Presidents and other politicians love to promise jobs.
Most people love to hear those promises. How many recognize
that there are two kinds of jobs -- good jobs and bad jobs. How
can we know the difference? Why is it important to know the
difference?
Consider a gardener growing tomatoes. He buys a
rototiller, fuel, seed, fertilizer, etc. He grows and sells tomatoes.
Does the gardener have a good job?
There is only one way to find out. Are the tomatoes he
grew worth more than the resources he consumed growing them?
If they are, the gardener produced value. If the tomatoes are
worth less than the resources consumed, he destroyed value.
Good jobs produce value. Bad jobs destroy value.
The gardener who consumed value may have worked
very hard. The value and quality of a job isn't determined by
how hard the worker works, or by how much education and skill
he has. It is determined by the net value he produces. The
wealth of the nation is the net value produced by all jobs. Jobs
that don't produce value reduce wealth rather than creating
wealth.
Consider filling a tank. Hook hoses to the tank. Some
of the hoses put water in the tank, others take water out. Only
the hoses that put water in the tank contribute to filling the tank.
There would be more water in the tank is we disconnected the
hoses draining water.
Nonproductive jobs are hoses draining wealth from our
nation. Increasing wealth is how we sustain and raise our
standard of living. Decreasing wealth lowers our standard of
living. Nonproductive jobs drain wealth and lower our standard
of living.
It is very important that we distinguish between good and
bad jobs. Bad, nonproductive jobs, drag us toward poverty. The
so-called pay checks for those bad jobs are in reality welfare
payments. They pay the workers to destroy rather than to
produce.
The immune system of a free market private sector
detects and destroys bad jobs similar to the way our bodies'
immune systems detect and destroy bad viruses. Nonproductive
jobs yield losses. Losses kill the businesses that create the bad
jobs. The nonproductive jobs are eliminated in favor of good,
productive ones. Profits and losses are the core of the immune
system.
The government sector isn't governed by profits and
losses. Thus, it doesn't have an immune system. Government
can continue bad, nonproductive jobs until it can't beg, borrow,
print or steal the money to pay for the losses.
Government doesn't sell most of what it produces. Thus,
we have no yard stick to measure the productivity of government
jobs. We can only estimate and guess whether a government job
is good or bad. What is the value of the education provided by
government schools? No one knows. It is a good guess that it
is worth less than it costs. No one knows how much less. The
only way we could find out is to sell the government produced
education to willing customers in free markets.
The government system can't sort out and eliminate bad
jobs because it can't identify them. Government employees don't
lose their jobs for being nonproductive. They lose them only
when the government revenue dries up.
The worst part is that government deliberately suppresses
the immune system of the private sector. By paying subsidies
and mandating the use of the products of wasteful, bad jobs,
government blocks the private sector from identifying and
eliminating those bad jobs.
A job isn't a valuable productive one merely because it
produces something. To be a valuable job it must produce more
than it consumes. The gardener doesn't have a productive job
merely because he produces one tomato.
Subsidized jobs, such as making windmills, solar panels,
ethanol, and building high-speed rail, are all nonproductive jobs
that consume more wealth than they produce. They are hoses
draining our wealth tank. These government created jobs don't
lift us to prosperity. They drag us into poverty.
* * * * *
* * * *
* * *
* *
*
Copyright 2012
Albert D. McCallum
18440 29-1/2 Mile Road
Springport, Michigan 49284
Most people love to hear those promises. How many recognize
that there are two kinds of jobs -- good jobs and bad jobs. How
can we know the difference? Why is it important to know the
difference?
Consider a gardener growing tomatoes. He buys a
rototiller, fuel, seed, fertilizer, etc. He grows and sells tomatoes.
Does the gardener have a good job?
There is only one way to find out. Are the tomatoes he
grew worth more than the resources he consumed growing them?
If they are, the gardener produced value. If the tomatoes are
worth less than the resources consumed, he destroyed value.
Good jobs produce value. Bad jobs destroy value.
The gardener who consumed value may have worked
very hard. The value and quality of a job isn't determined by
how hard the worker works, or by how much education and skill
he has. It is determined by the net value he produces. The
wealth of the nation is the net value produced by all jobs. Jobs
that don't produce value reduce wealth rather than creating
wealth.
Consider filling a tank. Hook hoses to the tank. Some
of the hoses put water in the tank, others take water out. Only
the hoses that put water in the tank contribute to filling the tank.
There would be more water in the tank is we disconnected the
hoses draining water.
Nonproductive jobs are hoses draining wealth from our
nation. Increasing wealth is how we sustain and raise our
standard of living. Decreasing wealth lowers our standard of
living. Nonproductive jobs drain wealth and lower our standard
of living.
It is very important that we distinguish between good and
bad jobs. Bad, nonproductive jobs, drag us toward poverty. The
so-called pay checks for those bad jobs are in reality welfare
payments. They pay the workers to destroy rather than to
produce.
The immune system of a free market private sector
detects and destroys bad jobs similar to the way our bodies'
immune systems detect and destroy bad viruses. Nonproductive
jobs yield losses. Losses kill the businesses that create the bad
jobs. The nonproductive jobs are eliminated in favor of good,
productive ones. Profits and losses are the core of the immune
system.
The government sector isn't governed by profits and
losses. Thus, it doesn't have an immune system. Government
can continue bad, nonproductive jobs until it can't beg, borrow,
print or steal the money to pay for the losses.
Government doesn't sell most of what it produces. Thus,
we have no yard stick to measure the productivity of government
jobs. We can only estimate and guess whether a government job
is good or bad. What is the value of the education provided by
government schools? No one knows. It is a good guess that it
is worth less than it costs. No one knows how much less. The
only way we could find out is to sell the government produced
education to willing customers in free markets.
The government system can't sort out and eliminate bad
jobs because it can't identify them. Government employees don't
lose their jobs for being nonproductive. They lose them only
when the government revenue dries up.
The worst part is that government deliberately suppresses
the immune system of the private sector. By paying subsidies
and mandating the use of the products of wasteful, bad jobs,
government blocks the private sector from identifying and
eliminating those bad jobs.
A job isn't a valuable productive one merely because it
produces something. To be a valuable job it must produce more
than it consumes. The gardener doesn't have a productive job
merely because he produces one tomato.
Subsidized jobs, such as making windmills, solar panels,
ethanol, and building high-speed rail, are all nonproductive jobs
that consume more wealth than they produce. They are hoses
draining our wealth tank. These government created jobs don't
lift us to prosperity. They drag us into poverty.
* * * * *
* * * *
* * *
* *
*
Copyright 2012
Albert D. McCallum
18440 29-1/2 Mile Road
Springport, Michigan 49284
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