Creating Jobs
I’ve been listening to the Georgia gubernatorial debates over the last few days and nearly every candidate, Republican or Democrat, at some point spouts the same thing: “I will create jobs in Georgia!”
They say this, of course, because they are politicians and that’s something that the majority of people want to hear. But I am saddened by how few people ask a simple question: How? How and why do we expect any level of government to produce jobs in the private sector? Is there any evidence that they can or ever have? Or are we hoping that the government will just tack on more public jobs when it’s already in astounding amounts of debt and people already don’t want to pay more taxes?
Which leads me to digress to a broader topic – government debt. First, lets think of it from an individual level. If a person’s expenses regularly exceed his income and he drives himself into massive debt, there is ultimately two ways for him to get out of debt (assuming no bankruptcy laws): spend less money or earn more money. This same rule applies to government. So, since our government (both state and federal) is currently in massive debt, the only way to come out of it is to either cut government spending or raise taxes. There is no having it both ways! You can’t have both your social programs and your low taxes. You have to take one side or the other or be open to some combination of both. The status quo is not a sustainable option.
Of course, there is a 3rd option that I didn’t list that the government has and one that I imagine is the one that will be employed on the federal level: The government can always print more money. But this is actually no different than just defaulting on the debt – by printing more money for themselves, the government makes all of our money worth less. So, it’s still ultimately taxing us more – just in a less direct way. It’s the worst of all options.
You’re awesome. I was ranting about something along these lines the other day. Mostly how people bitch about the government not budgeting the way tey should and spending money they don’t have on programs they don’t need because everyone wants money for their projects and bitch when they don’t get it. Or something.
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good points, but my only criticism is this idea that debt is a bad thing . . . you know as an accountant that you can use certain kinds of debt to make yourself more money.
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Ughh the political arena gets uglier every day. I got my degree in political science with the hopes of making a change…LOL I can’t believe I let me fool myself like that. Capitalism is part of the reason our country is collapsing and won’t rise back to the top…We’re on our way to being “broke, busted, and disgusted” without a chance of ever coming back. The world hates us, and who could blame them?! I keep talking to Eric about moving to Canada (hopefully BEFORE the U.S. completely implodes).
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> Tennessee Ernie Ford Indeed. I thought of him a couple entries ago when writing that the crane’s capacity is 16 tons. > why do we expect any level of government to produce jobs in the private sector? Is there any evidence that they can or ever have? Greece, they say, has at least 40% of its jobs in the public sector. Oops, bad example… Your alternatives are quite right, of course. Democrats raise taxes and raise spending. Republicans cut taxes and raise spending so tend to increase debt even more (like iconic conservative hero Ray-gun, who tripled it). The trouble is that politicians need to please the electorate to get elected, and the electorate wants both low taxes and a high level of services, at least for themselves. De Tocqueville, I think, among others, pointed out the inherent instability of this system. Libertarians tell people they have to make hard choices, and that’s why they get a negligible amount of the vote. I have no idea what the solution is. Maybe a balanced budget amendment would help, gradually phased in? Davo
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“How” is not as important as “intent”. Witness Iraq.
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Great entry, and I agree. To add, the government is setting a BAD example to the government people. How are we,individuals, supposed to learn financial responsibility of sacrifice when the government can’t do it. Another aspect of it: the government is run by people…and the majority are power hungry. So, instead of getting in there taking care of the people and their interests
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no matter how unpopular it is, you should do it. I would have more faith in Obama if he made the unpopular decision. I still believe that the best option would’ve been let the banks fall and not bail them out. It’s evolution. Let the old die and let the new emerge. Hey, what can I say. What we promote is common sense.
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