commentaries

Stop the extensions. Millions of jobs go unfilled. Besides, Obama has solved the unemployment problem. The economy has turned around. All is rosey.

From the article: "Sure, tighter regulations on carbon emissions will affect the coal and oil industries, but those same rules bring jobs in wind and solar plants. Jobs aren't necessarily destroyed - they are moved around." This statement reminded me of the oft-cited lament (attributed to liberals in the conservative handbook Welfare Queens, Union Thugs and Other Myths about the 47%) for jobs lost in the buggy whip sector when automobiles started rolling off Henry Ford's assembly line. Innovation has always created more small businesses and far more jobs than it destroys.

So this article is written by the Washington Post? That is the most liberal paper and much like our paper. Those writers say that a dynamic economy would carry us far. But does not everyone know that we are not in a dynamic economy of any kind? We do not need nor want any more unskilled workers to land here in America. Ask any company of consequence if they need more skilled workers than unskilled workers? You know what they will say? "We need more skilled workers and that is it". I guarantee this is the truth. There are no more open frontiers for anyone in America. Sorry to pop these writers balloons, but they are not flying anywhere. And we do not need more than 400 million people in America. Do we really want to be just like China? Or India?

for jobs lost in the buggy whip sector when automobiles started rolling off Henry Ford's assembly line. Innovation has always created more small businesses and far more jobs than it destroys.

The government did not ban buggy whips. A better product was brought to a willing market by a private entrepreneur. There is no guarantee that green energy is a better product, nor is there proof that the market wants it.

ok so if we don't need more people in the country then who will pay for the Baby Boomders retirement? Americans aren't haven't enough kids to support the Baby Boomers. Any company may tell you, "that they do not need unskilled workers" but I would ask the CEO what he uses to clean the toilets and sinks. Seems another opinionated uninformed Republican dwells among us here. Of course, Republicans know the solution to all the problems. Heck just start two unfunded wars and everything will be just fine in the end and, if not; we can blame it on the Democrats. Oh wait... that didn't work out so well did it???

Re: "[W]e do not need more than 400 million people in America." Are you not aware, ciaman, that the US birth rate is the lowest it's been in history? that the number of retirees is growing faster than the number of new workers? that the worker-to-beneficiary ratio has declined from 41 to 2.9 workers per beneficiary? that the ratio is expected to decline to 2 workers per beneficiary by 2030? that there must be at least 3 workers per beneficiary to sustain Social Security?

Did you not read this passage of the article: "[Most economists] say immigrants boost the population and labor force, making it possible to establish more businesses and sell more goods and services, which in turn require more workers"?

I still haven't heard anything out of the DFL to create jobs other than "create infrastructure, make work jobs". They need to work WITH the private sector to create better jobs for the middle class. If the fiscal cliff is any indication, they are light years apart.

arspartz: "There is no guarantee that green energy is a better product, nor is there proof that the market wants it." Renewable energy that will power our cars and heat our homes for a fraction of the cost of fossil fuels = a better product that the public wants and our environment needs. We just need to quit funneling billions into the coffers of big oil and fund alternative energy to the same or greater extent that we subsidize fossil fuels.

ranger78 said: "Millions of jobs go unfilled." I'm sure the unemployed would like to know where they are. Perhaps you could be their employment counselor. Why is there this compulsion by the right to demonize and demean anyone who struggles in this convulsive economy? Does it make you feel superior? Not everyone is as capable as they (at least by their rhetoric) to compete. As Senator Lindsey Graham said recently (he is I believe a conservative from SC) “Most people on public assistance don’t have a character flaw. They just have a tough life.” Judge not...

Well, I was already pretty amused by the fabrications in this column, but then #4 took the "prize" in heralding all those green energy jobs created by our Solyndra et al govt investments. Here is the one fact that hangs above us all--->this President will have doubled the publicly held federal debt in under 5 years, and the economy still stinks. What happens when the govt spending binge ends, and we are left with Obamacare enticing employers to hire? A: ROUGH WATERS AHEAD...........