But Business, creates Jobs and FREEDOM
They both use other people's money. Let me explain.
All I’ve been hearing is that government can’t create jobs, business can. I’ve believed it; I wanted to believe it. The argument goes that the government in the Democrat scheme of things takes taxes out of those that work and creates work or jobs. It’s been called redistributing the wealth. In the book I’m reading “Leave Us Alone” by Grover Norquist he uses an example to show what happens. Norquist says it is like taking a bucket of water out of a lake then walking around to the other side and with cameras blazing and people clapping the bucket is poured back into the lake and the slogan would read something like; Vote for Fred he has put water back into the lake.
The problem of course is that he didn’t create any more water and in the process of carrying the bucket around the lake a lot of the water was lost.
That got me thinking. The other side of the argument is that business or entrepreneurs through the “Free Market system” create jobs not the government. Is that really the case? I dislike messing with the orthodoxy of my compatriots, but let’s compare apples to apples. So we may be better armed to fight the battle.
The first chink in the argument is a big one. The government can create jobs just like entrepreneurs. Both take money they get from others to create jobs. Look around you, the number of government jobs has skyrocketed since WWII. The average pay for Federal employees I just read on Drudge surpassed $70,000 plus bennies. Not too shabby.
-----link-----
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20091211/1afedpay11_st.art.htm?loc=interstitialskip
---------------
That article in USA Today by Dennis Cauchon points out that the average non Fed worker makes $30,000 less.
The article is astonishing. Below are some quotes.
-------------------
“Federal workers are enjoying an extraordinary boom time — in pay and hiring — during a recession that has cost 7.3 million jobs in the private sector”
“When the recession started, the Transportation Department had only one person earning a salary of $170,000 or more. Eighteen months later, 1,690 employees had salaries above $170,000”
{"There's no way to justify this to the American people. It's ridiculous," says Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, a first-term lawmaker who is on the House's federal workforce subcommittee}
-------------------
Jason Chaffetz is right. It is ridiculous. BTW Rep. Chaffetz of Utah is the only member of the House that did not put any pork in the recent $1.1 trillion dollar bill.
-----link-----
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lf5nrgnjoRY
--------------
Another astonishing thing is that all the Republicans who railed and derided the bill and didn’t vote for the it, immediately got in line once it was passed, so they too could feed at the government free money teat.
Getting back to my argument; first government does create jobs and good ones too. They too can create jobs out of the thin air which we call ideas. They can advertise the need for their product. They can hype it all to hell and back. Nike said “Just Do It” Obama said “Yes we Can”. Look at global warming, look at swine flu. Look at Hurricanes. All the hype is just the government trying to sell the voters through their legislators a bill of goods.
Second. Free Market use other people’s money just as much as government does. The entrepreneur raises money to turn his idea into reality by talking investors into loaning or buying stocks for that idea. Then once in business he sells at a profit his product to the consumer.
So government and “Free Markets” or Capitalism does the same thing. The catch is in how they do it. I would rather see the debate centered on the real issue and that is FREEDOM. More properly on the question; which system, Capitalism or Government allows the most freedom to the most people at less cost?
While the entrepreneur chooses to go into business to makes a profit, he only makes a profit if what he makes is good and people buy it. The people that give him the money have the freedom of choice to buy it or not. The people who run the businesses within the “Free Market” do so again, by their own free choice. If they chose badly or a customer buys a bad product, it is their mistake and they immediately pay for it and hopefully learn from their mistake. The business goes out of business and the customer buys from another competitor next time. The risk of failure is spread around throughout the country and the reliance is upon the individual for the success or failure.
The government gets its money through taxes which people have to pay or face fines or jail. No freedom there. If the service provided isn’t very good, you still have to use it. Very little freedom exists when it comes to mailing a letter.
For the past few decades there has been a running battle to regain some of the Freedom we have ceded to government; in education, property rights, and just plain freedom from regulation. Although there have been significant victorious battles, the war was and is being won by the government.
The whole Tea Party thing is an outgrowth of anger over the constant loss of Freedom. They have got it right when they emphasize the loss of Freedom from the over sized, overreaching master which we call government. People understand not being able to do what they feel is for their own good. They understand they know their own lives better than a bureaucrat does.
The Rep from Utah, Chaffetz may be young and idealistic but he may be on to something. I think that people are ready for leaders to lead us back to Freedom. This may be the time for leaders who are not always trying to give us fish but willing to show us how to fish and why the responsibilities of freedom are a small price to pay -- A far smaller than what the Master in government demands for his gifts. FREEDOM
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
No comments:
Post a Comment