The Voice of Young Conservatives Blog

Democrats are doing their best to sell something resembling a jobs bill, but rightfully skeptical Americans aren’t buying.

Democrats are readying the House floor for their manufacturing agenda entitled Making it In America. M.I.A. for short. What perfect irony. A party that has been Missing in Action on addressing our jobs crisis, now has a jobs plan that is MIA.

Unfortunately, even under their MIA plan, jobs are likely to remain MIA. As Fortune magazine reports,

“It appears the measures will fall into one of two categories: bills that won’t pass the Senate, and bills that wouldn’t much matter if they did.”

I would like to say that their hearts are in the right place. Since the recession began the nation has lost 2 million manufacturing jobs the sort of blue-collar jobs that many in this nation have relied on. The loss may also have serious long term consequences. Too often we are willing to let manufacturing jobs go overseas so long as the research and value-added work remains on our shores. But as Andy Grove, former CEO of Intel, asks in a recent Businessweek column,

“[W]hat kind of a society are we going to have if it consists of highly paid people doing high-value-added work—and masses of unemployed?

As Grove explains, the problem is that technology accumulates over generations, “experience builds on experience,” so that when we stop doing the hands-on manufacturing we lose out on the ability to do the value-added work on later iterations of the product.

Blue collar America deserves saving, but are the Democrats really trying? Some don’t think so. As Fortune reports,

“The whole point for Democrats is to hand easy wins to the most endangered in their ranks — many of whom hail from Rust Belt districts hit particularly hard by the recession. “This gives our guys a boost heading into August,” said another Democratic leadership aide, referencing the upcoming congressional recess that was dominated last year by scenes of angry town hall protests over health-care reform. “It’s a sharper message on jobs that plays well in their districts. It’s branded. People understand it.”

Democrats certainly need something to avert what is shaping up to be a brutal mid-term election. With voter anxiety riding high on a wave of unemployment, Democrats need some kind of feather in their cap to show wary voters. The party is hoping that M.I.A. will do just that. Unfortunately, a closer look at the legislation reveals a series of political softballs – great sounding names that everyone will love but do absolutely nothing to help bring manufacturing jobs to America. Take a look:

• American Jobs Matter Act: In federal bids contractors are allowed to state how many jobs will be created
• All-American Flag Act: Requires the government to purchase flags that are made in America
• National Manufacturing Strategy Act: Creates a “Manufacturing Strategy Task Force” and a “President’s Manufacturing Strategy Board” to figure out how to improve manufacturing sector
• End the Trade Deficit Act – Established a “Emergency Commission to End the Trade Deficit” to figure out better trade policies

Gimme a break. The only jobs this creates is more bureaucrats. The only jobs it is intended to save are Democrats who haven’t done a thing to create jobs. It seems in this political environment, saving incumbents jobs in Washington is of higher priority than saving blue-collar jobs across the nation.

What is even more disconcerting is that it looks like it will lead to even more deficit spending. As reported by The Hill,

“At the same time, many of the agenda items will cost money and will require not just offsets — if they aren’t determined to be “emergency” measures — but a further balancing of the stimulus-versus-deficit equation.”

This is unacceptable. Blue collar jobs must be saved but increasing the federal deficit will only serve to choke off growth. Businesses have made clear that what they really need is a period of relative calm in which the government returns to the background. More legislation, bureaucracy and debt will only compound the problem that has driven many businesses to stop hiring or move overseas – uncertainty.

Sadly, Making It in America is just some recycled proposals, repackaged with great-sounding names and little to no substance. We need real answers. We need for Washington to quit being missing in action.

by Brandon Greife