Research Briefing

Did VP Let Truth Slip Out About The Real Consequences Of Obama’s Agenda?

WATCH BIDEN THIS MORNING ON NBC’S “THE TODAY SHOW”

(NBC’s “The Today Show,” 1/28/10)

VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: “Well, I say they’re going to start to see unemployment grow this spring …”

NBC’S MEREDITH VIEIRA: “You mean employment.”

BIDEN: “Employment grow. I’m sorry. You’re going to see unemployment abate.”

DOES BIDEN KNOW IN THE BACK OF HIS MIND THAT OBAMA’S AGENDA WILL KILL JOBS?

Obama’s Savings Tax Will “Crimp Bank Lending,” Hurting Customers And Stifling Job Creation. “Of course banks (along with everyone else) benefited from government action to combat the crisis and someone must pay. Ultimately, it is likely to be banks’ customers. … Such penalties can crimp bank lending. If the tax is calculated on a rolling basis, the incentive to shrink balance sheets, and compete more vigorously for US deposits, increases.” (“Obama’s Levy,” The Financial Times, 1/14/10)

Obama’s Financial Regulation Plan Would Create Massive New Bureaucracy That “Would Make It Harder And More Expensive” For Businesses To Borrow, Killing Jobs. “The U.S. Department of the Treasury has submitted the Consumer Financial Protection Agency Act of 2009 to Congress for the purpose of overhauling consumer financial regulation … Based on our analysis we have concluded that the CFPA Act of 2009 would make it harder and more expensive for consumers to borrow. Under plausible yet conservative assumptions the CFPA would … reduce the net new jobs created in the economy by 4.3 percent.” (David S. Evans and Joshua D. Wright, “The Effect of The Consumer Financial Protection Agency Act Of 2009 On Consumer Credit,” George Mason Law & Economic Research Paper No. 09-50, 10/7/09)

Obama’s Government-Run Health Care Experiment Imposes New Regulations That Will Make It More Difficult For Employers To Hire Workers They Need. "[E]mployers who do not offer 'affordable' coverage to employees would have to help pay the cost of such benefits for their low-income workers ... The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal research and advocacy group, said this proposal 'could unintentionally discourage the hiring of lower-income people,' by adding a new 'health surcharge' to the cost of employing them." (Jeff Zeleny And Robert Pear, "Obama Says Government Health Coverage Plan Would Not Hurt Private Insurers," The New York Times, 6/23/09)

Obama Pushing “Cap-And-Trade” National Energy Tax That Could Mean Nearly 1 Million Jobs Lost Per Year. “Overall, a cap-and-trade system that reduces annual GDP by 0.34 percent per year can be expected to reduce U.S. employment by roughly 964,900 jobs per year ...” (Andrew Chamberlain, “Who Pays For Climate Policy?,” Tax Foundation, 3/09)

Obama’s “Employee Free Choice Act” Could Kill 1.5 Million Jobs In One Year. “The precise effect on unemployment will depend on the degree to which EFCA increases union density, but for every 3 percentage points gained in union membership through card checks and mandatory arbitration, the following year’s unemployment rate is predicted to increase by 1 percentage point and job creation is predicted to fall by around 1.5 million jobs.” (Anne Layne-Farrar, “An Empirical Assessment of the Employee Free Choice Act: The Economic Implications,” SSRN.com, 3/4/09)