James V. Lacy,California Political Review
Of California’s 12.1 percent unemployed,not many of them are teachers. Thanks to their powerful public employee union,teachers here are doing well,pulling down above-average wages and excessive pension rights so generous that taxpayers really cannot afford them. Their clout contributes mightily to our state government’s perpetual debt crisis,itself a huge drag on the economy in general. Of California’s unemployed,almost 35 percent are young people in the recent high school graduate age category. Three years into Barrack Obama’s presidency,about half of young black males are unemployed in California. More than 21 percent of all black Californians are unemployed. Where is their hope in Obama’s jobs plan?
The national jobs plan Obama outlined this week is pretty simple:hire more teachers. Of course,unemployed young black men in California don’t have the necessary teaching credential. Oh,and Obama’s plan calls for continuing to pour more concrete in government road projects. However,unemployed young black men,being new to the workforce,don’t have the skills to get admitted into the construction trade unions that might benefit from more stimulus spending on road construction,let alone the seniority in the union to actually get hired to work on a project. Obama’s plan for small business is to offer more loan programs through the Small Business Administration. However,what small businesses need is tax relief incentives to do more hiring,not bureaucratic loan programs that take weeks tocomplete the application forms and often have impossible qualification standards. There is not much hope there for any employment boost,including for black and Hispanic youth,where the unemployment problem is worst.
It is this dearth of a real jobs program that has prompted California Congresswoman Maxine Waters to call out Obama and….