Surely you’ve heard by now there is a new school of economic thought that claims wealth and prosperity are functions of job creation. This breaks down under classical notions of capitalism, because it is difficult to stay in business if one must pay thirty people to do the job of one. It must therefore be assumed that public-sector jobs are preferable to those created by the private sector. Capitalists are motivated by greed, but government is motivated by pure altruism. Laugh not. This is what several talkative young people wished to discuss outside the precinct where I spent some time Tuesday.
Another great idea for making the country more prosperous was to drastically cut the military and use the funding for domestic welfare programs. At least two people shared this idea. As a sign of how this might work out, a parachute company in Woodfin is laying off 68 people due to a slump in demand. Complaints about the military industrial complex apply only where convenient.
Another advantage of public-sector employment is it can afford to let people sit around unemployed. It has unlimited taxing power so it need not be profitable. Seriously, I thought Obama was intentionally giving bad answers during the debates to throw the presidency away and let Romney inherit the cliff. His cult followers, however, let his charisma outshine the facts; and Romney’s supporters couldn’t develop a message anybody would believe. Romney’s guys couldn’t mention the cliff lest panicking markets be the welcoming committee, should he be elected. Obama couldn’t benefit by talking about it because 90-some percent of his base, including liberal artists and undereducated populations, can’t do math. Either way, a lot of people government was paying to sit around unemployed are cruising for a bruising.
It is considered obscene to suppose that deregulation is going to help entrepreneurs create jobs. Government requirements, such as carefully labeling all appropriate exits, saving aquatic life from silt, and other great brainchildren, are deemed necessary to protect clean air and water. Both Dems and Repos think it is great for government to tax everybody and then bestow benefits on select companies. Often, local and state governments partner with economic development organizations that do strange things to entice businesses to locate to their area.
The marketing effort included contacting targeted companies and sending a branded water bottle with attached coasters that provided concise messaging on the benefits of Henderson County as a location for outdoor manufacturing companies.
Socialism works OK in small groups with similar household incomes and cultural backgrounds. It does not work in the United States where some people value recreation more than work and expect those who believe they cannot play until their bills are paid to build them bigger and better parks with bigger and better programming. A more popular argument would be that socialism works in revisionist history, and if it didn’t, it was only because it wasn’t green enough.
