It seems that all you hear about at all levels of government is that government needs to create jobs. I can't tell you how many times I have heard members of both parties talk about how the government needs to create jobs. The last time I checked the only jobs government should have any role in is hiring government employees. I would also argue we have too many government employees.
The goal of government should be to make sure that the climate is good for business. Taxes and regulations should be low, so that businesses have more capital to expand and invest in creating jobs. Again the private sector or the free market creates jobs. Many times when you hear of government creating jobs is where there are tax breaks or subsidies or grants.
These types of things create a false market. Just look at our agriculture system. If the government eliminated all the subsidies it would cause the agriculture market to plummet because the market or a great majority of it would have been removed. When the free market is allowed to work then jobs and industries thrive based on what the people or the market wants. The government at this point is propping many industries that would fail in the market place but are propped up by tax breaks and subsidies.
A perfect example of this would be "green" energy companies. Many of them are sustained only by the tax payer's dime. We have seen the scandals of Solyndra, and Green Tech. Our government, under the guise of creating jobs, is spending tax payer dollars on things that in many cases would fail otherwise.
Another example would be the film making industry. For years in NC, there have been "incentives" to bring Hollywood here to film projects. Now that these incentives are going away, there is a possibility that those jobs are not coming here again. That is fine. Government in NC should focus on reducing the heavy tax burden on NC businesses and reduce regulation and let the market work it's will. Throwing money at businesses and basically bribing them to do business with you is not good for our economy or for our wallets.
Another example is when we give tax breaks to companies or subsidies to do things they normally wouldn't do. I don't think we should be giving billions in "incentives" to oil companies or any company for that matter. If they want to expand let them use their private capital and pay for it. This is why we need to reduce taxes and regulations so businesses will have more capital. Now we tax them almost to failure and then prop them up with tax payer dollars. That is wrong, stupid, and insane.
We even see it here locally. Recently, our Moore County Commissioners gave $15,500 in a matching amount for a state grant for improvements so that a company can add more jobs. The name of the company is International Tray Pads and Packaging. This is a very successful company who could afford, if it was worth it, to put up the money themselves. Instead our state and three of our county commissioners agreed to spend tax payer dollars on something that government should have no business doing. I will link to the story so you can read how three commissioners on our local county board wasted our tax dollars under the guise of "creating jobs".
I wrote a while back that the gravy train had to stop. This is another perfect example of how our government at all levels has lost it's constitutional priorities. They are interested in spending money on pet projects, political favors, and "jobs" because it translates into votes. This is greed. They want to stay in power. So they spend tax payer dollars to stay in power. It is pay to play politics and it is on both sides of the aisle. It needs to stop. We need to get government out of the market and get government out of the gravy train and pork barrel spending business.
http://www.thepilot.com/news/article_3e794962-003a-11e3-9bcb-001a4bcf6878.html
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