Steve Benen reports on May 8, 2012 on the Rachael Maddow Blog:
“With a polarized Congress already on the defensive, President Obama on Tuesday will outline a five-point “to do” list for lawmakers that packages job creation and mortgage relief ideas he has proposed before, administration officials say.”
“Mr. Obama will present the election-year list during a visit to a university science complex in Albany. The components of his challenge to Congress — and to the Republican-led House in particular — will be a feature of his appearances throughout the spring, aides said.”
Benen assesses the agenda as not exactly sweeping, and even if the five-point “to do” list were passed in its entirety, the economic impact would be fairly modest. That said, they’re perfectly reasonable proposals: (1) a tax credit for companies that move their operations to the U.S.; (2) making it easier for homeowners to refinance; (3) another new-hire tax credit for small businesses; (4) extending the Production Tax Credit and expanding tax credit to investments in clean energy manufacturing; and (5) the creation of a Veterans Job Corps.
Unfortunately, President Obama fails again to include in the “To-Do” congressional action list an emphasis on widespread productive capital ownership. In fact the word OWNERSHIP as referenced to productive capital ownership, is never in the Obama vocabulary, or for that matter conventional economists and commentators such as Rachel Maddow. That means there is a void in the American people’s ability to comprehend the impact that the tectonic shifts in the technologies of production is have on their economic condition as America witnesses an ever-accelerating shift to productive capital that is eliminating labor worker jobs and replacing those jobs with non-human “things” used to produce products and services.
Once the GOAL of broadening private, individual ownership of new productive capital assets becomes the national political focus we will see an unbelievable discussion of workable plans to realize the goal. Remember that planning begins with a vision and a goal. This is not rocket science but it does require national leadership. Implementation requires amending a few laws that basically authorize the transactions that will broaden capital ownership paid for with the future (savings) earnings of capital investment. Allowing such transactions will provide incentives for profitable opportunities to employ unused capacity and promote stable economic growth.
