Does Federal Government Have A Role In Job Creation?

Letter to the Editor – Denver Post YourHub

I have a few comments regarding Jack Van Ens recent column, “Federal government has role in job creation:”

    President Obama and progressives such as Jack appear to believe that big government can create jobs in the public and private sectors.  Such Keynesian theory sounds good, and it would be nice if it made sense, but it has a rather glaring logical fallacy. It overlooks the fact that, in the real world, government can't inject money into the economy without first taking money out of the economy.  Keynesianism doesn't boost national income, it merely redistributes it.  Keynesian stimulus spending that has now been discredited at least five times (Hoover, Roosevelt, Ford, Bush II, Obama).

    The private sector creates jobs. It creates wealth. It innovates and produces products and services for more than it costs, thereby producing a profit.  The government sector then takes a portion of those profits that could be reinvested by the company or invested in some other fashion in the private sector and spends the money on government jobs. Some of those jobs such as cops, judges, firefighters are necessary. But the government did not create them. The private sector did. Government is just the pass-through employer, using the wealth the private sector generated.  The simple economic reality is that government cannot inject money into an economy without taking it out first. It cannot “create” jobs without first taking jobs.

    Government can only create a pro-business and pro-growth environment in which business will thrive and create more jobs. Over-regulation, high taxes, and persecution of corporations such as Boeing is not that environment.  The government can reduce taxes, which spurs private investment, which spurs economic expansion, which creates jobs.  We need private investment to create new jobs and businesses and without investor confidence that isn't going to happen.  If you look at the states that are fairing better in this recession such as Texas and you will notice one common theme: lower taxes, less-restrictive regulations, and lower government spending.

    President Obama and Jack could learn much from everyday small business owners about how genuine, authentic “demand,” and not big government, is what creates a job.  They could also learn why Obama’s policies are eliminating them.  A more relevant article from Jack should be about the degree to which big government destroys jobs.

    Jack also criticizes Texas Governor Rick Perry’s job creation record.  It is understandable that progressive leftists must discredit Perry if Obama has any hope of reelection.  Thererfore, they focus on the “quality” of the jobs created in Texas while ignoring the fact that Texas has created nearly 40% of all jobs in the US since the recession began and that Texas has an unemployment rates that is 1% below the national rate.  Arguments such as Jack’s are specious when they don’t include the fact that Texas has a low cost of living.   People making minimum wage in Texas are quite better off than those in a high cost of living state such as California where even a minimum wage might not be enough to live on.  As a result, only 1 in 10 Texans are on food stamps.  Compare that with the national rate of 1 out of every 7 people receiving food stamps thanks to what the federal government has done to the labor market.  Jack’s attack on Perry fails to include all pertinent information.  When presenting an argument, give all the facts, Jack.