Governments don't create jobs, Businesses create jobs!

The problem as I see it is that neither the government, nor we the taxpayers, have the money to fund the US economy. The government can create jobs, but only at a cost to the taxpayer... in essence taking some of my money, some of your money, in fact a lot of peoples money in order to give someone else the appearance of a salary. This seems to be the fatal flaw in the stimulus package.

To create jobs, the government can only create an economic atmosphere through policy that is conducive to growth, increasing debt and devaluing the currency in order to hand out money, is not conducive to growth. Sure, the government can produce a short term gain in employment by handing out money and funding programs, but as soon as the money runs out you are left with the choice of funding more, or accepting higher unemployment numbers. We are not correcting an economic downturn by handing out billions, we are simply deferring the pain.

So far the best idea I've heard is the proposal for the government to purchase the 'toxic' mortgages at the root of this current financial crisis, they are after all the cause of it in the first place. The government is in a much better position to absorb risk than independent financial institutions, and with proper regulation in a much better position to collect...eventually. Like it or not, financial institutions have a moral obligation, not to those that owe them money, but to those that financed the loans in the first place, their investors, who in most cases invested their money conditional to certain returns over a defined period of time. The government however, can defer repayment without consideration of investors, the government can convert a 30-year fixed rate into a 40-year fixed rate without impact on an investor who was planning to use the money earned to finance his or her retirement.

The greatest risk in the current stimulus bill stems from the unsecured accumulation of debt by the federal government. This unsecured debt devalues the currency which has a further negative effect upon the economy they are attempting to restore. The implementation of social programs by the most notoriously inefficient means possible introduces severe negative long term cost and consequences. Examine any government program and you will find not a limited and effective temporary measure but an organism of growth... what government agency has ever, over time (without outside controls) naturally gotten smaller with the passage of time?

The stimulus, by the governments own accounting (CBO), contains a minority of stimulus and a majority of pet programs, projects, and pork. 300 million to combat violence against women (pg 43 line 16), while undoubtedly a worthwhile endeavor, seems a far cry from economic stimulus in my mind. A 100 million dollar set-aside for disaster relief (pg 114 line 20) is not economic stimulus. 165 million for the Fish and Wildlife service (pg 117 line 8) is not economic stimulus. 75 million to the Smithsonian Institute (pg 124 line 15)... well you get the idea, 778 pages of it. This is the machine in which American politics operates, if we could melt down all the fat in government we'd never have an oil shortage.

Seven Hundred and Seventy-Eight pages, sometimes I think that if we had a Constitutional Amendment limiting bills to ten or twenty pages we'd get a hell of a lot more done, a hell of a lot more efficiently. Honestly, how many of our representatives could have possibly read the entire document? And if unable to read the entire document, how can they effectively represent us?

So, Senator... how much money did you just vote to set aside for construction bonds for Indian schools for the years 2009 and 2010? Well? Come on Senator, the American public doesn't have all day.... how much?

Love to see them ask that question on Meet the Press... the answer by the way is 400 million, 200 million for each year (page 561 lines 3 & 4). Maybe we ought to give quizzes on the bills.... score 50% on the quiz, you get half a vote towards the measure.

Cheers!

~Finntann~