Dec 02 Critics Not Welcome

True to form, the only people attending President Obama's job summit will be people who agree with him. I'm confident now that I know that the Obama administration will have a photo-op event with the people who've created this robust economy.

Confirmed attendees include liberal economists credited with shaping the $787 billion stimulus package, union leaders, environmental advocates and executives from Google and other blue-chip firms.

"He's going to get lots of recommendations to spend more money," said Peter Morici, a professor at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business. "These are the very same people who gave us the stimulus package. My feeling is we're not going to get what we need, and that's a complete change in direction on economic policy."

That information tells me that Thursday's event is purely a photo-op event. Not that I'm surprised but I didn't take this summit seriously from the time it was announced.

I can't take Thursday's summit seriously since it's being attended by the same people who put the less-than-stimulating stimulus bill together. Rewarding failure isn't what I'd do, which is precisely what President Obama is doing. President Obama is essentially saying that he'll trust the people who failed before because they share his ideology.

In 1992, Bill Clinton said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over again and expecting different results. By Bill Clinton's definition, President Obama is engaging in economic insanity.

Critics are making their voices heard:

"The panel does not include free-market voices who will contend the administration is spending too much or interfering too much in the economy, or that it is hurting job creation by increasing the burden of taxes and government debt," said Josh Barro, a senior fellow on fiscal policy at the conservative-leaning Manhattan Institute. "I expect these economists will generally call for more Keynesian stimulus, more deficit spending and more aid to state governments."

Simply put, businesses won't invest their money until they know how much their labor costs will be. The Democrats are standing in the way of creating jobs with their health care legislation. The Democrats' legislation are filled with multiple tax increases, from fining people who don't buy insurance to taxing small businesses who dump their workers into the public option to taxing medical device manufacturers.

That's before talking about the Bush tax cuts expiring, which is a major tax increase by itself, or about controlling spending.

It's clear that businesses aren't buying into the administration's spin that the health care legislation will slow down federal spending. They've seen how entitlements cost exponentially more than the initial projections.

After last fall's credit crisis, we needed a steadying hand. We needed traditional solutions. We needed to get spending under control. Instead, we got the Obama administration and the Democrats' out-of-control spending binge.

Small businesses know that all the happy talk and all the photo-ops in the world won't help them investing in their businesses and creating jobs. When the sun sets, the reality is that this administration is about styling but it isn't about substantive solutions.

That's why we've got to run them out of DC ASAP.

Comments welcome at LFR.