Cap and Scam

Let’s review how the real world works. In the real world, jobs are not magically “created” when some central planner in the Politburo decides everyone needs new shoes, windmills, solar panels, tiny electric cars, fluorescent light bulbs, recycled paper underwear, Rahm Emanuel action figures, or whatever. Jobs are created when consumers decide they want to spend money to buy stuff. That means that a) consumers have to have money to spend, and b) they have to be confident enough in the future of the economy to be willing to spend their money, and c) they have to be able to afford the stuff for sale.

Instead of helping to create those conditions, the president and his allies in Congress are doing exactly the opposite. By layering...