On this day named for Laborers on which we do not Work, it is worth noting that politicians do not create jobs, no matter what they say.
The Van Jones brouhaha is about jobs.
Nancy Sutley, White House Council on Environmental Quality and Van Joness boss said in a weekend statement, “Over the last six months, he has been a strong voice for creating 21st-century jobs…”
Uh huh. Politicians do not create jobs.
On her site speaker.gov, Nancy Pelosi (D – CA) writes about the final G.R.A.F.T. Act, “This legislation will jumpstart our economy, create and save 3.5 million jobs.” She uses the phrase “create jobs” or “create really really outstanding jobs” 41 times
Uh huh. Politicians do not create jobs.
The site michigan.gov trumpets that, “Thanks to Governor Granholm’s 21st Century Jobs Fund, this new economy is actually taking shape… The first round of awards has already provided funding to 67 companies and projects, creating thousands of jobs…”
Uh huh. Politicians do not create jobs.
Michigan is closer to the truth. Politicians give away OPM to businesses that create jobs. “OPM” is “Other People’s Money,” something politicians think they have an infinite supply of and that We the [Other] People know is running out.
It is Labor Day and we are not laboring. Politicians will create no jobs today, either, but they will walk in parades and pretend they have.
Yeah, yeah, I know that politicians do hire people. The people they hire either work to reelect the politicians or are paid with tax dollars. Sometimes both. Federal state and local governments combined had about 14 million “full time equivalent” civilian employees on the roles in 2007. The total employed civilian labor force was about 182 million in 2007. Eight percent of the workforce is actually fewer than I expected.
Interesting rant, but it’s a nit. A difference, if you will, without distinction.
If I hab a code, and I sneeze all over my hand, then shake hands with you and you promptly rub your eyes, 10 days later you’ll probably get the cold. Using your logic, I can say, “Hey, *I* didn’t give you the cold. The rhinovirus gave you the cold. You rubbing your eyes gave you the cold. Not me.”
If Joe-Bob’s Nano Solar Tech, Inc. does not have sufficient money to hire more people, Joe-Bob is not going to be hiring more people. He’ll sink his money into getting what he needs to do his research, into product development, into paying the rent and the bills. He may need some more technicians and maybe a scientist or three. He may need an admin, but Mrs. Joe-Bob works for free and does the books and phones.
Along comes Congressman Skip, and he hands Joe-Bob a neat hundred mil or whatever cuz Joe-Bob is doing “green” stuff. Joe-Bob hires. Sure, Joe-bob hired, but the job was “created” by the money.
Congressman Skip can take credit, creditably.
Much as I detest Congressman Skip.
Congressman Skip wouldn’t be able to play that game if Joe-Bob, you, and I hadn’t paid so much in taxes in the first place. And if if Joe-Bob, you, and I hadn’t paid so much in taxes, we could have bought solar widgets from Nano Solar Tech, Inc. which would than have had sufficient money to hire more people.
Works pretty well this market stuff when it’s not mucked up by Congressman Skippy.
A fun read on Labour Day. Thanks. (Thanks to gekko as well for being your foil.)
OWWWwwwww — please don’t beat me! I was having fun!
I can see were duelling dually, so Ill simply repeat my FOOFery here and then move on movies to be seen today, innit:
Tsk. I simply shook hands with you after I sneezed and coughed into my hands. I dont actually replicate myself inside your cells. I dont trigger your immune system to overreact with histamines and excess mucous. I dont touch a single one of your sinuses which excrete the snot.
Therefore, I did not give you the cold.
Your contention was not Politicians do not set about hiring and paying people by handing money to businesses, it was Politicians do not *create* jobs.
They actually do. The jobs the openings would not exist but for the infusion of money. The jobs the openings do not care about the source of the money. The people supplying that money did NOT use it to fund the business, and, in fact, if asked, probably would have had a bazillion other uses they wouldve liked to have seen it put to. So they did not create the jobs. The congresscritter did.
Note, this is not an argument for or against the rightness or wrongness of letting Gubmint choose how to invest taxpayers money in businesses that might (or might not) provide a salable product that will sustain that business or industry. It is simply that your distinction is without difference.
Skippy gave some of my money and yours and yours to Joe-Bob who may or may not have been able to find it on his own.
Skippy didnt invent the product, design the product, market the product, buy the raw materials for the product, or interview and hire a single person who builds the product.
Skippy doesnt meet the ongoing payroll.
See, here’s the crucial difference. The guy what provides the money doesn’t create the jobs. Joe-Bob created them. It matters not a whit whether Joe-Bob gets his money from an IPO, or a venture capitalist, or his mattress, or a Skippy. All that matters is that Joe-Bob creates the jobs.
Joe-Bob could just as easily look at his market and say, “Huh I see an opportunity to make this widget with a robot” and spend his money buying said robot. Then it’s up to the robot maker to decide whether to hire some peeps. And so on.
Skippy might be responsible for losing those jobs, though, if the jobs disappear when the OPM runs out because the market would not sustain the product.