By Kevin J. Price
Recently the Obama Administration navigated another "jobs creation" bill through Congress. Correction, it was a "jobs preservation" bill designed to bailout fiscally irresponsible states that are about to pursue massive layoffs to get their spending back in line. If the Federal government "should" help the states, shouldn't it be for the important functions that would be lost if the governments were forced to do massive cuts? Instead, it is all couched in job protection and an opportunity to pursue efficiency in government is eliminated thanks to Uncle Sam and at the expense of the American Taxpayer. It is the continued demise of moral hazard that is further destroying our free market economy.
If Obama and Congressional leaders were serious about job creation, they would take a decidedly different approach. The following are just a few suggestions:
· Eliminate the barriers between people and jobs. This isn't done through temporary government jobs that will run out with the recent bailouts (like the bill passed this week), but through real jobs that create revenue for them to grow in number and in quality. Although I oppose a federal minimum wage, you are not going to make one go away. However, the federal government could mandate that each state have its own minimum wage law and allow them to set it based on the needs of the people and the cities. This would not cost the federal government a penny, but would spur economic activity immediately. Certain cities, such as Camden (New Jersey), East St. Louis (Illinois), and Detroit each suffer from an unemployment of around 20 percent. they need help like this immediately. In addition to creating jobs and solving employment problems where they are -- locally -- it would also help to restore the Federalism system that helped make this country great.
· Since businesses do not pay taxes (they are only tax collectors through higher prices or lower quality products), we should eliminating taxes on them. Taxes are simply a fixed cost for doing business, nothing more. If taxes are too high, businesses have no choice, but move to other countries where the rate is less so they can lower prices and be more competitive. Businesses do not take these actions because they are not patriotic. In the words of The Godfather, "it isn't personal, it's just business." Eliminating taxes on business would have a profound impact on high quality job creation. This policy would also encourage an increase in productivity and soften the blow of inflation. Finally and, maybe most importantly, it would help restore honest government when the voters face the brunt of the taxes directly.
· Ending taxes on wealth (and job) creation and replace income tax with a sales tax. This would eliminate the economic genocide against job creators we are seeing today and would more fairly spread the financial burden of government on all economic groups. If every economic group shared the burden of funding the government, that would encourage all groups to make government fiscally accountable.
The "band aid" approach of bailouts and short term fixes are only making our situation worse. There is a root cause to our current economic situation. Employing the strategies above would put the United States on the fast track for recovery and would lead to a more accountable government.
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Kevin Price
Host, Price of Business, M-F at 11 am on CBS Radio News
Frequently found on Strategy Room at FoxNews.com
Syndicated columnist whose articles appear on a variety of media outlets.
His http://BizPlusBlog.com/ is ranked in the top 1 percent of all blogs by Technorati.
Kevin Price's Profile: http://www.google.com/profiles/PriceofBusiness
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