The Obama Job-Training Juggernaut
The Government Job-Training Juggernaut
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2011
President Obama campaigned this week for “new and innovative approaches” to America’s economic crisis. So naturally, the futurist-in-chief filched his fresh, bold ideas straight from … the 1930s. The grand new solution to the jobs deficit, according to the White House, is more FDR-style federal job-training spending.
Sounding every bit like the whiteboard eggheads who keep spinning around the Ivy League-Washington revolving door, Obama announced breathlessly: “If we could match up schools and businesses, we could create pipelines right from the classroom to the office or the factory floor. This would help workers find better jobs, and it would help companies find the highly educated and highly trained people that they need in order to prosper and to remain competitive.”
In Obama World, private businesses are just too darned dumb to figure out how to connect the dots and create these pipelines for themselves.
In the real world, private businesses spend up to 12 times more on job-training programs and trainee salaries than state and federal governments combined, according to workforce analysts. The American Society for Training and Development reports that U.S. private entities spent an estimated $125.9 billion on employee learning and development in 2009 alone. And you can bet in these financial hard times that private-sector employers are making sure every job-training penny is well spent.
As for your tax dollars, rest assured they are being squandered the same way public-sector job trainers have been squandering such funding for the past eight decades. Earlier this year, a General Accounting Office report found that no one in the bowels of the Beltway really knows how effective the feds’ $18 billion a year spent on 47 separate job-training programs run by nine different agencies really is. That’s because half of those programs haven’t undergone a performance review since 2004, and only five have ever conducted research on whether job seekers in the program do better than those who weren’t enrolled.
Among those five, the GAO wrote, the evaluators “generally found the effects of participation were not consistent across programs, with only some demonstrating positive impacts that tended to be small, inconclusive or restricted to short-term impacts.”
This much is clear. The Obama stimulus has funded vital workforce training expenses for a $100,000 nepotistic fraud ring in Charleston, W. V., that splurged on pet care, bar tabs and luxury hotel stays. A con-artist family employed by the state siphoned off job-training money that was supposed to subsidize technology education for 200 elderly West Virginians.
In Tampa Bay, Fla., the local Workforce Alliance squandered tens of thousands of tax dollars on lunches at Hooters, cupcake delivery fees and VIP country music concert tickets.
In Iowa, $730,000 in federal job-training cash from the stimulus law was redistributed to well-off graduate students to pay off their student loan debt — over and above the more than $205 million in federal student financial aid those students received.
In Washington, Job Corps administrators helped themselves to untold gobs of job-training cash by approving bogus invoices and creating ghost employees.
And in Portage County, Ohio, investigators found that government employees had used an estimated $700,000 in federal job-training money to pay the college tuition of certain county officials and to purchase other items, such as an “XBox 360, laptops, promotion bags, golf shirts, messenger bags, briefcases, Giant Eagle food cards, and golf tees — among other things purchased as promotional items that are not allowable expenses under federal law.”
Tale as old as time.
Cato Institute analyst James Bovard’s seminal work on the federal job-training juggernaut says it all: “Many, if not most, of the participants in federal jobs and job-training programs would be better off today if the programs had never existed. Aside from wasting scores of billions of dollars, government manpower programs distorted people’s lives and careers by making false promises, leading them to believe that a year or two in this or that program was the key to the future. People spent valuable time in positions that gave them nothing more than a paycheck or a certificate, while they could have been developing real skills in private jobs with a future. The fallacy underlying all job-training programs is that the private sector lacks the incentive to train people for jobs.”
Remember: Government job-training programs don’t create jobs. They create bigger government payrolls, redistribute unemployment and perpetuate the illusion of economic recovery and prosperity. It’s a juggernaut too big to fail and too entrenched to kill.
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Thank you. That meant more to me than you’ll ever know.
I love Happy Hour.
The New New Deal is turning out to be just as bad as the old New Deal.
You mean the New Raw Deal?
Right, because raw is so much better when it’s ‘new’? Had a great email exchange with Jim Bovard ( Michelle notes above ) and the man is not without his humor!
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304259304576375430412285872.html?KEYWORDS=bovard#articleTabs%3Darticle
He did add however:
Spare the resident trolls a hernia.
