Renewable Jobs
“The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But under the name of ‘liberalism, they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program, until one day America will be a socialist nation, without knowing how it happened. I need no longer run as a Presidential Candidate for the Socialist Party. The Democratic Party has adopted our platform.” — Norman Mattoon Thomas (1944 Socialist Party Presidential candidate).
By Jack Beavers at Center for a Just Society
President Obama’s planned announcement of his Job Creation Plan comes following statements by liberal pundits proclaiming that massive debt poses no danger to the U.S. For example, in her USA Today Forum article, “Don’t Believe the Hype about Our National Debt“, Sally Kohn attempts to ridicule our concern over the government’s out-of-control spending. Kohn’s article employs a false premise that the federal government is equivalent to a private corporation when it comes to borrowing and spending money. In truth, the article documents Kohn’s uneducated view of the difference between the federal government and a private corporation. In fact, her article would better be used as an example of Joseph Goebbels’ propaganda philosophy.
“…when one lies, one should lie big, and stick to it … even at the risk of looking ridiculous … If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” – Joseph Goebbels
An examination of Kohn’s article establishes that she has no background in business or finance. This is relevant because, unlike government, private companies must produce a profit via products sold. Only when consumer demand justifies an increase in the production of more products do private companies borrow money to expand production to meet the increased demand. The borrowing of Capital for such expansions is justified by the Return-on-Investment (ROI), e.g. the money to be made above the cost of the interest paid on the borrowed money. Specifically, the expected ROI must exceed the interest paid for the borrowed money by a defined amount (hurdle rate).
What Kohn and President Obama do not understand is the salaries and burdens of employees must be treated as borrowed money that must also meet an ROI. More specifically, all employees have a job for one reason – their work generates a return on their employer’s investment in them (ROI). The employee adds value to the employer’s product, and the added value is sufficient to offset and exceed their cost to their employer.
However, the federal government produces no products for sale – thus it has no means of generating revenue except by confiscation through taxation, taking a portion of the revenues of private companies and the earned income of private citizens. To sustain growth in its costs (entitlement programs, federal employees, and government bureaucracy) the federal government must increase tax revenue and/or borrow (print) more money. This bureaucratic paradox is being exacerbated by the fact that the government’s taxation revenue base is decreasing (note the recent disclosure that 47% of US residents pay no income taxes). But most important is the fact that there is no ROI from the growth of entitlements, government jobs, and bureaucracy.
In reality, a true analogy for comparing the federal government and private business is that of a parasite living off a host. In some instances the host-parasite relationship can be symbiotic, with both benefitting from the relationship. However, a private business-government symbiotic relationship would require that the federal government facilitate the economic growth of private businesses by taking only the minimal sustenance required to continue its non-growth symbiotic role. Unfortunately, this is no longer the case with our host-parasite relationship with our government.
Therefore, when the President’s job creation plan is announced, we need to view it through the “Renewable Paradigm”: Do the jobs produce an ROI? If the jobs proposed are merely government subsidies (Stimulus) for private companies and/or other governmental departments, then the jobs are not sustainable ROI generators. And if not sustainable, by definition, they are detrimental (non-symbiotic) to our relationship with the government.
If the President’s plan is more government spending instead of deregulating and providing incentives to private companies so they can feel confident in expanding and hiring, then his plan too is an example of Joseph Goebbels’ propaganda philosophy. And perhaps it is time to concede that our President’s agenda is to leave a legacy that fulfills Norman Mattoon Thomas’ vision of the fall of American democracy,
“The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But under the name of ‘liberalism, they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program, until one day America will be a socialist nation, without knowing how it happened. I need no longer run as a Presidential Candidate for the Socialist Party. The Democratic Party has adopted our platform.” — Norman Mattoon Thomas (1944 Socialist Party Presidential candidate).
In fact if President Obama does propose more government spending, we probably wouldn’t be any worse off if we had elected Norman Mattoon Thomas as our 44th US President.
Jack T. Beavers is an Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) Consultant with a BS in Chemical Engineering (BSChE), a Professional Engineering (PE) license, a Certification in Business Management (CBM), and a Certification as an Internal Control Specialist (CICS). He has previously held a Certification as an ISO-9000 Internal Auditor – and his work history includes Enterprise Risk Assessment responsibilities as a Manager of Internal Audit. Please email your comments to forum@ajustsociety.org.
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