What to Give the CEO Who Has Almost Everything He Wants

On Wednesday, I posted an item titled “How Not to Solve the Jobs Problem.” The case in point is President Barack Obama’s embrace of a state program called Georgia Works, which tries to turn unemployment insurance into a kind of sing-for-your-supper “workfare” program.

Jobless workers in Georgia drawing unemployment compensation are encouraged to go work for private employers — for free — in exchange for some kind of training. They get a small onetime stipend of $240 as an inducement. The premise is that working for free will help them get a foot in the door and maybe get hired (if the employer hires). According to Georgia’s own statistics, however, only about 15 percent do.

This pitifully inadequate program is very likely to be part of Obama’s forthcoming jobs speech.
~ from Feeble President, Feeble Plans by Robert Kuttner ~

With the presidential campaign season just around the corner, Barack Obama must be thinking to himself, "What can I give to my corporate backers that they would see as a supreme gift?"

Well, let's see. He's already lavished them with tax breaks and has rescinded critical environmental regulations. He has continued the Bush policy of imperialistic wars that further enrich a big swath of Corporate America. His Justice Department has been diligent at looking the other way in regards to corporate malfeasance.

With so many gifts bestowed on them, I bet he initially was stumped. Then an idea jumped up and grabbed hold of him. "What is it that corporations always complain about?" he mused to himself. "Of course, it's those doggone labor costs. I need to come up with some strategy to help hold those down!"

What could be better than forcing the unemployed to work for free?