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In January
2009, the administration claimed that if Congress passed a rush stimulus
bill, the United States would be saved from economic catastrophe that was
threatening to send unemployment figures above 8 percent. Government stimulus
was the answer and if we cared about our country, we would set aside our
reservations and do what needed to be done to pass the bill. Congress passed
the bill. Unemployment continued to go up and has been well over 8 percent
ever since. (In fact, economist John Williams of ShadowStats
finds unemployment to be closer to 23 percent using traditional methodology.)
Yet some are claiming the first stimulus worked and all we need to bring back
prosperity is more government stimulus.
Stimulus
might appear to work for some people for a short time. It worked for a short
time for Solyndra. For a time, they could pretend
to be engaging in productive activities that would help the economy. For a
time, unemployment was 1,100 people less. But the recent bankruptcy of Solyndra shows that the government is a terrible venture
capitalist. This charade cost the American people over half a billion dollars
they could not afford, yet there is no mea culpa. The administration is not
questioning its calculations, or how they could have been so wrong on their
unemployment predictions in the wake of the last stimulus.
Instead, they
want more money. Once again we are hearing the cry that if we care about our
country, we will approve more spending and more taxes and that will create
more jobs. They promise.
Yes, you
could have gone to the Solyndra factory and you
would have seen jobs. What you could not have seen were the productive jobs
that were never created. Real venture capitalists make decisions based not on
politics and photo opportunities, but on complex economic estimations of risk
and reward. They don't simply throw piles of other people's money at a
factory and expect magic to happen. The uncreated jobs you can't see might
still be around. Instead, we have more government debt which will lead to
more inflation and more taxes. These, in addition to an already hostile
regulatory environment, only add to the burden and risk of job creation in
the private economy.
It has been
said that when all you have is a hammer, everything is a nail. Our government
is full of people who sincerely believe big government and more spending is
the answer to every problem. They automatically look to government for every solution.
Government is their hammer, and all they know to do is to keep hammering.
When government "solutions" still don't solve the problems, they
are unfazed. They keep calling for more government, more laws, and more
programs. Americans are tired of being treated like nails.
This
government-centric mindset is the root of the problem. People who think this
way are naturally drawn to politics and government. To them, the Constitution
is an annoying road block, something to get around, or ignore.
We must become
interested in real, lasting, productive jobs - careers that allow families to
build up a solid foundation of prosperity and economic security - not pretend
make-work government jobs that waste resources and vanish overnight. We have to choose
one or the other.
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