Tom Campbell's "Jobs Plan"

Tom Campbell's "Jobs Plan" as presented in his recent opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times has merit and should be given respectful consideration by leaders in government and business.

This is not to say that I agree with all that he wrote the other day.  Mr. Campbell is a law school Dean and former Republican Congressman from California.  By any measure he is a highly-accomplished individual with a lengthy career in law, scholarship, politics and government, but apparently with scant--if any--business experience.  Nonetheless, his ideas to encourage job creation in the nation's economy deserve attention by business leaders and by our nation's governmental leadership.

Briefly, Mr. Campbell is suggesting that the Federal Government provide businesses with salary subsidies for hiring new workers from among the pool of people who have been out of work for at least six months.  He suggests certain conditions and requirements be attached to the subsidy so that it is properly used.  According to his logic, the goal is to have more people gainfully earning money so that they are able to become more active consumers once again.  Increased consumer spending begets increased demand for more services and products which begets a need for yet additional employment, thereby creating a positive feedback loop for the economy.



It makes some sense if only because we know from our own experiences as individuals and our observations of others that once a person starts making more money after a period of having reduced income, the natural inclination is to go on a shopping spree.

Naturally, one can think of lots of objections to this; I can think of several myself.  His plan might not be workable for any number of reasons:  the country cannot afford it (the obvious objection); businesses wouldn't sign up because of attached strings; or businesses might not use it because they have no demand-driven reason to hire additional people; others can certainly suggest additional objections.

Even with objections such as these--and others--I think that Federal stimulus is a good idea and needs to be done, and done sooner rather than later.  It looks to me like Mr. Campbell feels the same way, at least to the extent that he has described it in his article.

But my major point is this:  here's a fellow with undeniable conservative credentials who is going outside of his comfort zone to suggest something that might help employ millions of people who have not had work for a long time.  Mr. Campbell might not have standing with today's Republican House of Representatives and Senate members, but I would bet that his ideas on expanding employment would be appealing to many of those out-of-work millions who are Democrats or Republicans or something else.

And some of his ideas--as written in the opinion piece--might agitate the feelings of the Democratic leadership in Congress and the Administration.  A few of them even agitate me.  But if anybody were to ask me about it, I would be happy to go outside of my comfort zone to look further at Mr. Campbell's plan and figure out if it, or something that comes out of a conversation about it, could be made to work for the benefit of the country.

My guess is that many more of those out-of-work millions would be extremely grateful if government leadership of all political stripes could come out of their comfort zones on something like this, too.

You can see Mr. Campbell's opinion piece and read comments, some of which offer lots of objections, and a few with some encouragement, on the LA Times web site by clicking here.  Some of the comments are thoughtful, some are entertaining, and some are disappointing; see for yourself.