RUSH: Here’s the story on the Business Insider: ‘Young Americans Learn That Trying To Find Work Is Pointless — While the U.S. has experienced some job creation during the rebound so far –‘ there’s no rebound and there’s no job creation. At any rate, ‘Unemployment for America’s youngest job seekers continues to get worse, not even slightly better. That’s because the new jobs of today aren’t open to them, according to a study called ‘Unemployment Among Young Workers’ by the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee: ‘Employers added over half a million jobs in the last four months, yet the unemployment rate for young workers reached a record 19.6 percent in April 2010, the highest level for this age group since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking unemployment in 1947… The youngest workers (16 to 17 years) experience the highest rates of unemployment. The unemployment rate for 16 to 17 year olds was 29 percent in April.’
‘One reason explained in the report is that older workers are now taking jobs previously reserved for the youngest due to a dearth of opportunities. Another is that industries which employed young workers were hit disproportionately hard during the downturn, such as hospitality and retail. Education is also now more important than ever in securing an available job, with higher education massively reducing one’s probability of being unemployed.’ Now, here’s the dirty little secret. This is why you listen to this program, because I, ladies and gentlemen, have one of the most productive fertile memories that you will find not just in modern media but throughout our society. What is the big deal? What is the problem?
Do you remember both the first lady, Michelle Obama and Barack Obama, the president himself starting in the campaign and even after they were immaculated, they’ve been telling college students to forget working in the private sector anyway, don’t go to these law firms, don’t go to Wall Street firms, involve yourself in the health care industry. She told a woman in Zanesville, Ohio — Cookie, this is the campaign, sometime in 2008. I don’t know if this is an audio sound bite or not, but if it was it’s going to be in our archives. She told a woman, a nurse in Zanesville, Ohio, don’t leave here, don’t leave town, don’t go work for one of those big Wall Street firms, don’t go to work for a law firm, that’s not what you need to do. You need to work in government; you need to work in service. So now Obama’s fixed it so they don’t have a choice, and they’re talking about it at the Aspen Institute this week.
There’s no incentive to work, none whatsoever. Unemployment compensation, extensions routinely occur. It was only in print. Cookie tells me we don’t have any audio of that, it was only in print, we don’t have audio of Michelle telling the woman in Zanesville, Ohio, to screw it, stay where you are. By the way, Chelsea Clinton is getting married on July 31st. You might be saying, ‘Well, what’s the big deal?’ Well, she’s marrying a guy who works at Goldman Sachs, Marc Mezvinsky, the son of Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky. So it’s okay for the Clintons’ daughter to marry somebody going to work at one of those Wall Street firms but Michelle (My Belle) and Barack Obama, no, no, no, no, don’t mess with it. We’re going to find the stories in the archives. If you’re a regular listener to the program you know we’ve talked about it. I’m not making it up. So what’s the problem here? Young Americans learn that trying to find work is pointless. This president and his wife told them not to, that it’s a new day in America.
Arthur Laffer, Wall Street Journal: ‘Unemployment Benefits Aren’t Stimulus — The current debate over extending and increasing federal unemployment benefits encapsulates the disagreement between the Democrats in power in Washington and their Republican opponents. What the consequences will be of raising unemployment benefits in today’s depressed economy is at issue. The most obvious argument against extending or raising unemployment benefits is that it will make being unemployed either more attractive or less unattractive, and thereby lead to higher unemployment. Empirical research supports this view. The Democratic retort is that the economy today is so different from the past that we have to suspend our traditional understanding of economics. With five job seekers for every job opening, the unemployed are desperate for work and increasing unemployment benefits will have very little if any disincentive effect. This view hinges on a total change in employee behavior from ‘normal’ times to the current period of ‘the Great Recession.”
Now, Mr. Laffer does not point out that the Obama administration and First Lady Michelle (My Belle) Obama actively encouraged people not to seek employment anymore, to go into the public sector, go into service, give something back, don’t be focused on earning money like Michelle was at the no-show job at the hospital in Chicago. Mr. Laffer: ‘On the face of it, the idea that higher unemployment benefits won’t lead to more unemployment doesn’t make much sense. Imagine what the unemployment rate would look like if unemployment benefits were universally $150,000 per year. My guess is we’d have a heck of a lot more unemployment. Common sense and personal experience indicate higher unemployment benefits will make unemployment less unattractive and thereby increase unemployment even in the Great Recession.’ And there’s a chart that he cites nearby in the story. It shows that ‘since the 1970s there’s been a close correlation between increased unemployment benefits and an increase in the unemployment rate. Those who argue that things are different today don’t have the data to back up their claims.’
