16 States with Real Job Growth

The 16 states that have seen job growth since President Obama took office have a few things in common, reports John Merline at Investor's Business Daily (IBD). They are more likely to be business friendly, to keep taxes, spending and regulations low, and to be, on average, more red (conservative) than blue (liberal).

[S]ince the recovery started, red states have had a job growth rate of nearly twice that of blue states.
Tossup states, meanwhile, have performed worse than either red or blue states. In fact, 9 of the 11 battleground states have fewer people employed now than when Obama was sworn in.

European "Austerity" or American "Job Growth"?

Liberals' idea of 'austerity' is raising taxes so that taxpayers are forced to tighten their belts while governments continue to expand theirs. Michael Barone explains why this European-style austerity hurts everyone, including governments:

Veronique de Rugy of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University took a look at what "austerity" in Europe actually means.

What she found is that government spending has increased or not appreciably declined in Britain, France, Italy, Spain and Germany. The only significant spending reductions are in Greece, where the bond market cut off funding. In the other countries, the big adjustment has been an increase in tax rates. European "austerity" is an attempt to reduce government budget deficits largely by increasing taxes and only to a small extent by reining in spending.

The debate before Americans today is which type of policy to pursue: European-style austerity or American-style job growth.