If you consider it neglect that she got an education so she can afford to better provide for her child, I guess I am.
I believe they had the Blue Eagle program that showed your company followed the tenets of the administrations labor edicts. Henry Ford refused to participate and he ultimately won the battle. His factories helped us win the war.
DanMan,
So now we have something old, something ‘new’, something borrowed and something BLUE! ( Hey! Somebody gettin’ hitched around here? )
So the Gubmint gets a Seal of Transition and Private Industry gets a Seal of Submission. Got it. Thank God Henry didn’t!
To paraphrase our beloved Vice President, I believe you meant Big New Raw F’in Deal.
I had a hunch someone would “go there”… and I’m tempted not to bother but…
When I first started school and was only working half-time and going to school half-time, my son was cared for by a neighbor when I was gone. She was a very loving, retired schoolteacher who ADORED him (still does – we visit often) and treated him like her own.
When I took my full time job, and was attending school part-time, I moved downtown and my son begain attending a private preschool that cost almost $700 a month. I had toured cheaper facilities and I didn’t feel a good vibe. It was church-run and the kids attended chapel, had gymnastics once a week, Spanish once a week, music, art, computer lab and other enrichment on top learning their letters, etc. He had HOMEWORK every week from this place. And, more importantly, he was LOVED there. All the teachers were warm and patient and engaged. And the headmistress was involved – not removed in some far away office. I got MORE than I paid for and it was worth EVERY penny.
At that time, I hired another sitter. A loving, energetic 23-year old working on her respiratory tech degree at a neaby hospital. On the days that I had evening classes that prohibited me from picking up my son, she would pick him up – I gave her a car seat for her car – and she would drive him the 8 blocks to our home and stay with him until I got him. She played with him, read him books and she made him dinner, bathed him and tucked him in bed. I called most evenings between classes to say hello to him and check in.
Approximately every other weekend, my mother would help out and take him to her house an hour and a half away so that I could study and work on school projects. There was no one better for him than Granny. Their bond, to this day, is incredible.
By the time he started kindergarten, I was done with school and had moved up to a better job in my company.
Did I enjoy being away from my son? No. Did I miss some stuff? Of course! Do I regret it? No. He was well cared for, he was nurtured and loved… and he was SAFE.
My point is, I didn’t just slap him in some crappy, cheap, convenient hell hole so that I could go goof off. QUALITY is more important than QUANTITY. When I was with my son, I was WITH my son. I tried to make the moments count.
I have since bought a house in a great neighborhood. I have a great job and am able to provide for him. He goes to a great school – albeit a public one – and brought home all A’s 4 nine-weeks in a row this year. He’s happy and he’s loved.
So… Please explain how that is child neglect.
Certainly a good lesson in not jumping to stupid conclusions, I would say!
And good on you, DairyGirl!!!
DiaryGirl said:
You do not have to justify yourself to anyone, as far as I am concerned you have done good and you did it all yourself. Your children will benefit from what you have accomplished and thats the bottom line. You did good.
On June 10th, 2011 at 10:55 am, RedDog said:
So right!
On June 10th, 2011 at 4:48 pm,
Dittos. You’ve done an excellent job at making “lemonade” from the lemons you’ve experienced in your life.
On June 10th, 2011 at 1:13 pm, passingruffian said:
Go for the skillet gatling gun. Don’t settle for less!
On June 10th, 2011 at 1:21 pm, letget said:
Never fear! Barry and his minions will be there to muck things up as well. Just ask Joe the Plumber. Is he still plumbing, BTW?
On June 10th, 2011 at 1:33 pm, happyscrapper said:
Seems like they would be working 24/7/365. The only problem remaining for the undertakers is who will pay them and whether the money they are paid will actually be worth anything.
This has gotten pretty amusing. I’m getting a visual of happy chasing some leftist around with a skillet. I’m imagining said leftist with a look on his face like the look Weiner must have had on his face when he realized his tweet of his privates wasn’t private.
Speaking of job training, remember those stories posted here at MM as related to the “training” the census workers were receiving?
Flashback, if you can remember: CETA? I was also there, watching kids being paid to play basketball after school, etc. but finally, one student completed her three year training program.
