Can Mrs. Clinton Fix US Via German-Style Apprenticeships?

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 6/17/2015 03:57:00 PM
Apprenticeships for the jobless youth: after eight wasted years, it may at last be Clinton Part III.
After engaging in a fair bit of America-bashing now and then, you may be surprised that I have a rather positive view of Bill and Hillary Clinton. Efforts to tar Bill Clinton before his first term made me to believe that he was a draft-dodging womanizer--which, actually, he is. But, guess what? On more substantive things--generating economic growth and putting the United States on a more internationalist path--it's very hard for me to fault Bill Clinton. By the same token, I think of Missus Clinton as an accomplished person with great ideas as well for governing. So her foreign policy chops in Asia are, er, somewhat questionable. But, just as it was way back when in the roaring Nineties, it's still the economy, stupid, and I think the Clintons understand what must be done with America best--and the world will benefit as a result.

Being an admirer of the German apprenticeship system instead of the American university-jobless system as I have called it, you will not be surprised that I think much of Missus Clinton's pitch to give enterprises hiring young people for apprenticeships a $1,500 tax credit:
Hillary Clinton will on Wednesday call for a federal apprenticeship program as a path to reducing youth unemployment, aides said, her first new policy proposal since officially launching her campaign this week. Speaking at a technical college in Charleston, South Carolina, Clinton will propose rewarding businesses with a tax credit of $1,500 for every apprentice they hire. She will say that the program would encourage businesses to take on more young workers.

Apprenticeships are a major benefit for workers who see large annual earnings gains, Clinton will argue, as well as a boon for businesses that receive a tax credit.
Of course, there is also a vote-getting angle here appealing to younger people and minorities:
But on some business issues she has moved away from the liberal line. She has not condemned the Trans-Pacific Partnership as her competition for the Democratic nomination has and she has called for reducing regulations on small banks and businesses. Linking apprenticeships with tax credits has received bipartisan support in Congress, Clinton’s aides pointed out, with Democratic Sens. Cory Booker and Maria Cantwell as well as Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Tim Scott supporting similar programs.

Clinton aides cited an unemployment rate among 18- to 34-year-olds of 7.8%, a rate that was nearly double among African-Americans. In order to win in a general election, Clinton will need to mobilize the black voters who overwhelmingly supported Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012.
With America going down the tubes and enterprises not daring to invest in America, I don't see why its electorate should keep delaying round 2 of the Clinton years. There's a chance they won't be able to revive America's fortunes, but if anyone has a track record doing so, then there are really few choices out there.