Create wealth, not jobs

Our President and the Congress are promising to create jobs by enacting the "Jobs for Main Street Act."  Someone is confused here.  The purpose of the economy it to create wealth not jobs.   Jobs are simply a necessary evil required to produce the wealth necessary to sustain and enhance our lives.  Any politician with control of the government printing press can start a project that provides jobs.  Hiring people to dig holes and refill the holes creates jobs, but the project only consumes wealth.  Of course, no politician would propose a project as ridiculous as digging and refilling holes to stimulate the economy.  However, our government has had very limited success with projects that actually create wealth. 

The politicians continue to brag about the jobs created by the first Stimulus Bill (WSJ article 2/18/2009  & A 40-Year Wish List, WSJ 1/28/2009) but there is no claim of the wealth produced by that legislation.  When a project consumes more wealth than it produces, the nation's wealth is reduced.  Someone has to produce the wealth consumed by the project.  The last claim was that the first Stimulus Bill produced 2 million jobs, but there was no claim of wealth being produced by those jobs.  There was no indication that the creation of wealth or the wholesale consumption of wealth by these programs was even a consideration. 

History has proven that individual freedom is the prime ingredient in the recipe to create wealth.  The motive for deployment of capital is the most basic difference between tyranny and individual freedom (Capitalism).  The entrepreneur invests capital to exploit innovation and produce wealth.  If the capitalist is successful, the entire nation enjoys an increase in prosperity.  If the project is ill conceived and fails, the investment is lost.   For the first 200 years of our nation's history, successful innovation by the entrepreneur produced great prosperity.  The innovation, fueled by producer's exploitation of capital, increased the productivity of the individual and generated a standard of living that was the envy of the World. 

By contrast, the politician's only consideration in the deployment of capital is that it provides political support.  Over the last 100 years, the amount of capital managed by the entrepreneur has steadily decreased and the wealth controlled by the politicians has increased.   The slow increase in the amount of capital controlled by politicians has rapidly increased with the passage of the Stimulus Bill and will receive another huge boost if the new plan is adopted.

This wholesale expenditure of wealth in pursuit of votes instead of investing the capital to create wealth can only deepen the economic crisis.

There are many programs that are contributing to the economic crisis.  The Stimulus Bill was not the cause, but it will increase the severity of the crisis and delay our recovery.

Remember, a deepening economic crisis is the excuse for the politicians to increase their power.

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