This is all by design. The sad truth here is that nobody’s upset about this in the administration. They have created the circumstances whereby this is happening: extended unemployment benefits, no private sector jobs and an encouragement not to go work. Get used to the US being in decline. Get used to fact that the US is no longer going to be the engine of economic growth, either here or in the world. Here’s how Mr. Laffer concludes his piece: ‘My suggestion would have been to take all $3.6 trillion and declare a federal tax holiday for 18 months. No income tax, no corporate profits tax, no capital gains tax, no estate tax, no payroll tax (FICA) either employee or employer, no Medicare or Medicaid taxes, no federal excise taxes, no tariffs, no federal taxes at all, which would have reduced federal revenues by $2.4 trillion annually. Can you imagine where employment would be today? How does a 2.5% unemployment rate sound?’
His point is that we’ve spent $3.6 trillion here on stimulus and bailouts and all these other things, and we got nothing for it, zilch. His alternative, declare a federal tax holiday, if you’re gonna go in debt by $3.6 trillion, why don’t you go in debt only $2.4 trillion and not tax anybody anything federally for a year, and then get out of the way and see what happens. And he’s dead-on right. It will never happen. Not with Obama. That kind of evidence, that taxes deter growth, that taxes deter expansion, something that a leftist, a statist, an authoritarian would never, ever permit. And remember the government does not create resources. All it can do is redistribute resources because for everyone who has been given something, there’s somebody who has that something taken away. And that is what’s happening, and that is by design.
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RUSH: May 14th, 2007, ‘Obama urged the students to pursue alternative careers, as he did before entering politics. A defining experience for him was his stint as a community organizer in Chicago. ‘With a degree from this university, you have everything you need to get started,’ he said. ‘Did you study business?’ He suggested going out and helping ‘struggling nonprofits find better, more effective ways to serve folks in need.’ ‘You study nursing?’ he continued.
‘Applause boomed from the football field. ‘Understaffed clinics and hospitals across this country are desperate for your help. You study education? Teach in a high-need school, where the kids really need you.’ After his speech, Obama took his place in a row of academic officials and shook hands with graduates as their names were called and they filed on stage. About 9,000 received degrees.’ This is the LA Times on May 14th of 2007. ‘Obama Urges ASU Graduates to Push Themselves,’ Arizona State University, I think. So Obama said: Don’t go to private sector, do what I did, community organizer, go help the governments, help government, become a teacher. Here’s Michelle (My Belle) Obama: ‘And in my own life, in my own small way, I’ve tried to give back to this country that has given me so much.
‘That’s why I left the job at a law firm for a career in public service, working to empower young people to volunteer in their communities, because I believe that each of us — no matter what our age or background or walk of life, each of us — has something to contribute to the life of this nation.’ So she leaves the law firm and she went over to career in ‘public service,’ which was a $350,000-a-year job at a hospital. This was her connected job at the hospital — and I’m not sure about this. I have heard she left the law firm ’cause she couldn’t pass the bar exam. She couldn’t pass the bar exam so it was time to go the public service route. So why all this concern about young people not being able to find jobs? I mean, both Obamas have said, ‘Don’t look for those kinds of jobs. Do what we did. Go work in hospitals, change bedpans. Go to a high-needs school and work with kids, become a teacher. Give back to your community!’
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RUSH: By the way, correction: Michelle Obama did pass the Illinois bar exam. That was in 1989. So I was in ‘err.’ I was in error. I had been misinformed. She did pass the bar 1989.
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RUSH: New York Times: ‘American Dream is Elusive for New Generation.’ This is July 6th of this year, to dovetail with the story we just had from the Business Insider: ‘Young Americans Learn That Trying To Find Work Is Pointless.’ No reason to look for work, young people say. There isn’t any. ‘American Dream is Elusive for New Generation.’ All right, who’s running the country? What’s the point? What was their dream in the first place? What is the American dream to these people? Whatever the American dream is it’s under assault by this regime, and we found this at RedState.com, Erick Erickson’s blog site. This is February 2008. ‘[Michelle] Obama explains that she and her husband made the choice to give up lucrative jobs in favor of community service. ‘We left corporate America, which is a lot of what we’re asking young people to do,’ she tells the women. ‘Don’t go into corporate America. You know, become teachers. Work for the community.
”Be social workers. Be a nurse. Those are the careers that we need, and we’re encouraging our young people to do that. But if you make that choice, as we did, to move out of the money-making industry into the helping industry, then your salaries respond.” They won’t be as high. This is Michelle Obama. I think this might be the Zanesville, Ohio, woman. I’m not sure. But regardless, there are countless examples of this, of these two telling people, ‘Forget money-making jobs. Go into the help industry.’ Okay, fine! So what’s the problem if there aren’t any money-making jobs, why all the concern? Isn’t this exactly what the regime wanted? Isn’t this exactly what they urged young people to do? Damn straight!