Obama's Jobs Summit Useless Publicity Stunt

The Washington Times reports:

Facing rising unemployment rates and having seen uncertain results from the stimulus bill, President Obama is hosting a "jobs summit" at the White House Thursday that will be packed with business leaders and economists supportive of White House policies but lacks a diversity of opinion, several analysts say.

Missing from a partial list of attendees released by the White House are the self-proclaimed voices of business - the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business - both of which have been critical of Mr. Obama's proposed health care overhaul.

Confirmed attendees include liberal economists credited with shaping the $787 billion stimulus package, union leaders, environmental advocates and executives from Google and other blue-chip firms.

"He's going to get lots of recommendations to spend more money," said Peter Morici, a professor at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business. "These are the very same people who gave us the stimulus package. My feeling is we're not going to get what we need, and that's a complete change in direction on economic policy."

You know, it would be one thing if the American people were standing around begging for another stimulus. But we're not. Last I checked, in fact, 51% said that the first stimulus had failed and that the remainder of the money allocated in it should be devoted to other things that would actually create jobs.

On a related note, here are 10 reasons why it is a bad idea to bail out failing firms:

10. Troubled Firms Will Get Bigger
9. Injects Politics Into the Resolution Process
8. Lacks Transparency
7. Props Up Failed Firms
6. Throws Good Money After Bad
5. Can't Afford the Current Bailout
4. Lacks A Record of Success
3. Lacks Accountability
2. Exposes Taxpayers
1. Creates a Purse Without Limits

Hit the link for the full explanations and sources of these reasons.

The bottom line is that it failed the first time, by any measuring stick. Now, the same people who engineered the first failure are careening toward a second failure...and we're supposed to let them do it?

Behold, the power of the One's summits...

There's my two cents.