I am going to have to cut Barack Obama some slack for the unemployment rate being so high.  After all, it isn’t the job of the President of the United States to make sure that Americans are working.  It also isn’t the job of University professors, and even though they might think they are helping to employ people, job creation isn’t something that labor unions have much prowess for.  So I guess, the American public should be a little bewildered that the aforementioned groups of people convened this week to discuss how to create jobs.  Ultimately, what this little conference proves is that Obama doesn’t have a clue how to create jobs.  Or, to be fair, he doesn’t know how to advance his agenda and create jobs, since his policy agenda and job creation are fixed in diametric opposition.  Therefore, he is creating the illusion that he cares about creating jobs, but he has no real intentions to enact policies that will actually result in jobs being created.

On the other hand, Mitt Romney, published ten things that should be done to start creating jobs now in an article in the USA Today.  Of course, he is just advancing the same tired ideas that got us into this mess.  He and all of his rich corporate buddies.  What do they know about creating jobs?  For what it’s worth, here is the list:

• Repair the stimulus. Freeze the funds that haven’t yet been spent and redirect them to immediate, private sector job-creation priorities.

• Create tax incentives that promote business expansion and hiring. For example, install a robust investment tax credit, permit businesses to expense capital purchases made in 2010, and reduce payroll taxes. These will reignite construction, technology and a wide array of capital goods industries, and lead to expanded employment.

• Prove to the global investors that finance America’s debt that we are serious about reining in spending and becoming fiscally prudent by adopting limits on non-military discretionary spending and reforming our unsustainable, unfunded entitlements. These are key to strengthening the dollar, reducing the threat of rampant inflation and holding down interest rates.

• Close down any talk of carbon cap-and-trade. It will burden consumers and employers with billions in new costs. Instead, greatly expand our commitment to natural gas and nuclear, boosting jobs now and reducing the export of energy jobs and dollars later.

• Tell the unions that job-stifling “card check” legislation is off the table. Laying new burdens on small business will kill entrepreneurship and job creation.

• Don’t allow a massive tax increase to go into effect in 2011 with the expiration of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts. The specter of more tax-fueled government spending and the reduction of capital available for small business will hinder investment and business expansion.

• New spending should be strictly limited to items that are critically needed and that we would have acquired in the future, such as new military equipment to support our troops abroad and essential infrastructure at home.

• Install dynamic regulations for the financial sector — rules that are up to date, efficient and not excessively burdensome. But do not so tie up the financial sector with red tape that we lose a vital component of our economic system.

• Open the doors to trade. Give important friends like Colombia favored trade status rather than bow to protectionist demands. Now is the time for aggressive pursuit of opportunities for new markets for American goods, not insular retrenchment.

• Stop frightening the private sector by continuing to hold GM stock, by imposing tighter and tighter controls on compensation, and by pursuing a public insurance plan to compete with private insurers. Government encroachment on free enterprise is depressing investment and job creation.