Real Jobs and Towns Die in Hands of Government

NewsReal Blog ^ | December 7, 2009 | Rhonda Robinson

[Rhonda Robinson]

Although it’s been three decades, I can still remember that phone conversation as if it was yesterday. I called to surprise an old high school friend, we were back in town. The voice on the other end was slightly hurried and nervous, “Oh what timing! I’m glad you called when you did. The phone is going to be shut off at any minute. We’re losing our house too.”

We had hoped to settle down and reap the benefits of the GI Bill. Problem was we went home to Decatur Illinois; a factory town and home to Archers Daniel Midland (ADM), Tate and Lyle, and Caterpillar (CAT).

Entire neighborhoods were up for sale, as factory workers were being laid off and plants shut down. It was the days of double digit interest, gasoline lines and inflation. You could say Jimmy Carter let a good crisis go to waste.

While this administration could never be accused of squandering a crisis, Jim Cramer, host of CNBC’s Mad Money, told Chris Matthews, on MSNBC’s Hardball his ideas on how the administration could create jobs. Obama needs to wave his “magic wand” of power and create hundreds of thousands of jobs.

[freednumb]

BTTT