State of the economy

Creating 8,000 jobs over the course of eight months in Portland sounds like we made some good decisions regarding the $4 billion stimulus package we received from the federal government. The Oregonian reported on Oct. 12 that most of it is going to “retain jobs in schools, care centers and other publicly funded positions.”

Unfortunately, aside from the jobs the money is able to keep in care centers, the “publicly funded positions” are not as good as they sound. In fact, such news is getting Oregon a bit too ahead of itself, as the government should have really considered creating jobs that are not going to disappear after there are no more potholes to fill on your street.

I mean, let’s think about this. The short-term effect of creating jobs for a state with the fourth highest number of unemployed people is a tremendous achievement. But long term, I think Oregon will regret it.

The article stated, “Many more people have been hired, but the jobs have been seasonal, temporary or part-time. The money has reached every corner of the state, where new blacktop and better sidewalks abound.”

What happens after there are no more highways to fix? Why are we spending the $4 billion stimulus package on a dead-end project? It’s like Oregon is on drugs—getting a temporary high and then it’s all gone, all over again, except we are going to be paying a lot more for this one than just our lungs or livers. What are we smoking?

Having a positive impact by creating jobs is good, but giving a large sum of money towards something temporary is definitely not going to solve the problem when, according to The Oregonian, 12 percent of Oregonians are financially struggling—and those are just the legal resident numbers.

But wait, guys. We have to remember this is Oregon. That means news from our liberal-minded state only gets better.

According to another article in The Oregonian, any job—even ones that last only an hour—is counted as a created job. Liberal math. Now, if only they could publish a report showing how many one-hour jobs were created out of the 8,000. Once again, go-go dancing for an hour may buy you a hamburger, but in the long run? I think you already know the answer to that.

Expenditures to reduce the effects of the recession? Fine. But what Oregon really needs to think about is what it is going to do with the workers that were laid off, and how they going to go back to work. More so, what is Oregon going to do about reducing the unemployment rate that was high even before the economic crisis?

This economic stimulus package is not only bad in how much it will cost us in the long run. After everything is done with our highways and solar-panel installations for the trendy, urban buildings around Portland, it is highly possible there will be significant consequences that Oregon is unable to predict right now.