{"63094":{"#nid":"63094","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Can Elected Officials Create Jobs?","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBy many accounts, the 2010 midterm elections were a referendum on jobs. Governor-elect Nathan Deal and other officials elected last week have promised to make job creation a priority. But how easy is it to create jobs and can any one elected official do it? Deal told supporters election night in Buckhead that he would, quote, \u0022put Georgians back to work.\u0022\u0026nbsp;But economists like Allan Essig with the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute say state policy won\u0027t have much impact on job growth because the recession is a national and international problem.\u0026nbsp;\u0022On the state level, the reality is, there\u0027s very little that the governor and the General Assembly can do directly to create jobs,\u0022 Essig said.Some believe there is one clear way for Deal to stimulate job growth. Christine Ries is a professor at Georgia Tech and part of a group that\u0027s re-writing the state\u0027s tax code.\u0026nbsp;She says, \u0022First step: cut taxes. Second step, reduce regulations and make whatever regulations are coming clear to reduce uncertainty.\u0022\u0026nbsp;But other economists say much of the federal stimulus was a tax cut, and it didn\u0027t spur companies to add jobs. Plus, corporate profits have been on the rise so companies clearly already have money on hand to hire employees, says Tom Smith, a professor of finance at Emory University.\u0026nbsp;\u0022Just cutting a tax and giving more money back to firms doesn\u0027t automatically translate into more people being hired,\u0022 Smith said. \u0022If it did, then we wouldn\u0027t be looking at 10 percent unemployment because firms have been making money. Firms have been profitable.\u0022\u0026nbsp;At bottom, companies need to be convinced there\u0027s a market for their services, Smith says.\u0026nbsp;\u0022You have to create the demand for the goods and services first in order to get firms to agree to hire a bunch of people to produce the goods and services,\u0022 he said.\u0026nbsp;And that\u0027s hard to do, economists say, because consumers are not spending. For WABE News, I\u0027m Jeanne Bonner.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u00a9 Copyright 2010,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.wabe.org\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EWABE\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Professor Ries talks with WABE"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ESome believe there is one clear way for Deal to stimulate job growth. Christine Ries is a professor at Georgia Tech and part of a group that\u0027s re-writing the state\u0027s tax code. She says, \u0022First step: cut taxes. Second step, reduce regulations and make whatever regulations are coming clear to reduce uncertainty.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"27205","created_gmt":"2010-12-08 14:37:16","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:07:54","author":"Kari White","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2010-12-02T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2010-12-02T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"63095":{"id":"63095","type":"image","title":"Professor Christine Ries","body":null,"created":"1449176649","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:04:09","changed":"1475894552","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:42:32","alt":"Professor Christine Ries","file":{"fid":"191728","name":"christine_ries2.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/christine_ries2_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/christine_ries2_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1421066,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/christine_ries2_0.jpg?itok=uSTMUnPP"}}},"media_ids":["63095"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.publicbroadcasting.net\/wabe\/news.newsmain\/article\/1\/0\/1723441\/Atlanta.\/Can.elected.officials.create.jobs","title":"Listen at WABE"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.econ.gatech.edu\/","title":"School of Economics"}],"groups":[{"id":"1282","name":"School of Economics"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"602","name":"economics"},{"id":"11426","name":"Georgia Economy"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EKari White\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECommunications Coordinator\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESchool of Economics\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["kari.white@econ.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}