The Beginning of the Great Job Debate

What is the most pressing issue on voter’s mind at the moment? Jobs.

What we saw in the 2008 election with the healthcare debate will doubtlessly be mirrored in the 2012 election by the issue of creating jobs in America.

Despite the issues facing our country, such as education, the war and healthcare, a recent study done by democracycorps.com shows that 46% of Americans believe that economic recovery and jobs creation are the most important issues facing us today.

In the same poll participants were asked what they thought the most pressing economic issue facing the USA is. Out of the nine options given, high unemployment came in first with a 41% selection, and in third came the outsourcing of American jobs with 23%.

So get ready for it. Because the job debate is 100% without a doubt about to take over the airwaves and the web.

How the candidates handle this issue will be the breaking point for which GOP candidate is elected to run, and probably will ultimately decide if President Obama is reelected or if we see a new Commander and Chief for the next four years.

With this defining issue of the election year looming large, lets take a look at the stances and past policies of the candidates as well as the president on jobs.

Since President Obama has been in office, the unemployment rate has risen from 9.7% to 10.1% in the beginning and fallen to 8.8% earlier this year, but has now risen to 9.1% where it has remained for the last five months.

The President’s newest job incentive, The American Jobs Act, focuses on tax cuts for specific groups, as well as government-funded infrastructure jobs. It includes tax cuts aimed at helping America’s small businesses hire and grow. This incentive would cut the payroll tax in half for 98% of businesses on their first $5 million in payroll.

There is also a “Returning Heroes” program that provides tax credits to encourage the hiring of unemployed veterans. It includes the hiring of people to build up the infrastructure of the USA much like Roosevelt's plan. There are benefits for companies that choose work sharing over layoffs, and a tax credit for employers choosing to hire long-term unemployed workers. A pay cut is to be given for half of the American workforce as well.

The bill says that the Joint Committee will come up with additional deficit reducing measures required to pay for the Act and to still make the deficit goal. According to businessinsider.com, the total cost of the bill would be $447 billion.

On to the GOP candidates.

The leading candidate for the GOP election seems to be (at this time) Rick Perry. Under Perry, Texas has created jobs the fastest of any state since the recession began at 2.2%, although the state still has a staggering 8.7% unemployment rating. This is due to the fact that since 2007, Texas’ labor force has grown twice as fast as the second fastest growing state.

Most have said that Perry has created unsustainable government jobs, and that is why the job growth has been so great, however over the last year, Texas has shrunk its federal employment by 31,300 while maintaining the growth mentioned above.

Now for Perry’s biggest competition in the primaries, Mitt Romney. Romney made it easy on me by issuing an outline on his jobs plan if he were to be elected.

His plan looks to reduce the regulations and taxes on companies, getting rid of several taxes, utilizing more US energy sources, and slashing federal spending. He also looks to take on the economic behemoth that is China, and looks to push them towards raising the value of their currency, which would eliminate the amount of American jobs outsourced to China.

Whoever wins this election, will doubtlessly have to prove to the United States of America that he (or she) can and will make jobs. And lots of them.

The American Dream

The United States of America. Freedom. The American dream.

Take a minute and let the glory of the American dream sink in. The dream that anybody from any ethnical, financial or religious background can succeed with a lifetime worth of hard work. The very principle that this great nation was founded on. The very principle that has led the United States of America to be called the greatest country in history.

The greatest country in HISTORY.

Now that’s a long time folks.

But how can such a young country be considered the greatest? How can a country lacking in history be considered on par with the grandiose empires and dynasties of old?

Enter the American Dream.

The principle that a common born person from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma can, with a high school diploma and a work ethic the size of the Great Wall of China, make millions of dollars off of true grit and hard work.

There is no nobility. There is no caste system. There is nothing holding us back other than our own lack of ambition. This is an idea that was instilled in the original colonists. This same idea has lead millions of immigrants to this country, and is the cause of the constant flow of immigrants into America today.

This dream was inspired by the free American spirit, which promoted hard work through a capitalistic society, centered on hard work of the individual as opposed to the “greater good” philosophy the majority of the European countries have employed throughout the years.

Some might believe that the American dream is dead. It is not.

But there has been a crucial change on a grassroots level of the American culture.

People once flocked to these shores looking not only to be a part of the American Dream, but also to be in every sense of the word, an American. They came seeking refuge in the land of the free and the home of the brave, wanting not only for this land to give them wealth, but wanting to lay down permanent roots. They wanted to become American citizens, and for the generations following them to be American citizens, giving them the opportunity to pursue their own version of the American Dream from birth.

America was called a “melting pot” of cultures, symbolizing the all-encompassing American culture, which seamlessly assimilates all cultures into it’s own.

America was recently called a “salad bowl” of cultures by one of my professors. Meaning that all of the different cultures are the parts of the salad, and America is the bowl. This view on America has become more accurate as of late, with the majority of people coming here to utilize the opportunity presented by the American Dream, but without becoming American.

It is an interesting change that I, and others I’ve talked to have observed, which is not okay.

Our president, Barack Obama, is a living testament to the American Dream. Whether or not you approve of his policies, he is a picturesque example of the American Dream lived out, and utilized to its fullest potential.

The dream will continue to live on in this country so long as the government doesn’t breach its boundaries of allowing capitalism to flourish.

I can’t wait to talk some about the upcoming presidential election candidates, and what the election will have to offer as far as advancing this dream.