I knew the teacher she who was her mentor. The schoolgirl (guess) never reported to work!
“I’m not going to work for that woman.” She lied.
She lied on her application and all during her training as she took taxpayer funds for her own.
She lied just like upwards of 90% of those parents who filled out free lunch forms. They lied, their children learned to lie from their parents and all this led to the corruption and lack of moral guidance in schools and our nation today.
More here: http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/11/19/ceta-a-70s-federal-jobs-program-that-didn-t-work/
“unions did not want real work.” — So, The Truth finally comes out.
Enough said.
Nursing and other medical jobs would come under the heading of actual ‘job training’. There are schools for those. But, obamacare will screw that up, too.
Anyone suspicious that this is just a slush fund for Obama to funnel money to the same kind of people who ran ACORN before that organization was debunked by the Breitbart sting with those young adults who exposed ACORN?
Obama will continue to try to find causes and organizations to keep those same sleezy people around because he needs them to stuff ballots in 2012.
Whenever Obama does anything the only thing you can know with certainty is whatever he is doing is politically motivated.
The welfare of the American people is not important.
Posters, I have found happyscrapper’s skillet.
The Battle Skillet
The answer is simple In private business employees are trained because they must be productive, must contribute or the business will not survive. In government the opposite is the norm. The employee must contribute to the Union and support liberal causes, No training required.
Then we must work to find and support Congressional candidate who will pick up the One Handed Battle Skillet and kill this Juggernaut Too Big to Kill. We must stop worrying about Third Rails, work to get our message out despite the Lame Stream. We either cut Fedzilla NOW or see our country become Greece and deny our grandchildren their rightful birthright.
This is very much Concord/Lexington, Valley Forge and the Times That Try Men’s Souls.
===
The Right to Keep and Bear Arms–>Constitutional Carry
It is a RIGHT-not a license from “our betters”.
Oh my gosh…I want that!!
Actually, we have some good friends who own an iron works company. They make wrought iron railings, fireplace accessories, etc. Maybe they can make me one of those beauties.
Your order it happy and I’ll pay for it.
Was that in one of Sarah Palin’s emails?
I wouldn’t be surprised. She probably has a whole arsenal of them!
Thanks for the offer! But I think everyone should have one, don’t you? Maybe we should get a bunch of them and arm the whole neighborhood. And one of those would look awesome hanging over the mantle like a Civil War sword.
We could call it “Mama Grizzley’s Weapon of Choice”.
Coming soon……….Skillet control legislation!!
They’re gonna have to pry happy’s skillet from her cold dead hands.
***
HI FLYOVERMAN–#119. GREAT WORK ON THE BATTLE SKILLET! Are they “upscalable” to a size big enough to take on a moose? Or a Messiah? Can they be made out of ceramic so they can be smuggled past TSA checkpoint metal detectors and X-ray / microwave scanners? Could a crutch support be grafted on it to disguise it?
***
Arm HappyScrapper properly and send her to D.C. to clean house. To paraphrase FDR, “The only thing we have to fear…Is Comrade Obama (PBUH) and his socialist / marxist / communist / RINO ilk…themselves!” Or Happy and the infamous and deadly Battle Skillet.
***
Maybe you need a career change. I understand that a new James Bond thriller is being put together now. And that they are looking for a replacement for the armourer “Q”.
***
John Bibb
***
With this administration, I think I need to do a lot of cooking with garlic in my skillet before I take them on! And a wooden stake built into the handle is a MUST!
The two hand “Chris Evert Edition” is a good choice.
The problem with gov programs for job training is the disconnect with regard to “skills”, “knowledge” and “work ethic”. Showing up job training doesn’t mean the individual is qualified for anything. Business and employment is about competition. Gov programs are about equality and fairness. The gov doesn’t believe that competition is an asset. It believes that individuals are blocked from having opportunities not because those individuals don’t quality for the job, but that the employer is biased against the individual based upon things other than qualifications for that job. In other words, the gov believes that anyone can do any job and that those who want that job don’t have to meet skill standards set by the employer. Life as an affirmative action project is an insult to humanity.
Government job training…. the Peter Principle on steroids.
I have a radical idea for the Marxist in Chief:
Outlaw outsourcing of jobs
*outlaw H1B visas and L1 visas.
