MECHANICAL CONTRACTING BESCHLOSS BEAT
Strong presidential leadership needed to halt growing economic drift
BY MORRIE BESCHLOSS CONTRIBUTING WRITER
issuance. His showcase before a joint evening session of Congress heightened the anticipation even more. But what resulted was a mixture of unemployment compensation extension, continuation of temporary payroll tax cuts and infrastructural construction projects requiring additional fiscal stimulus. With current deficits still out of control, the “make work” aspects of his proposals have no
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According to a vast majority of Americans polled, the current unemployment crisis is undermining any chance for economic improvement or even for maintaining its current fragile status quo.
chance of passage. According to a vast majority of
Americans polled, the current unemployment crisis is undermining
any chance for economic improvement or even for maintaining its current fragile status quo. Although this economically corrosive malady may not
exude the passionate public reaction of 9/11/01 or the Pearl Harbor sneak attack of December 7, 1941, it is a critical exemplar of economic mismanagement, waiting to be resolved. Just as the legendary president Franklin D. Roosevelt
rallied a previously isolationist nation to a unified war- effort, and even as the less inspiring President Bush unified a national response against radical Islam, it is incumbent on President Obama to evoke a sense of urgency regarding the jobs crisis and the broader economic consequences that threaten America’s future growth as well as national security. With more than 14 months remaining in the
president’s elected term, the American nation is desperate to embrace an unprecedented leadership message that includes tough, courageous remedial action that will resonate with the majority of the American people. It must rise above the partisan decision-making that brought us the highly controversial universal healthcare,
he most curious aspect of President Obama’s announced Jobs Creation Plan was its delay and the dramatic buildup one month before its
the overbearing, small business-hostile financial regulations, and the obviously union-biased National Labor Relation Board’s recent decisions. Calling off the Environmental Protection Agency’s indiscriminate enforcers would be a good start. At this writing, the latter seems to actually be happening. Popular presidents Kennedy, Reagan and Clinton were
successful in pushing through legislation supported by a wide margin of the U.S. voting public. This became their key to success. Nothing gets Congress behind legislation as quickly and forcefully as when they know that American citizens support it overwhelmingly.
Capital goods spending holds key to manufacturing comeback
Within a dismal economic performance,
manufacturing had shown surprising strength earlier this year. Despite a lull in May and June, the backbone of that
sector’s capital goods arena came roaring back with an unexpected surge, indicating a 2.5% jump over the previous level. The new order total of $72.7 billion was joined by solid expansion in shipments, unfilled orders and even a slight inventory increase. Prior to this latest turnaround, negative signals
emanating from a 3% deterioration in exports in the past two months, as well as a sharp downturn in the recent Empire State, Philly Fed and Richmond Federal Reserve regionals had indicated the weakening of the one pillar of manufacturing strength in a flagging economic recovery. Although capital goods spending has historically
provided insight into the rapidity of business and industrial expansion, the current uptick in this arena is primarily a factor of modernization, upgrading and technological improvement of existing facilities. The unusual emphasis in this direction, in light of weak consumer demand and limited growth opportunities, is overwhelmingly driven by the desire of independent businesses especially, to cut back their workforces, both on the shop floor and in back offices. Ironically, this represents an outgrowth during the
past two years of universal healthcare, the Dodd-Frank financial regulations and the Sarbanes-Oxley accounting burden imposed by the government on thousands of small businesses. It’s becoming increasingly obvious that the bulk of
independent private businesses, which constitute two- thirds of all full time employees in the U.S., are strengthening their productivity capabilities by capitalizing on the most efficient technologies available. It’s unfortunate that the stimulus behind these
decisions has to be the negative costs of additional insurance and the ancillary costs imposed by
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