President-elect Barack Obama has put forward a $775 billion “American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan” to create 3 to 4 million new jobs. Unfortunately, the government can’t really create jobs. They can only steal money and productive value from the economy.
In a capitalistic economy, labor and capital freely flows to the most productive enterprises precisely because they’re the most profitable. All government can do is inefficiently redistribute wealth that the private sector creates.
The jobs that the Obama administration creates won’t add value to the economy. Instead their wages will be paid with stolen money (taxes) that could have been used to create more wealth. Instead, the standard of living will fall, because more government employees means more regulation and more regulation means a less efficient economy.
The real creators of jobs are the very readers of this blog, the American small businessman and woman. So, do your part and keep your eyes open for that next great opportunity. Generating wealth is more patriotic than it might seem in 2009.