The Patriot Post® · 'President Costanza’s Jobs Boom'

The Wall Street Journal has an editorial that’s right on the money when it comes to job growth in 2014. In short, as we noted the other day, much of it happened because unemployment benefits were not extended. Don’t pay people not to work, and they’ll go out and find work.

In a 1994 “Seinfeld” episode, George realizes that “every decision that I have ever made in my entire life has been wrong. My life is the complete opposite of everything I want it to be.” Jerry replies: “If every instinct you have is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right.”

So Costanza approaches a gorgeous woman in the coffee shop and announces, “My name is George. I’m unemployed and I live with my parents.” To his surprise, she’s interested. He lands a job with the Yankees after insulting George Steinbrenner.

Maybe President Obama ought to take Jerry’s advice too. That’s our reading of a striking new economic study that examines Congress’s decision to zero out extra unemployment benefits last year.

The authors find that this abrupt policy shift created some 1.8 million jobs, or slightly more than three of five net positions filled in 2014. The cuts also pulled a million workers who dropped out of the labor force back into the workplace. This reality happens to be the opposite of what Mr. Obama and other liberal sachems predicted.

It’s not always so immediately obvious when a policy shift changes results, but this time it’s pretty unmistakable. More…