Appearing on Foxnews earlier today discussing the unemployment numbers, Diana Furchtgott-Roth told Shannon Bream that contrary to what the White House wants us to believe that the president can’t create jobs. The president can actually reduce unemployment by just making a couple of phone calls.
For those who don’t know, and I had to look it up, here is Ms. Furchtgott – Roth’s Bio via the Hudson Institute
Diana Furchtgott-Roth is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute, where she directs the Center for Employment Policy. Her areas of expertise include employment, taxation, education, pensions, and immigration. Prior to joining Hudson, Ms. Furchtgott-Roth was chief economist of the U.S. Department of Labor. From 2001 to 2002 she served as chief of staff of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers under President George W. Bush.
Ms. Furchtgott-Roth served as Deputy Executive Director of the Domestic Policy Council and Associate Director of the Office of Policy Planning in the White House under President George H.W. Bush from 1991 to 1993, and she was an economist on the staff of President Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisers from 1986 to 1987.
As you see Ms. Furchtgott – Roth’s does know her stuff.
She tells us that the unemployment numbers we received on Friday doesn’t tell us the whole story. First off the labor force participation rate also declined from 64.1% to 63.9%. Which means that many of the unemployed just gave up looking for jobs. Apparently if you want a job and have been driving yourself crazy looking for one but couldn’t and you decided to just give up, you are no longer considered unemployed. She says that America currently has the lowest rate of Americans participating in the labor force since 1984. In other words the unemployment rate may well be up in the high double digits.
She says there are a number of things that can be done, at no cost at all, to turn things around. Obama can just pick up the phone and call some of his cabinet secretaries:
He can call EPA administrator Lisa Jackson and ask her to hold off on Ozone rules and clean air rules until unemployment is down to say 7%. He can call Interior Secretory Ken Salazar and ask him to allow more drilling in the Gulf of Mexico because there has been a moratorium since the BP oil spill. He can call national labor relations board acting general counsel Lafe Solomon and ask him to lay off Boeing who are trying to create jobs in South Carolina. Each cabinet secretary has a number of things that they can do that wouldn’t cost a dime to accomplish.
Watch the video good stuff.