| HappySqurriel said: The best way for the government to "create jobs" is to produce a business environment with low unnecessary overhead and low costs; and this is typically achieved by having a straightforward tax code and reasonable taxes, with a lightweight but effective regulation and low levels of crime and corruption. Beyond this there might be some role for the government in ensuring that the workforce is well educated, highly skilled and well motivated but this may be best handled by private institutions. In other words, the government could create jobs by acting in the complete opposite way as it is acting today. |
If there was concensus as to what would be tolerable norms, and then the government were set up to maintain those, and things were left unchanged, then you would have stability. The problem is that you get certain sectors feeling they are getting shortchanged, so they lobby congress to tip the law structure in place to favor them. And then when another group gets in power, that changes. End result is instability in the laws, and a lack of the ability to predict and make sound business decisions. Also, when you see the possibility of both a global depression AND hyperinflation being thrown around, the end result is that you get instability.
As far as the workforce being well educated, etc... how exactly is that paid for? If you end up offloading the costs for corporations onto the backs of the worker, or the state, then the wages the workers will end up demanding is higher, or they will end up being forced to have to engage in active lying as they are doing now, about the value of a college education. Not hiring workers also, and having an over 50% unemployment/underemployment rate for college graduates doesn't help either.
I also don't see how the heck the government can create jobs, unless they directly hire. Can government policies help to make a more favorable business climate for growth, and job creation? Yes it can. But if it gets loaded up with policies than end up discouraging hiring American workers, and outsourcing and offshoring, it isn't going to happen then.
So, in short, I say things need to be set up where what is essential is paid for and tax rates and so on need to stop being tinkered with. It could be fairly complex, but if stable, that would help a lot. But, the moment there is any kind of slowdown, there go tax rates slashed, and spending increased. And when things reverse themselves, do the tax rates go up, or spending decrease? Nope.
