The Left is fixated on government jobs. They remember being told at their Father's knee about CC Camps, WPA, TVA, etc,, etc. And these things were good. My Father and two uncles went to CC Camp, earned money, stayed out of trouble and became better citizens.
The problem is this. As FDR's failure to stop the Depression showed outside of actual government jobs, new jobs are not created by government spending.
The company receiving the money creates the jobs.
The problem with massive government spending is this:
What do we spend it on?
Pick the wrong thing and you lose, just like anyone "investing" in a start up that doesn't fly loses.
A huge chunk of the stimulus went to state and local governments. That means the money was filtered at least twice. The results? Hundreds of thousands of dollars to create one job. Politicians did what they do. Take care of themselves and friends.
That didn't work well.
Some jobs were saved by the GM/Chrysler bailout, but no new jobs were created.
A few jobs were "created" by so-called green energy companies. But the actual numbers are low.
Now Obama is back to "shovel ready" construction projects. Problem is, there are relatively few of these on a national basis. And the new ones require some local funding so that money has to be acquired along with the permits, etc. After that is done the project can move forward but in today's world you have fewer people using better equipment.
In other words, those grainy black and white film shows of hundreds of men shoveling away ain't gonna happen now.
The boom in the 80's and 90's came from new technology. Government investment in NASA, defense spending and the Internet unloosed an avalanche of new processes, products and markets. Unfortunately we allowed the companies who profited from these to move them off shore.
So if we are going to spend another trillion or so in search of 5% unemployment it has to be spent on something new.
Cold fusion? Cancer cures? The list is endless and while money is being expended on some already, what is out there to become the new Internet? You know we haven't even extended high speed Internet service to locations outside the urbs and burbs.
Partially posted on TalkLeft
OnTwitter I am Lesabre1 "Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them." - Karl Popper
“Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants. It is the creed of slaves.” - William Pitt
"Logic. There is little logic among the cultural elite, maybe because there is little omnipresent fear of job losses or the absence of money, and so arises a rather comfortable margin to indulge in nonsense." - Victor Davis Hanson
