The G20 Summit, being held in Toronto this year, finally came to the conclusion that they will adopt policy initiatives that libertarians and thoughtful conservatives have been demanding for quite a while now: they pledged to halve their budget deficits by 2012. Shocking, isn’t it?
What is really shocking, however, is where our president stood on the issue. Even after the Europeans (yes, those fiscally irresponsible Europeans!) pledged to cut deficits, he was still urging that governments should spend. Obama continued,
"A number of our European partners are making difficult decisions. But we must recognize that our fiscal health tomorrow will rest in no small measure on our ability to create jobs and growth today."
It seems that Obama means job creation in the public sector (aka more government jobs) when he says “our ability to create jobs”; the problem is the inference that job growth in the public sector will translate to real valuable economic growth that is sustainable and will be able to lead to a full economic recovery.
History has shown that job growth in the public sector leads to inflated benefit systems for governmental workers and endless bureaucracies which have no real market value (perhaps because they do not do anything valuable). Where does job growth in the public sector leave the nation a few years down the line? Let’s see… oh, in the same position that say, Greece, are in now: the verge of bankruptcy.
In addition to this, increased government growth crowds out opportunities for sustainable private sector growth giving job seekers less of an opportunity to find meaningful employment. With record unemployment levels this could not only be an economic disaster, but could also lead to an infringement of our very civil liberties. Friedrich Hayek, prominent economist, warned of the dangers accompanied by reduction of employers within the market place,
“That the freedom of the employed depends upon the existence of a great number and variety of employers is clear when we consider the situation that would exist if there were only one employer – namely, the state – and if taking employment were the only permitted means of livelihood. And a consistent application of socialist principles, however much it might be disguised by the delegation of the power of employment to the nominally independent public corporations and the like, would necessarily lead to the presence of a single employer. Whether this employer acted directly or indirectly, he would clearly possess unlimited power to coerce the individual.” (Hayek, The Constitution of Liberty, Chapter 7)
A fool with cast his pearls among swine. In America today it appears that is what the administration is doing, especially Back Door Obama. We have no transparency, no direction in the oil spill, no budget, no secured borders and a G20 Summit that showed nothing more than stupidity on America's part, thanks to our leader in DC.
ReplyDeleteAs a third grader, I learned the power of a budget and how to cut corners to save money. It is too bad our elected officials can't do the same thing.
http://rednecksforamericansl.com
Should government have a market value, Pat?
ReplyDelete