Some helpful hints

What can government do to create jobs?

While I try to be topical on this site, there are times I believe I need to explain my philosophy in government. Over the past few weeks I’ve occasionally delved into some of my pet subjects - here’s a sampling.

I have three jobs (some would call two of them side hustles) going right now. In two of the cases, I’m employed because an entrepreneur saw a need in the market and decided to fill it, eventually needing my expertise and talent to help along his business. In the third case, I have this Substack, which uses a program template for which I provide the content. Obviously I have varying levels of success with all three, but they keep my bills paid and that’s what is important.

What I described above was sort of the traditional method of job creation. On the other hand, this seems to be our preferred method these days:

• Entrepreneur comes up with an idea, decides to go into business for himself.

• Shortly thereafter, he’s confounded by all the complexities and red tape thrown at him by local, state, and federal government, so he gives up and says “I’ll just be an employee, it’s easier.”

• Large multinational corporation laughs, hires another lobbyist. Regulators carve out another exception to the rules for them or provide yet another large enough barrier to entry that competition is thwarted.

• The exception to the rule: be in an industry preferred by government policymakers. Then they throw all sorts of money at you in grants or loans that you can default on after everyone takes their cut.

I’m going to answer the question in my tagline just as succinctly as I can: get the hell out of the way. Actually, most of the jobs that government creates are the pencil pushers who write the regulations that lobbyists of all stripes harangue the government to create and benefit their cause.

People should be using their creativity on new and better products and procedures, not on figuring out ways to skirt the system. And this is not a new thing for me: I wrote the next couple paragraphs back in 2007; sad to say things have not improved.

In the century-and-a-quarter from 1845 to 1970, Americans changed the world. Starting with Samuel F.B. Morse revolutionizing communications with the telegraph, on our shores we created invention after invention that made our society as we know it (while America also fought and won two world wars in that era), culminating with Neil Armstrong and his small step for man. And while America is still a powerhouse when it comes to innovation, many of the more recent advances have occurred offshore. It seems to me like we've settled on mediocrity, doing research in order to secure the next government grant instead of being truly innovative.

It's long past time for Americans to make stuff again. But the idea in this go-round is not necessarily to make the cheapest product, it's to make the most cutting-edge product that has the quality and construction to last for decades. In turn, American consumers need to reward these efforts and consider quality as much (if not more) than price. Maybe a better term for this consideration is life-cycle cost.

Government has made capitalism artificial: we have fake markets, fake wages such as minimum wage, living wage, and prevailing wage, and fake trade agreements that the other side flouts with impunity. It picks the winners and losers now: certain companies are deemed “too big to fail” but if your small business is struggling because of something the government did, well, sucks to be you unless you do as we say and maybe then we’ll help you get through the crisis created by our actions, not anything you did.

I’m a firm believer in limited, Constitutional government. Rules are made predictable and everyone - regardless of size - plays by the same ones. It’s my contention that the honey pot of money and power in Washington, D.C. is the bane of our existence and cutting it down to size is Job One for job creation.

For every government bureaucratic job we cut, three would be created in the private sector. Think I’m wrong? Let’s try it and see what happens.