The best creator of jobs is sound economic policy.
Steady even growth (i.e.
no speculative bubbles), reasonable interest rates, sufficient credit for growth
and a reasonable tax environmet.
How is it possible to legislate "go be entrepreneurial and create some
jobs"?
Jobs often come through incentives or disincentives.
Obviously
the chance to make money by being entrepreneurial (and having workers) creates jobs
and is an incentive.
Tax benefits for creating jobs or maintaining jobs helps,
but sometimes resembles bribery or corporate socialism.
Penalties for shipping
jobs overseas? Kinda goes against the grain of free enterprise.
Tariffs on imported
goods? A revisitation of the 1930's and the Great Depression is guaranteed via reciprocal
tariffs.
If a company finally sees it can no longer make buggy whips, it can't be legitimately
penalized for jobs ending.
But what if buggy whips are still a viable commodity
for sulky racing or flicking insects off your mother-in-law?
And what if it is
a windfall to ship the factory to Outer Slobbovia and lay off all the American workers?
It
is this author's humble opinion that the company should pay ALL the unemployment
benefits instead of the government.
Also retraining and if the situation persists,
public aid, etcetera. Why should taxpayers subsidize increased profits?
Similarly for automation replacing jobs.
If a robot replaces a human, part
of the cost of the robot is that human's unemployment compensation.
That would
make them think twice.
Some of these decisions verge on stupidity or even (gasp) greed.
This author
wears dairy boots for work on his farm. They are made by Northern Safety Products
in Rockford, Illinois.
He would buy several pairs yearly at Rural King. They cost
$16 per pair.
One day, he went in and here were Ting Lee Gu Pai brand. Northern
Safety Products were nowhere to be seen.
Not wishing to have Chinese plastic containing
who knows what solvents touching his skin, he went to his small hardware store in
town.
They too, had dairy boots of the Ting Lee Gu Pai brand
They didn't have
dairy boots by Northern Safety Products, but they had galoshes.
Inquiry with the
owner established they were a Northern Safety Products vendor and he could order
Northern Safety Products dairy boots.
As he was completing the order, he was chewing
his lip.
Asked what was the matter, he replied, "You know, the American boots
were only six cents more expensive than the Chinese boots."
Six cents on
sixteen dollars- about three/tenths of a percent! In order to deprive an American
worker of his job!
Which dim-witted accountant (or chairman of the board) authorized
that?
Goodness, six cents might impact their twenty million dollar salary.
Jerks.
Rural
King should pay the unemployment for the Northern Safety Products workers.
Again, the best creator of jobs is sound economic policy.
Steady even growth
(i.e. no speculative bubbles),
reasonable interest rates, sufficient credit for
growth and a reasonable tax environment.