President Obama announced last month that he has a new plan to create jobs and spur economic growth.  He says these ideas will be unveiled in a major speech this week.

The President has delivered more than half a dozen big speeches on the economy since he was elected nearly three years ago.  What remains to be seen are the results to match his rhetoric.

The country’s unemployment rate has hovered at or above 9 percent for 25 of the past 27 months.  The Commerce Department recently revised its estimate of the economy’s second-quarter growth down to a bleak 1 percent.  Americans are not waiting for a speech about job creation.  They are waiting for the leadership it takes to make these jobs happen.

                         Quit the Blame Game

Among the job strategies the President has touted is the passage of three free-trade deals, which would create or support tens of thousands of jobs here at home.  The President has repeatedly blamed Congress for blocking the agreements and putting party before country.  The roadblock, however, is closer to home:  The White House has yet to submit these deals to Congress for approval.

Shifting the blame will not bring about the real reform we need, and the President would be wise to put the policies of his own administration on the table.  His failed stimulus and health-care overhaul have led to unprecedented spending in Washington and a climate of uncertainty in our private sector.  There are two million fewer people working now than when he first promised the “shovel-ready” jobs of his $789 billion stimulus plan.

                        Cut Needless Red Tape

We need to rein in President Obama’s big-government agenda and put confidence back in the economy.  Eliminating unnecessary regulations offers an effective way forward.  The federal government has proposed hundreds of regulations this year alone – costing job creators more than $65 billion, according to data from the American Action Forum.  More are on the horizon, including a new rule from the Environmental Protection Agency that could impact the economy by as much as $90 billion per year. 

Economists agree that government regulations disproportionately hurt small businesses, which create the majority of America’s new jobs.  Small firms are forced to turn their limited resources to the demands of compliance instead of using them to invest and hire.  The capacity to expand diminishes, and the spirit of entrepreneurship that defines America is undermined.

                         Tap Energy Potential

Our energy producers have been hard hit by regulatory burdens, and the de facto moratorium on domestic energy production continues to stall the creation of more than a million new jobs.  According to a report this summer, quicker permits for drilling projects in the Gulf of Mexico could bring about more than 200,000 new jobs in just the next year. 

Thankfully, this lost potential is not going unnoticed.  Last month, a U.S. district judge threw out rules imposed by the Obama Administration to slow oil and gas development on federal land.  A recent Job Creation Index from Gallup recommended expanding the energy sector for more job growth.

More than 9 million jobs come from the oil and natural gas sector, and the Congressional Research Service says America has the largest recoverable stores of natural gas, oil, and coal on Earth.  A pro-growth energy policy is a strategy that will work, and the President should consider including it in the jobs blueprint he unveils this week.

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