Later today our novice president will unveil his next big proposal to prime America's job pump.  He and his henchmen have already spent or proposed a trillion dollars of job stimulus, and little happened.  His proposal smells much like priming the pumps in the old days before electric pumps and high-rise water towers.  Pictured below is one of the common variety manual pumps which could lift water from a shallow well or reservoir of water.  Several analogies apply to today's jobs problem, and the wells and pumps from the old days.  Most city dwellers with any maturity still remember the old wells and how they worked or not.  They also remember priming the pumps when the wells or the mechanisms were old and worn. 

         For those unfamiliar with manual pumps, the handle pictured on the right is moved back and forth with one or both hands.  This moves the rod up and down within the pump body.  This activates a cylinder, a valve, or both, and with each cycle of the handle, some water is supposed to come out the nozzle on the lefty.  When pumps are new, the cylinders and valves fit snugly, and the water lift is not too great, these pumps serve well.  As long as you work the handle, the more water you get.  This is like an economy that is humming along nicely. 

        America's economic pump is old, worn, and may be damaged beyond repair.