(Image Source: The White House)

BY GEORGE DUMONTIER

Government can’t save the economy. President Obama issued that proclamation this week. While some are saying -- duh -- others say, the announcement signals a major shift for the administration.

“Government is not and should not be the main engine of job creation in this country that’s the role of the private sector, but one thing government can do is partner with the private sector.”

On Monday Mr. Obama met with his council on “jobs and competitiveness”. This three-month-old committee represents the president’s increased cooperation with the private sector.  Council member Richard Parsons tells Bloomberg.....

“What we’re trying to do is we’re trying to work more closely with government and trying to find ways that government can help the private sector do its job better.”

During the meeting, Mr. Obama joked about his previous stimulus, which promoted shovel-ready jobs. According to The Foundry....

“Confronting the reality that his stimulus failed, the President quipped, “Shovel-ready was not as shovel-ready as we expected.” The council, led by GE’s Jeffrey Immelt, burst into laughter.”

With unemployment returning to 9.1 percent, the presidents’ critics -- teed off on Mr. Obama for that. As for the president’s current plan, the council is focusing on immediate changes to create jobs now. According to Fox News the committee...

“...outlined short term steps which could create 1 million jobs including making it easier to get small business loans and training workers for open jobs.”

But what about the long run? Immelt and fellow council member Ken Chenault outlined what they see as the key steps for long-term economic health.

“… First, we need to focus on fast-growth companies and small business. Second, we need to make America the most attractive place on Earth for high-tech services and manufacturing jobs and to accelerate foreign direct investment in the U.S. Finally, we need to address the competitiveness of America's infrastructure.”

Will these plans work? The Christian Science Monitor thinks not, questioning the motives of the council members.

“These CEOs won’t suggest hard-ball ideas to boost demand. Why should they? Their companies rely less and less on consumers in the United States – and, for that matter, on American workers. For several years now, these companies’ foreign sales have been growing faster than their US sales and they’ve been creating more jobs abroad than here.”

The council will meet with President Obama again in September.