One of the things people seem to miss in discussions on economic behavior... is basic game theory. I frequently see stuff like you posted, Stephen: If believes its a problem, he can put is there. It wont fly like that, and makes no sense for someone to do that, if the game is rigged to the contrary, like much of our economy is currently. Could the US government be better at job creation than business is currently? F*ck yes! By doing exactly the sorts of things Roosevelt did in the 30s, and Eisenhower did in the 50s (Our interstate highway system? Thats when most of it was built). Business is not incented to create jobs. Business is incented to make profits. BIG big difference in game theory payoff. And you can see how that behavior has played out with companies moving manufacturing overseas, or their pitting of states one against the other in this country, to extract concessions from local labor and governments to move their factories. Job creation for business isnt a goal. Job creation is a political *tool*. Jobs are not a target. Jobs are a commodity which are sold to the highest bidder. Jobs are discarded the moment they become inconvenient to the business. To hear people talk about it, one might think that Business is imbued with Mystical Powers (tm) by which it can carry out this task. If so, they are notably quiescent, considering the piss-poor job business has been doing in carrying out this, its apparently sacred task during the latest recovery. Odd, as they simultaneously doubling the value of the stock market, paying out record bonuses to investment managers and pulling down record corporate profits. Jobs may have been created, but they were very definitely sold to the lowest bidders, and those bidders are definitely not in this country. As has been very well documented, most of the wealth being built by business activity in the recovery as either gone overseas, or into the pockets of the wealthiest top 1% of the population. What I also find fascinating is the ludicrous spectacle of people whos wages are being persistently undermined by business machinations, steadfastly and vigorously defending the right of those who already have 3/4s of our wealth, and who make more money annually than the half of the population of the country, to take home an even larger share. I am boggled. I am even more boggled by the spectacle of political figures interfering in union organizing in that most rare of events, where it was being welcomed by the Employer (Volkswagon), and would have resulted in net increases in the pay received by their constituents. Damn those socialists for taking away our hard earned money! (Err... wait a second, something seems a little confused here...) So, if you are going to tell me than Business is a better creator of jobs than the government, Im going to insist that you do some homework. Im going to want to see numbers - jobs, compensation and what drove it. Follow the money. Show me where it came from, and where it really is going. Business might be better at creating *wealth* than the government, but it is failing utterly in how it is being distributed.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 07:26:36 +0000
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