Obama's Jobs Committee Makes Recommendations Saluted By GOP Leader

This article raises questions about the recent recommendations from the committee that Obama created. The committee has 15 corporate executives and 2 representatives from labor. Not surprisingly, the recommendations from the committee are more like a corporate wish list than anything else. The recommendations were praised by the GOP Majority Leader in the House of Representatives. High on the wish list is the recommendation to cut corporate taxes, and to allow multinational corporations to avoid taxes on international income. The report from the committee also suggests that the lack of job skills is a primary reason for the lack of hiring in the US. It ignores the fact that if all of the job openings in the US were filled, we would still have 10 million unemployed workers.

The more I look into this subject the closer I get to an unfortunate conclusion. Most US multinational corporations are what their name implies. They have no nationality. The executives have a single goal. Their incentive system is based upon increasing shareholder value, and they are indifferent to the source of their profits. It is naive to believe that they have an incentive to create jobs in any particular location unless it serves that purpose. The role of the US government is to help them to achieve that objective. The US government plays key roles in protecting intellectual property rights, opening up markets, providing access to critical resources, and in establishing beneficial trade relationships. The government is also an important customer for products and services. These considerations are directly related to increasing shareholder value. Most other considerations are secondary.