Can We Kill Unemployment With 1000 Paper Cuts?

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Nov 19 2009, 4:59 pm by Derek Thompson

With unemployment at 10.2%, pressure is mounting on the president from many corners (including this page, if my rants may politely be called "pressure") to stoke job creation. Will he do something about joblessness? Almost certainly, says the Wall Street Journal's economics editor David Wessel. Will it that stimulus be as big as Obama's liberal critics hope? Don't hold your breath, he says.

Wessel predicts a flurry of stealth stimuli. In other words, death to joblessness by a thousand paper cuts. My gut tells me that a series of small job-focused measure would be the most political palatable thing to do. But my eyes see a report that Democratic Rep. Steny Hoyer is predicting a larger jobs package on Obama's desk my Christmas. Of course, the last time we heard about hard deadlines for progressive bills it was Obama calling for a health care bill before the official end of summer, and that deadline has seen more extensions than a 2009 jobless benefit.

Comments (2)

Mekhong Kurt November 20, 2009 9:02 AM

Mr. Thompson, your article succinctly shows why people like me -- an educated person, but far away from economics -- are completely confused by this debate. And that's not an attack on you or anyone else.

From the left we hear the argument that without even more massive spending, what we've done so far will have been for little or nothing. From the right we hear that both the stimulus package and the still-under-scrutiny health-care legislation will drive us down the road of ruination.

In other words, we hear little from the *middle* that might give us some understanding of the choices.

Yes, some of the more extremist statements that have come out of both camps can be dismissed (and were, by me anyway), such as the Republican who shouted out the President way lying And the Democrat who said the Republicans' health-care plan is you die quickly.

And yes, there are some intelligent folks out there writing; Thomas Friedman and Paul Klugman, plus a considerable number of the columnists at the Wall Street Journal. But in aggregate, they contributing little to clearing the murk.

So far, I've tended a bit left-of-center, if cautiously. I still think criticisms that the stimulus package was fully delivered right across the nation with a day or two of the package's passing are downright silly. But snafus such as you wrote about here are disturbing, deeply so.

I've written in other forums -- and to my representative and senators -- that although my taxes are quite steep, if they have to go up to help my fellow citizens, so be it. The desperately poor, especially if they're ill. Our public servants on the fronts lines, and not just our military as it struggles with two theaters, but our police, fire fighters, ambulance drivers, medical personnel in clinics and hospitals (especially in emergency rooms), and, yes, those who've lost their jobs during this recession.

But my willingness is conditional on that tax money actually *get to those folks.* Otherwise -- forget it.

Thanks for such a lucid article.

Mekhong Kurt November 20, 2009 9:07 AM

Please excuse the typos. In my own defense, I'm rather ill with intestinal flu as I write this. Sorry.