UPDATE10/28 : Moodys Agrees that Obama's Uncertainty is why we have no jobs.

ORIGINAL BLOG:
This week an AFL-CIO executive said 'Hey, Jesus Christ couldn't do anything more than President Obama has on the agenda we supported two years ago..."

Well that is of course just more Democrat sillyness. We didn't need Jesus to start the recovery again, we just needed one smart German chancellor named Angela Merkel.

If you read the news stories from 2009, you will find that Merkel worked with her coalition and attacked the recession with spending (yes it can work) but, she followed with a program of tax cuts and planned spending cuts.

Some of the left, like Paul Krugman have pointed out that Germany did some spending just like the US. He has also pointed out that much of the Germany austerity program has not been triggered. They are correct on both counts.  Germany jump started the economy with some quick spending and made it clear the spending was temporary and it would come with tax cuts.  They created an environment where business could bet that things would get better.  This optimism becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The United States jump started the economy with some quick spending. As much as many Teaparty supporters may hate to hear this, done right it could have worked. However the alliance of Obama, Reid and Pelosi promised more government spending by passing a stimulus with much of its spending out in the future.  They then created enormous uncertainty by forcing through a giant 2200 page bill that not even the creators have read. The "health care" bill made so many changes to our health insurance system, including costs that not even the bill's creators know what is in it.  To add to the chaos they have promised to pass "Cap & Trade" that would charge working industry for CO2 emissions and make many associated with a new Chicago based "CO2 Exchange" very rich.

Finally, congressional democrats chose not to create a budget for 2011, they also chose not even vote on which tax rates would stay the same leaving almost every US tax payer and business due for a giant tax increase in Jan 2011.

Germany did spend, but tied it to a plan that would allow business to trust in the recovery.  The US spent, then planed for more spending, and used their control of Congress and the White House to plan for pushing years of failed agenda they have wanted for years.  Democrats have created years of uncertainty for businesses that are now happy to do what they can with the workforce they have.

This is why President Obama owns this jobless recovery

The Numbers

Lets look at some key charts from: Tradingeconomics.com  Chart Problems have been Figured out and fixed.. had to take image grabs from site as links changed as people played with new charts.


This is the chart of GDP growth Quarter over Quarter.   We see US and German spending spiked GDP, but as soon as core spending trailed off, Germany is seeing real business growth pick up the slack.  In the US we are heading back down again and may be one or two quarters away from a double-dip recession.

Good News:  Since I write this initial Q2 numbers added show GDP fall ("double dip fall") may be leveling off, I hope.

Recovering from Unemployment
Now more importantly to the claim that Obama just needs more time to start getting jobs back.  The US unemployment rate has not moved even as government payrolls have increased.  Why? Because every smart business in the US is streamlining for the coming increased costs of health insurance and the automatic tax increases coming on Jan 1, 2011.




Not Jesus - Just Willing to Accept Advice

We didn't need Obama to be Jesus, we just needed him to work with the GOP and take advice he has ignored from leaders in Europe about creating a plan business can trust.   The irony is if Obama had not gone it alone and taken a 100% progressive economic path, we might see jobs coming back. This of course could have meant he might not be loosing some or all of the congress and he would have created enough political capital to try his agenda in coming years, without trashing our economy to do it.

Hubris and impatience created a bad stimulus, a bad health insurance bill and a jobless recovery balanced on the edge a second recession.

Déjà vu
Finally, it is interesting to note that the New York Times and other media criticized Germany for planning to cut taxes and increasing the deficit.  Now, Germany is already seeing an increase in tax revenue from its smart business friendly policies.

Will They Never Learn?!

Links to Read:
Merkel 2009 Tax Cuts criticized by NYT:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/business/global/14gcon.html
2009 Germany Media also assumes tax rate cuts will increase deficit:
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5035680,00.html


Germany 2010 in growth ready for more tax cuts to keep it going while tax revenue is up:
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20101023/tpl-uk-germany-taxes-20b2d2f.html