Thursday, October 28, 2010

Whence Prosperity? The Government?

Many people think that government spending can create jobs and shovel our economy out of the doldrums. It is true that the government can hire people to do jobs and supply them with money for their work. But…where does the money to pay them come from? It comes from taxes that the people pay. In other words, all the government is doing is shifting money around (these days from the wealthy to the lower economic classes). No new product is being brought forth. Rarely it may be necessary to shift money around in our republic by artificial means by government action. However, that money would shift anyway as the poor are hired by the wealthy to produce real goods and real services.

Our government is soaked in the notion that when the rich get richer, the poor get poorer. If you believe that line, then you believe that creating wealth causes poverty. The truth is that creating wealth causes more wealth. If somebody opens a very big successful company in your small town do you think that that would be bad news for the people in the town? Would that business suck up all the available money and leave the people poor? No! The people in the town would be more prosperous because they have more jobs and income. The businesses in our country are not causing our economic woes—the government is causing the woes.

If the government wants to encourage a business, there are several things that it can do:
1. Cut taxes and give tax breaks.
2. Decrease regulation.
3. Buy the company’s products for governmental tasks.
4. Subsidize the company.
If the government wants to discourage a business, there are several things it can do:
1. Raise taxes.
2. Increase regulation.
3. Buy the company’s products from another supplier, perhaps from a supplier overseas.
4. Encourage union domination.
Our government seems to be doing everything it can to discourage business. It is time we act to do something about this anti-business climate in which we live. Write to your Congressman and Senator to ask them to act in a pro-business way.

No comments:

Post a Comment