Whirling economics

Adding to the frenzied activity, the President’s Jobs and Competitiveness Council recently released its initial recommendations after three months of work. Chairman Jeff Immelt, the CEO of General Electric, and member Ken Chenault, the CEO of American Express, described five proposals in a high-profile piece for The Wall Street Journal. The ideas ranged from woefully uninspiring to unhelpfully vague. Robert Reich, the liberal former labor secretary, called them “puff balls.”

It’s difficult to get excited about an economic program that contains proposals like “make it easier to visit the US through improved visa processes.” Expanding tourism is wonderful, but is this the best they can do? The banality of the recommendations only reinforces the view that, for the White House, this is an exercise in public relations.

Another idea was to “put construction workers back to work.” Why not just recommend “put everyone back to work” and be done with it? The only specific policy suggestion to jump-start construction was a reference to making buildings “more energy efficient.” The 2009 stimulus legislation included over $10 billion in energy-efficient construction spending. If that didn’t get it done, I don’t know what will.

A third idea, labeled “streamline permitting,” actually used the phrase “cut red tape.” Did it really take three months to come up with that? And would it be too much to ask for the council to say which pieces of red tape they wish to cut? When Republicans suggest cutting red tape, they are usually accused of wanting to poison children or resurrect the robber barons. Note to the council: a few specifics here would go a long way.

Part of this council’s problem is the inherent limit on the effectiveness of all government commissions and blue-ribbon panels. To start with, they are heavily staff-driven. Immelt and Chenault are busy people with limited experience in government. They rely heavily on a staff, assembled mostly from inside the White House. The staff puts a few ideas on the table, the council approves, and the staff fleshes out the details.