This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

If every little bit helps, then President Obama's proposals to boost job creation are better than nothing. But judged in terms of what is truly needed to put Americans back to work, his plan falls far short.

The president's timid initiative is only partly a product of his own failure as a leader. A large part of the blame also lies at the feet of an obstructionist Republican majority in the House of Representatives, which has made clear that it will not pass any economic stimulus that even approaches the $800 billion that many economists say is necessary to be meaningful.

The GOP clearly has decided that it will benefit in the 2012 elections if unemployment remains high. Currently it's a shade over 9 percent. So Republican lawmakers have decided they will do nothing to put Americans back to work.

To cover their strategy, they repeat the cockamamie accusation that job creation is being hampered by high taxes and onerous regulations. This despite the fact that income taxes are at historic lows, and regulation has only increased in the health care and financial sectors. The big banks richly deserve their new oversight after they raped the country in the subprime mortgage fiasco.

The real problem, however, isn't regulation, it's lack of demand. High unemployment damps consumer spending, which restrains orders for new products. Businesses aren't going to hire more people until they get enough orders from customers to justify producing more.

The United States should have learned this lesson in the Great Depression. Deficit spending by the federal government is needed now to put money into people's pockets and create demand. That, in turn, would lead to business expansion and higher employment. An economic recovery would be on its way.

Unfortunately, Obama is no FDR. He has apparently calculated that there's no point in putting forward a truly bold plan just to have the GOP kill it in the Congress. Pity, that. No guts, no glory.

So Americans are left with a $447 billion plan, the heart of which would extend unemployment benefits and the partial cut in payroll taxes, which would be expanded from 2 to 3.1 percentage points. He also proposed a payroll tax holiday for businesses that hire unemployed workers, and new spending on roads and schools. He also would rehire teachers and veterans.

Those plans are fine are far as they go, but the scale is too small. What the nation really needs is a bolder president and a less cynical Republican House.