This is a posting about the non-sense from the media and both political parties about the economy and jobs. It’s best seen through a funny beer commercial.

LAS VEGAS, NV (December 3, 2009) – You’ve seen the Miller Lite commercial where the couple is at a restaurant and she asks, something to this effect, “If your mother and I were falling off a cliff and you could only save one of us who would you save?”

The guy says he chooses girlfriend over mom. But he balks when the choice is his girlfriend or a Miller Lite. She gets up and leaves.

That’s how most Americans feel. We want to walk away from the cacophony of noise coming from our leaders and the media about the economy.

Granted, the commercial offers some goofy choices. (The chick looks like 13 on House. You can always get another beer, but not another 13.)

However, there is a correlation to our economic and political situation. And it’s one that we must all face. The problem is: we don’t face it. We sit there and argue both sides.

Here are the choices: jobs or the deficit. My request – no – my command to you is this: PICK ONE ALREADY!

Only you can help our leaders.

If you want more jobs, then don’t worry about the deficit – for now. To get people back to work, we need to spend money, drop taxes for businesses, individuals, and investors. Yes, even tax breaks for the big banks.

Take a look at Charlie Rose’s interview with Barton Biggs, who runs the hedge fund Traxis Partners. The interview was done in March, 2009, but it has even more relevance today. He says the capital gains tax should be dropped to zero for investments held for more than two years. This would keep more capital in the market, thus creating jobs, while also discouraging speculators. I like it a lot.

Now if your big worry is the deficit, then don’t hit the President and Congress about the lack of jobs. We will pay down our debts to China and create a better balance sheet – which is great – but it will take time and remove money from investment for education and job creation. Many of our lower and middle income Americans will have to gut it out.

Needless to say, I side with the jobs side. I will not worry about the deficit until jobs stabilize. Yes, I am worried about the future indebtedness of America. But I’m more concerned about creating jobs, preserving what wealth we can salvage. And more importantly, we need to re-educate workers for the new economy.

I have said this numerous times. The TARP was too small and not targeted enough. If the President had ignored the right-wing whackos in the GOP we probably wouldn’t have the jobs problem we now have. I also think ignoring jobs – and only worrying about the deficits – is elitist. You’re only taking care of the wealthy, a Bush era indignity. It’s also a way to cement the status quo of the old economy while stifling innovation that will launch us into new technologies and services.

The lesson, I believe, comes from Ronald Reagan. It’s something President Obama might want to consider. The lesson is this: don’t do too much at once. Reagan had two goals: end the Cold War; and jump start the economy. He did both – over 8 years — even though he raised the deficits to huge numbers. Those imbalances caused future problems that eventually led to the lost election of George H. W. Bush and the ascendency of Bill Clinton.

Reagan picked one. You should too.