Creating Jobs

It has been a crazy week and I have had little time to devote to this time-consuming hobby. But ever since The Obama's SOTU speech (and before) I have been screaming silently the following:  Government cannot create jobs.

Repeat after me -- The Government cannot create jobs. Not Reagan. Not Roosevelt. Not Lincoln. Not Grant. Not Obama. Congress cannot create a job, nor can your City, County, State or even Township official. Private sector jobs cannot be created by the Government. Period, End of story.

The only jobs a Government at any level can create are Government jobs. Those jobs do not create wealth. they take hard-earned money from you and me and small businesses and corporations and use that money to pay Government workers. Government workers do not make any saleable goods or services, they take money from the economy.

The Government cannot create jobs through grants like those proposed by the President. The Government cannot create jobs -- be they green or otherwise.  The money used to encourage windmills or electric cars comes from taxes payed by hard working Americans and Businesses. Ford Motors is being taxed.  That tax money is being used to reduce the price of GM's electric car! Just think, Ford could have more money to create their own electric vehicle, or to hire more workers if their profits were not confiscated and given to GM.

The same is true of windmills or solar panels or any other supposed "green job" the Government claims to create. Now a local, State or even a Federal Governmental entity can create an atmosphere where business are likely to hire. Low taxes is a great way to lure a business to your community.  Right to Work is a big incentive. A community know for union activity and frequent strikes does not encourage a business owner to invest.

The Government can certainly cause jobs to be lost.  Take a look at California today, and New York City throughout the 1980s and 1990s. High taxes and excessive regulations force business to relocate elsewhere.

So the next time your Mayor, City Council, County Administrator, Governor, or even President claims he is going to create jobs, keep in mind that person is either an ignorant asshole or a lying MOFO.  There is no third option.