Cantor's Pathetic Jobs Plan

By Andy Kroll| Fri May. 27, 2011 6:48 AM PDT

On Thursday, House Republicans finally unveiled their grand plan for tackling America's jobs crisis and creating jobs for the unemployed. It clocks in at a mere 10 pages, in large type, chock full of slick images. What's missing is, well, any legitimate solutions to lowering the nation's 8.6 percent jobless rate. The Washington Post's Ezra Klein wrote, "It looks like the staffer in charge forgot the assignment was due on Thursday rather than Friday, and so cranked the font up to 24 and began dumping clip art to pad out the plan."

The criticism is well deserved. Reading the "House Republican Plan for America's Job Creators" (PDF) is an exercise in wonderment: you wonder what the GOPers actually propose. Several of the "Republican Solutions" are a bit vague. "After a systematic review of our visa system, the Congress should undertake prudent reforms," reads one "solution." Another "solution": "We will work to control the federal deficit to assure investors and entrepreneurs that our nation’s elected leaders are finally getting serious about paying off the debt over time." Details? Apparently, the GOP view was, why bother?

The GOP plan boiled down to its essence is rather retro: Roll back regulation, lower taxes, pass free trade agreements, shrink the US debt, and boost energy production. In other words, the GOP's overall agenda for the past three decades. There's nothing in this plan that is specific regarding the current jobs crisis, nothing to address such key issues as long-term unemployment, skyrocketing youth unemployment, the war on unemployment benefits in the states (PDF), the use and efficacy of job retraining for laid-off workers, or the polarization of the American work force. It's empty rhetoric, recycled talking points, and campaign slogans.


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http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/05/republican-plan-jobs-boehner-cantor