John Stossel makes a very good point: Government doesn’t create jobs. It simply takes money that might have created a real job and gives it to someone to do work for the government that probably didn’t really need doing (if it had, the job would have already existed, no?).
Private wealth-holders create jobs. Our investor created jobs. He gave us the money to start our video game business, which now is self-sufficient and pushing toward profitability. Two families are being supported from the seed money he put in. If things continue to grow at the rate they have been we will need to hire employees by the end of next year. That is job creation: jobs that didn’t exist previously that are being paid for out of income those jobs produce.
Government jobs don’t do that. Government bungling, bad-mouthing, and over-regulation destroy jobs. Government oversight creates a business environment that favors large corporations. Our current economic situation is nothing but a mass of unintended consequences brought on by well-intentioned (I’m feeling charitable today) politicians. Nothing is more telling than Stossel’s tale of George McGovern, who tried to open a bed and breakfast only run afoul of the very regulations he helped implement.
It has always been easier to destroy than to create. Government needs to relearn this lesson.