFINE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES.”
Yes, conservatives want to decide who you should love and which God should be worshiped.
They want businesses to have the freedom to rip you off, they want the people to have the freedom to remain ignorant.
Witness the FL GOP trying to amend current tax cuts to family friendly film productions in the state.
It sounds great until your movie happens to have a gay character.
See conservatives like big government, but only THEIR big government.
Posted by: Ryan C | March 9, 2010, 5:30 pm 5:30 pm
“Now a Sen. Casey (a democrat who campaigned actively for Obama in PA) is one of the senators calling for a halt to that part of the stimulus spending related to some green energy because it is going to factories- IN CHINA!!!”
Yes because thanks to years of handing out huge subsidies to oil and gass companies the United States is behind the rest of the world in alternative energy products such as the turbines used in Wind power creation.
The right wing solution to this technology gap? Stop investment in alternative energy and drill off coast.
Posted by: Ryan C | March 9, 2010, 5:32 pm 5:32 pm
RYAN – AS THE CURRENT GROUP OF LIBS RUNNING THIS COUNTRY, YOU HAVE A VERY LIMITED ASSESSMENT OF YOUR OPPONENTS. COST YOU BIG TIME IN VA, MA,NJ AND ALMOST NY, AND UNLESS EVENTS SUDDENLY CHANGE. PERHAPS YOU WILL UNDERSTAND BETTER IN NOVEMBER.
Posted by: Temagami | March 9, 2010, 5:38 pm 5:38 pm
“According to Senator Casey it was 80% of $1.9 billion dollars in 2009 (which is what $1.5 billion all of it borrowed with interest from China).”
Looks like you are mashing quotes together….right wingers do that often.
First the biggest foreign beneficiary of green stim funds is Spain as Spanish companies are some of the largest in the wind energy field.
Example:
WaPo”The American Wind Energy Association said that for the first $1 billion spent on the program, 53 percent of the value of wind turbines — and 63 percent of other equipment on wind farms — came from the United States.
The trade group also estimated that 50,000 jobs would be lost if the grants were halted. Energy Department spokeswoman Stephanie Mueller said a moratorium “would cause immediate layoffs of American workers” at U.S. manufacturing plants, including some in the home states of the complaining senators.
“Other countries are not pressing the pause button on clean-energy industries, and they will move quickly to capture America’s share of the global market while we sit on the sidelines,” Mueller said. “The longer we delay, the longer we remain dependent on foreign oil instead of America’s home-grown clean-energy resources.”
“Obama administration points to the example of Iberdrola, a Spanish firm that began construction on a stalled wind-farm project in Pontiac, Ill., because of stimulus grants. The turbines come from another Spanish firm, Gamesa, which is using an abandoned U.S. Steel plant in Pennsylvania to manufacture them. Administration officials said Iberdola has committed to investing an additional $6 billion in U.S. projects as a result.”
Posted by: Ryan C | March 9, 2010, 5:39 pm 5:39 pm
RYAN – AS THE CURRENT GROUP OF LIBS RUNNING THIS COUNTRY, YOU HAVE A VERY LIMITED ASSESSMENT OF YOUR OPPONENTS”
I am fully aware of the danger of right wing fanatics coming to power.
“COST YOU BIG TIME IN VA, MA,NJ AND ALMOST NY,”
Actually the right wing cost itself big time in NY-23.
Apparently Dede was not homophobic enough and had to go so a sure GOP seat ended up Democratic.
Scott Brown got elected by pretending he wasn’t a Republican but rather an independent.
Corzine had issues in Jersey going back to his car accident.
And Deeds had been bested in 2008 by the same guy.
Posted by: Ryan C | March 9, 2010, 5:43 pm 5:43 pm
“According to Senator Casey it was 80% of $1.9 billion dollars in 2009 (which is what $1.5 billion all of it borrowed with interest from China
Looks like you are mashing quotes together….right wingers do that often.
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Nice try but the main quote “80% of $1.9 billion last year” was an exact quote from Sen. Casey’s (D) own mouth. The only part added was to clarify 2009 and in parentheses my lame math to figure out 80% of $1.9 billion. His interviewer said that was about $1.7 bilion and he said yes it’s a lot of money. He is also quoted as saying they (a group of Senators) are putting a halt on the money in that part of the stimulus because it is going to companies overseas- specifically China. So maybe he’s wrong but the numbers are from Senator Casey, campaigner for Obama in PA) himself. Also not a right winger but an independent. Open your ears and listen to the news even if when doesn’t fit in your little box right or left.
Posted by: obieone40 | March 9, 2010, 7:57 pm 7:57 pm
TO elaborate further about the interview Sen. Casey did say other foreign countries were receiving the 80% of $1.9 billion in section 1603 of the stimulus. Again not “mashing quotes”- his own words. The specific dollar amount he mentioned for just one of these projects was regarding a Texas wind project $450 million which benefits China. SO maybe some of the money is going to Spain as well it’s not going here.
Spain really could use it since their green jobs program was the first and biggest push in the western industrialized world and has damaged their economy. They’re averaging 18.8% (much higher than the rest of EU when they had once been a leading economy) at the end of 2009 (with 40% among younger workers), unemployment (since only 1 in 10 green jobs were permanent), that for every 1 green job there was a loss of 2.2 jobs. They also spent $774,000 to create each “green job” according to a study on 2000. The huge rise in energy costs affecting every industry has been a major factor. But I digress, the problem, even with your quote about Spain, is that the main push of the stimulus (since it is completely funded with borrowed money) was that it was “emergency money” to stimulate our economy not Spain’s or China’s or anyone else you want to cite. Is that really the most cost effective way to grow new jobs?
Posted by: obieone40 | March 9, 2010, 8:29 pm 8:29 pm
Need to improve economy .then increase employment automatically
Posted by: Ilan Ben Menachem | March 18, 2010, 6:22 am 6:22 am