In an otherwise fine effort to explain why the U.S. economy is not creating new jobs as fast as it used to, National Journal’s Jim Tankersley reports in the January 21st edition:

Some free-market economists say that we could encourage more domestic investment by cutting corporate tax rates, although it’s fair to note that the jobs breakdown of the 2000s coincided with hefty tax cuts under President Bush. Still, liberal and free-market analysts alike have argued for a sweeping reform of America’s corporate tax code—one that would reduce rates while eliminating many deductions and provisions that give companies incentives to

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The Los Angeles Times ran a story by Kim Murphy on January 24th on the Keystone pipeline which would could oil fields in Alberta, Canada with refineries in Texas. Murphy’s article does not contain a single quote from anyone who supports the pipeline. Members and supporters of the Sierra Club, however, are mentioned and quoted early and often. Murphy’s article mentions plenty of possible downsides to the project but none of the benefits. Not only would new oil supplies decrease the price of oil in the United States, and decrease U.S. dependence on foreign oil, but the construction … Continue Reading

On January 19th, David Leonhardt of the New York Times reported on why unemployment in the United States has been persistently high relative to other countries such as Britain, Japan, Russia and Germany. In his article, “In Wreckage of Lost Jobs, Lost Power,” Leonhardt first discusses the lack of power employees in the United States saying, “American employers operate with few restraints. Unions have withered, at least in the private sector, and courts have grown friendlier to business. Many companies can now come much closer to setting the terms of their relationship with employees,

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Covering the House of Representatives vote to repeal Obamacare, The Los Angeles Times‘ Noam Levey penned a “Healthcare Q&A” on January 18th, that acknowledges that Obamacare’s employer mandate “would create a quirky incentive not to hire.” But then Levey goes on to write:

But several studies — including one by the respected Lewin Group — suggest any job loss would be minimal and would be at least partially offset by new jobs created as the healthcare system expands to care for tens of millions of Americans expected to gain coverage.

That Lewin study is not the only study on the economic … Continue Reading

Jeannine Aversa of The Associated Press wrote a June 29th article detailing some of the economic damage from the Deepwater Horizon spill including:

Wells Fargo economist Mark Vitner estimates that up to 250,000 Gulf jobs in fishing, tourism and energy will be lost in the second half of the year.

But what Aversa fails to report is that almost half of this jobless is the direct result of President Barack Obama’s oil drilling moratorium. The American Petroleum Institute forecasts that if the drilling ban continues, more than 120,000 jobs could be lost in the Gulf Coast and key … Continue Reading

Darren Samuelsohn of Greenwire, published by Environment & Energy Publishing, reports on a study that says the newly introduced Kerry-Lieberman climate change legislation will be a jobs creator. Samuelsohn says the Peterson Institute for International Economics study finds that new energy investment will create 200,000 jobs per year. Actually, the study says:

Given that the United States is currently below full employment with most economists projecting a slow labor market recovery, this investment is more stimulative than inflationary in the first decade, resulting in an average annual increase in US employment of 203,000 jobs above business as

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On January 11th, Matt Apuzzo and Brett Blackledge reported on an Associated Press analysis of federal government infrastructure stimulus spending writing:

Spend a lot or spend nothing at all, it didn’t matter, the AP analysis showed: Local unemployment rates rose and fell regardless of how much stimulus money Washington poured out for transportation, raising questions about Obama’s argument that more road money would address an “urgent need to accelerate job growth.”
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AP’s analysis, which was reviewed by independent economists at five universities, showed that strategy hasn’t affected unemployment rates so far. And there’s concern it won’t work the second time. For

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