The Democrats’ NIMBY Approach to Jobs

Democrats Create Jobs in Foreign Countries While Destroying American Jobs

• Facing record-low approval ratings for his disastrous handling of the economy and his job-destroying policies, President Obama is on a bus tour of the Midwest to sell excuses for the weak economy he made worse.
• Considering the results, the Democrats’ approach to jobs could be called NIMBY — Not In My Back Yard. Just this week, the Obama administration unveiled a new initiative to create energy jobs in Brazil as the vice president jetted to China—another nation in which jobs have been created thanks to Democrat policies.
• It’s no wonder even some Democrats are admitting they “don’t know what the strategy is” for creating jobs anymore.

BACKGROUND 

Facing record-low approval ratings for his disastrous handling of the economy and his job-destroying policies, President Obama is on a bus tour of the Midwest to sell excuses for the weak economy he made worse, most recently claiming that recent economic fears owe to “bad luck.” According to some reports, Obama’s attempt to reinvent his record on the economy is so desperate that it might even involve a new branding campaign that renames some existing government agencies as the “Department of Jobs”:

OBAMA APPROVAL RATING TREADING WATER AT 40% IN GALLUP TRACKING.(“Gallup Daily: Obama Job Approval,” Gallup, Accessed 8/17/2011)

GALLUP: NEW LOW 26% APPROVE OF OBAMA ON ECONOMY, 71% DISAPPROVE. (Lydia Saad, “New Low of 26% Approve of Obama on the Economy,” Gallup, 8/17/2011)

OBAMA: NEW ECONOMIC FEARS ARE JUST A PRODUCT OF “BAD LUCK”: “Over the last six months, we’ve had a string of bad luck — there have been some things that we could not control.” (“Remarks by the President in a Town Hall Meeting in Cannon Falls, Minnesota,” The White House, 8/15/2011)

WHITE HOUSE TO SHUFFLE THE BUREAUCRACY AND REBRAND WITH NEW “DEPARTMENT OF JOBS”? REALLY?: “The administration may also merge the Department of Commerce, the Office of the United States Trade Representative and some economic divisions at the State Department into a new agency, administration officials said. Possible names include the Department of Jobs or the Department of Competitiveness.” (Binyamin Applebaum and Helene Cooper, “White House Debates Fight on Economy,” The New York Times, 8/14/2011)

Considering the results, the Democrats’ approach to jobs could be called NIMBY—Not In My Back Yard. Just this week, the Obama administration unveiled a new initiative to create energy jobs in Brazil as the vice president jetted to China—another nation in which jobs have been created thanks to the Democrats’ failed stimulus and Democrat policies that have harmed America’s competitiveness: 

JOBS… IN BRAZIL? OBAMA UNVEILS INITIATIVE TO DEVELOP “OIL-AND-GAS RESOURCES” IN SOUTH AMERICA: “A top Energy Department official will travel to Brazil next week to launch a high-level partnership aimed at developing the South American country’s oil-and-gas resources.” (Andrew Restuccia, “Obama Administration to Launch Brazil Energy Partnership Next Week,” The Hill, 8/12/2011) 

TRADE DEFICIT WIDENS, CHINA “GAIN[S] GROUND ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY”:“A decline in exports caused the monthly U.S. trade deficit to widen in June by 4.4 percent to $53.1 billion and China gained further ground on American industry, according to a Commerce Department report Thursday. … The goods deficit with China increased to $26.7 billion in June, a cause for concern for the Alliance for American Manufacturing as China continues to gain ground on American industry.” (Josh Boak, “Trade Deficit Widens as China Gains,” Politico, 8/11/2011)

RECENT OBAMA “GREEN JOBS” PUSH SHOWCASED COMPANY WITH MORE THAN 50 PERCENT OF ITS EMPLOYEES IN CHINA: “President Barack Obama will visit the North Carolina-based Cree LED Light Company Monday to tour the plant and meet with his Council on Jobs and Competitiveness to discuss job creation and policies to spur economic growth.

