In Creating Jobs Less Government is More

There are certain measures that we know will advance our recovery.

With that assertion President Obama closed his press appearance Friday morning after a disappointing jobs report for August was released.  The private sector created 67 thousand jobs and the unemployment rate ticked up to 10.6%

This chart compares current job growth results with the recovery of the 1980s.

Obama tried to smear some lipstick on the pig:

As I’ve said from the start there’s no quick fix for the worst recession we’ve experienced since the Great Depression.

Actually, what he did say at “the start” of his administration, nineteen months ago, was that his so-called stimulus, $864 Billion in extra borrowing and spending, would in his words, “immediately jumpstart job creation and long term growth.”  He and his advisers assured us then that they knew the unemployment rate would not rise above 8%.   He published a report with a chart showing they knew unemployment fall to 7.2% by this month.  Reality: August was the 15th straight month of 9.5% or higher unemployment.

Obama continued:

The truth is it took years to create our economic problems and it will take more time than any of us would like to repair the damage.

Translation: It’s still Bush’s fault.

…we need to take further steps to create jobs and keep the economy growing, including extending tax cuts for the middle class and investing in the areas of our economy where the potential for job growth is greatest. [emphasis added.]

The fundamental truth Obama and the Democrats consistently reject is that less, not more government intervention in the economy will result in the most rapid job growth.  The President and a few government officials cant possibly overrule the judgment of millions of businesses and pick investments “where the potential for job growth is greatest.”  The notion that any President or any group of government officials could possibly exercise better judgment than millions of entrepreneurs investing their own resources is simply absurd.

Be assured if Obama and his advisers really knew how to use government power to create private sector jobs they would have done so by now, if only to prevent Republican victories in the upcoming election!

Obama continued:

The month I took office we were losing 750,000 jobs a month.  this morning new figures show the economy produced 67,000 private sector jobs in august, the 8th consecutive month of private sector growth…that’s positive news and it reflects the steps we’ve already taken to break the back of this recession.

Yes, compared to massive job losses, 67 thousand new private sector jobs is good news.  But as the chart above shows, compared to historical precedent it’s pathetic.  Sixty-seven thousand isn’t nearly enough to replace the 7.7 million private sector jobs lost since the beginning of 2008 plus add millions more to accommodate population growth.

During 1983, the first year of job recovery after the implementation of the Reagan tax cuts, employers created an average 286,000 new jobs per month.  Since the workforce is now 38% larger,  today’s employers would have to add an average of 394,000 jobs per month to match the growth rate during that first year of the Reagan recovery.

President Reagan’s successful strategy was to reduce government intervention and taxes, making businesses more free, not less.  Reagan didn’t claim to know better than millions of private sector decision-makers which investments would best grow businesses and create jobs.

Reagan did know that when it comes to creating jobs less government is more.