More Freedom = More Jobs

In most cases I take a very basic approach to public policy decisions which I like to call -- "allowing freedom is the best economic tool" -- thus I can't see a need for the numerous study committees, task forces, commissions, etc. that public officials like to create. It is a pretty simple world that government tends to complicate by declaring everything a "crisis" then rushes to offer a "solution" which typically requires more tax revenue.

For this posting I want to integrate three distinct newspaper stories from last week via a theme of "More Freedom = More Jobs" so here we go:

1.) "GM Offers Buyout Deals" -- General Motors recently announced buyout deals to nearly 1/3 of its workers with some buyout amounts totaling $140,000 per worker. Since many of these workers probably have years of experience they could take such a payout to start their own business or perhaps complete a college degree that could lead to a career change - perhaps into engineering given all the concern I read about that the USA is not producing enough engineers to compete with China and India. Now I have never worked at GM but I want to request my own buyout from the Social Security Administration (SSA) -- just send me a lump sum buyout check (amount to be determined) that would exempt me from all future FICA payments and would negate all future claims I have on the system so that I can invest the buyout amount via my personal financial planner versus having the money with some faceless bureaucrat hidden within the SSA monster.

2.) "FCC 'hands off' on Politics Online" -- the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued rules on March 24th to "leave almost all Internet political activity unregulated except for the purchase of campaign ads on web sites." As a blogger I applaud this decision but beyond that this is a great decision for the development of jobs in the online community since new innovations developed by political campaigns tend to create new business applications and jobs. One example is "online fundraising" which undoubtedly has benefited charities.

3.) "Pawlenty: JOBZ brings in 3,100 jobs" -- Our own Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota announced that the state's business tax incentive program known as "JOBZ" has generated 3,100 jobs and $276 million in capital investments since its launch 2 years ago. Shouldn't we all ask how many jobs would have been created in Minnesota had all corporate taxes (which are merely taxes on consumers so don't kid yourself if you think these taxes are "fair") been eliminated? For more on tax reform in the Land of 10,000 Taxes please visit -- http://www.taxpayersleague.org

Government ALLOWS jobs to be created it does NOT create jobs,

Todd