Blame for economy is misdirected

I have been giving something a lot of thought. Why is it that we blame the president for the economy? Businesses make decisions to hire and to lay off. A rule in economics used to show that supply and demand would influence hiring or layoffs. In a lot of cases that I hear about, hours get cut or hours are added depending on what customers buy. Most cases are that businesses and corporations need to make payments to stockholders. If the stockholders are not getting a return for their investment, corporate heads will roll. So, who goes first? Usually middle managers, and then employees who leave or get terminated are not replaced. It becomes a vicious cycle. Current employees then have to cover those jobs and get stressed.

President Obama stated early in his presidency that this would not be an easy turnaround. If one thing did not work, he and his staff would have to try something else. More time is needed for this president to try to fix things.

I am disturbed that Mitch McConnell of Kentucky stated that the Republican goal was to make President Obama a one-term president. Speaker of the House John Boehner promised more jobs, but they have blocked most of the job acts that Obama has presented though the House and Senate. Some of those ideas were Republican, but because the Democrats presented them, they were rejected.

Even if Mitt Romney were to be elected, you now go back to square one, and chances are things really wouldn’t change much but could get worse. If we survived eight years of George W. Bush we can survive four more years of President Obama. It’s worth the risk.

Greg Swiderski

Rolling Meadows