Obama's TARP-for-Jobs Nonsense: Today's Outrage

So far, we've not seen great results from government spending on the job front, so the skepticism may be justified. The Obama administration's own accounting of its first stimulus package showed that stimulus jobs don't come cheap.

Obama argues that the first round of spending worked because the U.S. skirted a depression and the economy stabilized, so the second round is the booster shot that leads to full recovery. It's going to be a tough sell.

If you believe Obama can still work his magic, then we may start seeing the government-induced benefit that many major banks have been enjoying spread to other sectors as well. Whether or not Obama spends TARP funds directly, this could be like TARP for industrials.

If Obama sticks to the focus on big, publicly traded players like he did with the bank bailout, it could be a boon for the likes of Caterpillar (CAT), United Technologies (UTX) and Deere(DE).

We could also start seeing industrials like GE(GE) and Fluor(FLR) reporting outsize profit similar to Goldman Sachs (GS) and JPMorgan(JPM).

Eventually, those profits will translate into growth and when the big companies start hiring, it will have a trickle down effect on all the smaller companies that orbit them.

I'm sure we'll be seeing massive job creation in the banking industry any day now.

If that doesn't work, then maybe the government should try just getting out of the way and letting the private sector do its thing.

--Written by Glenn Hall in New York.

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