President Obama is trying to create jobs through an initiative called the Startup America Partnership, led by AOL founder Steve Case. The plan is to fund entrepreneurs in high-growth, job-creating industries such as clean energy, medicine, and technology. Intel is committing $200 million in added startup investment, and IBM is pledging $150 million for mentoring programs. Will this really help reduce unemployment, or is it just good PR? (Watch an introduction to Startup America)
This is mostly about polishing Obama's image: It can't hurt to give "a million or so dollars" to a handful of new companies, says Mike Taylor in the New York Observer. "There's always the off chance that the government will help a small-time firm become the next Google or Facebook." But such a tiny effort is less likely to ignite "a new American bull economy" than to earn Obama some friendly press by showing he's doing something about unemployment.
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