Can government create jobs?

• Belly35

  

  Can Federal government create jobs?
  
  Not short term jobs like the 2010 Census will create but long term non-government or private sector type employment?
• ptown_trojans_1

  

  I'd say so, in fact it is a large aspect of macro economics.
  
  Examples, defense, energy, infrastructure, technology and aviation.
• krazie45

  

  Theoretically yes, the government can pay everyone to go dig a hole.....however this would cause a massive amount of inflation so realistically I'd say no. Jobs have to be created by private businesses and corporations.
• LJ

  

  krazie45 wrote: Theoretically yes, the government can pay everyone to go dig a hole.....however this would cause a massive amount of inflation so realistically I'd say no. Jobs have to be created by private businesses and corporations.

  hmmm, I may need to buy a new hold diggin shovel.
• bman618

  Government doesn't create jobs. It doesn't expand the pie of national worth. Government, however, can make a good environment for the growth of our national worth.
• Glory Days

  

  krazie45 wrote: Theoretically yes, the government can pay everyone to go dig a hole.....however this would cause a massive amount of inflation so realistically I'd say no. Jobs have to be created by private businesses and corporations.

  and you would have a lot of holes in the ground.
• dwccrew

  

  bman618 wrote: Government doesn't create jobs. It doesn't expand the pie of national worth. Government, however, can make a good environment for the growth of our national worth.

  Pretty much my thoughts on this issue.
  
  Technically the government can create jobs within the government (which many should be eliminated since the federal government is far larger than it should be), however, the government can't create private sector jobs. The government needs to implement policies that allow businesses to grow and flourish.
• Cleveland Buck

  

  Sure the government can create jobs. They just take jobs away from the private sector to pay for them.
• Footwedge

  The private sector has left the building.
• believer

  

  Footwedge wrote: The private sector has left the building.

  The country at least.....
• ManO'War

  

  To me it's like a dad paying his son to do chores around the house. Does that make the family richer?
• BCSbunk

  Belly35 wrote: Can Federal government create jobs?
  
  Not short term jobs like the 2010 Census will create but long term non-government or private sector type employment?

  LOL ummm yes. They have already created tons of government offices like the Department of homeland security that created some jobs. Though we already have a department of defense which should cover that but ehhh this about creating jobs and not wasting like a filthy pig.
• JoeA1010

  Good answers and analogies here. It can technically create jobs, but government can't create wealth. And for each job it "creates," it is likely eliminating one or more unseen jobs in the private sector for which a market would exist and that would not have to be paid for by the taxpayers.
• believer

  

  ^^^This!
  
  Yes the government creates jobs but it does NOT create wealth. It MUST extract wealth from the private economy to create those jobs through taxation which in the long-run is unsustainable. The public sector leeches wealth created by those eeeeevil profit-making private sector folks.
• oldtriple

  Man O War...
  
  I tip my hat to you sir...I cannot say I have ever heard it put so well:
  "To me it's like a Dad paying his son to do chores around the house. Does that make the family richer?"
  Well said!
  
  Sorry I have never figured out out to do the cut and paste thing when quoting someone's post. Someone will have to teach me that trick.
• mcburg93

  

  I feel like they can. Just let the U.S. build their own military vehicles in the U.S. would help. Also give a tax break to companies put tariffs on merchandise coming to the U.S. the we might get some jobs back over here. I keep watching our jobs leave cause of dollar issues. We want cheap but we have to make the top dollar. I will work for $8 if that means there will be jobs here.
• fan_from_texas

  The whole idea of creating jobs is misplaced. We don't want the creation of jobs--creating jobs is easy. Hire half the country to dig holes and half the country to fill them, and you have 100% employment. The issue isn't whether the gov't can create jobs, but whether it can create desirable jobs that make the country a better place. That's a tougher analysis, and many economists disagree over the multiplier effect etc. as it applies to gov't stimulus. It's really tough to measure how much the extra taxes paid decrease private sector jobs while increasing public sector jobs and whether, on balance, it makes a difference.
• Writerbuckeye

  

  Creating work is not creating jobs -- and it is certainly not creating wealth.
• Footwedge

  Governments can most certainly create jobs. Some jobs are needed for economic growth, others definitely are not and contribute to the national debt, while artificially reducing unemployment figures.
• chs71

  Temporarily yes, long term ... uhhh, how they doin' in Cuba?
• I Wear Pants

  Yes they can, the question is "should they?"
• believer

  

  ^^^I think just about everyone else above answered that question for you.
• I Wear Pants

  ^^^^ I can't read.
• ShockTheWorld !! !

  NO the government can not create jobs. However, Zack Joesph, can. Once he steps on the court they will need to employe thousands to keep the fans away from him.