“But Cree, a major recipient of Recovery Act funds, may be sending that money straight to China. At the very least, its CEO, Chuck Swoboda, has a very China-centered strategy that involves building a new plant overseas…

“Then in late 2010, the company opened its first plant in Huizhou City,China. That made Cree the first global LED company to locate a manufacturing plant in China.

“But that plant is only beginning of an expansion in China, says Swoboda. At the opening of the plant, Swoboda boasted that more than 50 percent of Cree’s employees live and work in China.” (Amanda Carey, “Obama Discusses Jobs at Company Shifting Focus to China,” The Daily Caller, 6/13/2011)

GREEN JOBS BOONDOGGLE CONTINUES AS SOLAR COMPANY SHUTS DOWN, CITING INABILITY TO COMPETE WITH CHINA: “Evergreen Solar Inc., once a darling of the U.S. solar industry, filed for bankruptcy protection this week, saying it couldn’t compete with Chinese competitors without a reorganization—a sign of the difficulty in creating ‘green’ U.S. manufacturing jobs amid bruising competition across the globe.” (Russell Gold, “Overrun by Chinese Rivals, U.S. Solar Company Falters,” The Wall Street Journal, 8/16/2011) 

NOT TO MENTION, OBAMA’S NEW RIDE WAS MADE IN CANADA. “But it turns out the president’s new custom motor coach comes stamped with a brand that’s located someplace else: Canada.” (Devin Dwyer, “Obama’s Bus Made in America? Not Entirely,” ABC News, 8/17/2011) 

It’s not the first time the White House has pursued actions that either destroy jobs in America or create them overseas. It’s no wonder even some Democrats are admitting they “don’t know what the strategy is” for creating jobs anymore:

AS OBAMA’S EPA BLOCKS KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE: “Many of the environmental groups opposed to the Keystone XL pipeline are … propagating the fallacy that if America refuses Canadian oil, it will stay in the ground.

“In fact, alternate markets exist and are growing. There are at least two major projects underway to transport Canadian oil to the Pacific coast to meet demand in Asia.

“The question is not whether Canadian oil sands should be used—they will be. The question is whether the U.S. will seize the opportunity to benefit from Canada’s abundant supply, estimated by the U.S. Energy Information administration to be 175.2 billion barrels. … Building the pipeline will create over 20,000 new American jobs in construction and manufacturing in the short term, and more than 250,000 jobs in the long run, according to estimates by TransCanada.” (Thomas J. Donohue and Perrin Beatty, “Canadian Oil to the U.S. Rescue,” The Wall Street Journal, 4/8/2011) 

JOB CREATORS SAY NEW OBAMA-EPA RULES MAY BE “THE MOST COSTLY, BURDENSOME, AND EXPANSIVE SET OF JOB-KILLING REGULATIONS EVER CRAFTED”: “As the U.S. economy struggles to get back on track, now is not the time to allow EPA to impose what could prove to the be the most costly, burdensome, and expansive set of job-killing regulations ever crafted. …. The American Council for Capital Formation has estimated that EPA’s greenhouse gas regulations could reduce business investment between $97 and $290 billion in 2011 and as much as $309 billion in 2014. EPA’s own records indicate that permitting provisions alone will cost applicants $125,000 and 866 hours of burden per facility.” (R. Bruce Josten, Letter to House Energy and Commerce Committee, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 3/9/2011) 

MEANWHILE, OBAMA ANNOUNCES A “NEW JOBS PLAN” SPEECH, TO BE GIVEN…IN A MONTH. (Ben Feller, “Obama to Lay Out New Jobs Plan in Sept. Sepeech,”Associated Press, 8/17/2011) 

NO WONDER EVEN REP. MAXINE WATERS AT CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS FORUM SAID “WE DON’T KNOW WHAT THE [OBAMA JOBS] STRATEGY IS.”:“Our people are hurting. The unemployment is unconscionable. We don’t know what the strategy is.” (“Anti-Obama Outrage Erupts at Congressional Black Caucus! ‘When You Unleash Us … We’re Ready,’” Fox Nation, 8/17/2011)