A Glimmer of Hope

Yesterday’s jobs report finally offered a little bit of good news. Now if Washington can resist “fixing it” any more. For your weekend reading we commend two on-point editorials. The first from the Wall Street Journal contains this sage piece of advice:

The real message of the November report is that the job market is healing on its own, if Washington will simply let it happen. If Democrats want faster job creation by next November, they'll do nothing at all. Stop imposing new taxes on estates, payrolls, insurance, device makers, drug makers, small business, you name it. Start over on health care. Adjourn for the year, spend December with the family, come back in 2011. And watch Congress's approval rating rise.

And the following from Investor’s Business Daily:

A Private Affair

From Investor’s Business Daily

Posted 12/04/2009 07:15 PM ET

Economy: Job losses eased dramatically in November, signaling a recovery under way. Now can someone please let the White House and Congress know — before they kill it off with their bad ideas?

Economists expected 100,000 to 125,000 fewer jobs last month, so they were surprised when just 11,000 were lost. In a 130-million-job economy, that's basically a break-even number. But it wasn't the only bright spot.

The previous two months were revised to show 148,000 more jobs than first reported. Temporary employment, often a harbinger of future full-time positions, surged. The average workweek lengthened to 33.2 hours from a record-low 33.0. Average earnings edged up. Oh, and the unemployment rate fell from 10.2% to 10%.

Taken at face value, it was the best job report in over a year.

Hate to say it, but we told you so. The economy has a natural buoyancy, and when it's held down for any length of time, it's tendency is to bob right back to the surface. That's what happening now.

But let's repeat: This is not the result of the $700 billion TARP program, the $787 billion in "stimulus," the $1.2 trillion in new money printed by the Fed or any other dubious government action. It's because businesses cut and cut and cut, and could cut no more. Now they're seeing inklings of growth — "green shoots," as it were.

That's why we scratch our heads when we hear Congress and the White House plan even more spending to boost job creation. This is folly in capital letters. The economy is recovering on its own; it doesn't need more inept intervention.

Yet, one day after convening labor leaders, liberal economists and a handful of business representatives for a much-ballyhooed "jobs summit," the White House let it be known that President Obama will unveil new incentives Tuesday to "jump-start" job growth.

"We need to grow jobs and get America back to work as quickly as we can," the president said Friday. We agree. But among the ideas under consideration are some that have already failed.

These include giving money to cash-strapped state and local governments, spending more on infrastructure and giving tax breaks to small businesses but only if they add employees. They caused distortions in the job market and the misallocation of capital, and they'll do so again.

Congress' ideas are worse. One would slap a $150 billion tax on "Wall Street." Nice try, but this amounts to a tax on all who save, invest or depend on investment income. It will come right out of your 401(k) or IRA. It's not a tax on Wall Street — it's a tax on you.

Equally bad is the proposed use of $70 billion in unspent TARP funds for "job incentives." Stimulus has been an abject failure, yet Congress can't wait to waste even more tax money.

Obama says he's "open to every demonstrably good idea" on jobs. Here's one: Let the private sector, not government, create them. Slash federal spending, ease regulations and cut taxes for individuals and businesses.

Then step aside and let a real recovery take hold, one with both jobs and growth. And your party will again have a political future.