*outlaw policies that permit the federal government to do nothing about the illegal alien mess.
As soon as those two things get taken care of, we’ll have more Americans getting jobs.
Simple solution to a complex problem.
But the Marxists don’t want Americans to have jobs, that means a middle class will be preserved, and that’s their #1 enemy.
Maxine Waters and Tony Weiner. Perfect applicants.
Next to start up will be the NYA and WPA. During the depression my teen age brother and sister worked in NYA part time after school programs started by FDR. WPA was for adults (Works Project Administration??) We called it the We Peddle Apples. Obama hasn’t changed a thing we just went back to the ’30′s!
FABULOUS!!!
happyscrapper,
Above a mantle sounds nice. Before I read your post, I pictured you having it hanging beside a beautiful stone/brick kitchen fireplace. Cleverly disguised as part of the decor, and yet right at hand when needed …….BAM!!
The above skillet is quite lovely, and I intend to get one, but I think such heavy artillery is not always necessary. Personally, I like the wet towel, rolled up and snapped. For those small conflicts with in-your-face protestors or mouthy teenagers (same thing). Think of is as a light summer replacement.
EXCELLENT! That’s a must have
WOT but this has me pissed. Daily Caller is a frequent link on Buzzworthy. But now they have a pop-up advert that requires the reader to complete at least one survey to “permanently unlock” access to the blog.
That is bogus and I would suggest that Daily Caller either remove such advertising or accept not getting on Buzzworthy anymore.
It’s an insult to the reader to be entrapped by too aggressive advertisers. Good-bye Daily Caller. I always thought that those guys were just another stealth blog for the GOP/RNC anyway.
Off topic:
New report: America’s 10 Freest and Least Free States….interesting…
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/lists/freest-lea…
On June 11th, 2011 at 9:17 am, Flyoverman said:
You get an A+ for this, Flyoverman! When does the Skillet Gatling Gun model debut?
On June 11th, 2011 at 11:32 am, happyscrapper said:
On June 11th, 2011 at 11:06 am, Flyoverman said:
Your order it happy and I’ll pay for it.
And the civilian militia of millions marches on D.C., armed with their Battle Skillets!
Pet Peeve Du Jour…
Hangs on the mantle or over the mantle piece.
The mantle piece is that decorative bit, often a wooden shelf, that attaches to the mantle of the fireplace, which is the (usually) brick facade used to protect the house from burning down.
I’ve built enough natural fireplaces to become annoyed when people confuse the two…. “so… you want a wood mantle… you want a wood firebox and flue to go with it? How about a wood smokeshelf?”
Not criticizing you as much as using you for the opportunity to edumacate folks about the terms
Whenever happyscrapper’s skillet is mentioned, I’m reminded of a scene from “Prince of Sparta”, one of my favorite SF books.
Near the end, the “CoDominium” (call it U.N. on steroids) has sent the baddest-arsed marines in the universe to pacify the capitol of the planet Sparta. Leftist revolutionaries (“Helots”) bring their trash out for a joint attack on the citizenry.
The King comes out to prevent them from hauling down the flag before his palace, and is killed. The cry goes up, “Spartans! They have killed the King! The Helots have killed the King!”
“And from the square came militia, wounded soldiers, old men and women, children barely old enough to seize weapons from the fallen. They came out and they came out to kill.
“…it was his men who were being slaughtered, shot, stabbed strangled, beaten to death with baseball bats. A woman sat on a Helot’s chest and pounded at his head with an iron frying pan.”
It’s a good book.
Obama’s job destruction has to be INTENTIONAL. Nobody is that stupid.
Torches and pitch forks replaced with flashlights and skillets! I love my iron skillet too.
…
Why is it a good deal of people forget the fact that well…until WW2 kicked off in Europe, we were one of the worlds largest debt payers, and the new deal only payed off as we joined said war after selling weapons to the English?
Its funny how many people are ignorant of America’s real history, very little of it is as a world power so much as a 2nd rate power, begging for hand outs. Which funny enough we seem to be heading back toward.
But, Obama anounced he is going to create a gov’t oversight commitee to stop waste and abuse in federal programs. There is absolutley nothing to see here folks!