Honeybunny,
First, when I see your screen name, it makes me think of the first and last scene from “Pulp Fiction,” with Samuel Jackson’s character telling the female robber, “We’re cool…like Fonzie, right Honeybunny? Keep the gun pointed on me, Honeybunny. It’s cool.”
Second, I read through all the linked posts you attached, and let me say that I do not believe the government at any level has any business trying to create jobs in the private sector directly or has the ability to create jobs directly in the private sector. Government, ultimately, is an administrator, and does not have a profit margin, the requirement to take something, put some person-hours into it, and create something of value they can charge for, and then return the profit to invest into raises, benefits, expansions, or research and development into new products. Government does one thing – it spends money – your money. And the citizens, as many have forgotten, ultimately control the purse strings.
I’m in the healthcare industry, and one of the best examples is how many states have subcontracted out the Medicare and Medicaid to private insurance companies, such as UnitedHealth and Blue Cross. Not only do these organizations run the Medicare and Medicaid less expensively, they do it profitably. They don’t keep increasing the tax on it each year.
What should the government do if they want to help create jobs? I will list it here:
1) Reduce corporate tax rates. If the tax rate of 25% is only allowing 10 companies who make a million dollars a year each in profit, that would result in $2,500,000 in tax revenue. If the tax rate is reduced to 10% and that makes 50 companies want to be in the area who make $1 million dollars a year each, then net tax revenue would be $5,000,000 in tax revenue. That is not even alluding to the additional tax revenues from having more employees, as well as increased sales tax from all the individuals having to eat lunch who work nearby, shop, support services for these companies, etc.
2) Reduce government regulation. While we do need an FDA to protect the consumer, there are multiple state agencies requiring their “two cents” if you want to do business here. More regulations mean less profits, and higher regulated states and municipalities keep companies away.
3) Local governments can also make it business friendly by making sure the normal things they are suppose to do, such as keeping roads up to par and road expansions, better zoning for more homes for employees who want to live nearby, streets safer so a company can locate to a lower-crime area, as well as making sure public schools are safe and are retaining the best teachers because teachers want to live here, is much better than actually trying to create jobs.
4) Creating sports complexes or resorts will not increase revenue. Let me give you an example of one of the craziest boondoggles in recent years here in the Atlanta area: The new Falcons stadium, paid for in part by taxes. This stadium will be open for 8 days out of the year, for 8 games, possibly 10 or 11, if you include a SuperBowl, some college games, and maybe some other sporting event. That is a lot of physical space for only 11 days out of the year usage, and will take 30 years to pay off. Or, Atlanta could have allowed a 40 story office building there, with each floor having 200 employees, where they work 250 days out of the year, with taxes made on each company, on each individual working there, and all of those people using the local economy for food, gas, shopping, dry cleaning 250 days out of the year. A stadium or a sports complex may be “cool,” but an office building would do a lot for both the city of Atlanta and the citizens in the area.
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