- The major cause of long-term unemployment is government.
- There are many government programs that have created multi-generational, chronic unemployment.
minimum-wage laws
welfare dependency
educational malpractice
breakdown of the family
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- A second major cause of unemployment is technological progress and an increasing standard of living.
- When automobiles were invented, there was an "unemployment crisis" among the horse-and-buggy industry.
A short-term problem, a long-term benefit.
Those who eventually got jobs in another field, enjoyed a higher standard of living
(or their children did) than they would have if government had attempted to
protect their jobs in the technologically-backward industry.
- A third major cause of unemployment is the federal government's redistribution of wealth from job-creating sectors to jobless sectors (Keynesian consumption). In short, taxation.
- Corporate income taxes reduce the ability of corporations to create jobs
- Personal income taxes prohibit investment in job-creating businesses
- Capital gains taxes diminish the productivity of labor by penalizing the
formation of capital that makes labor more productive
- Social Security is just another tax, according to the federal government;
instead of retirement funds being invested into the stock market,
Social Security "contributions" are wasted on government boondoggles.
Inflation of the money supply is another way the government redistributes
wealth from investors and producers to consumers, thus destroying jobs.
America's Free Enterprise Economy has created millions of jobs. Technology has created jobs that didn't exist a century ago. A robust economy means lots of jobs.
Some people lack the skills needed to produce goods and services which are valued by Americans. These people are victims of government schooling, and need to be trained so they have the skills which are helpful to others. They do not need laws which require employers to hire them and pay them even though they can't do anything helpful or produce anything of value.
The Federal Government creates more unemployment than it cures. It cannot be otherwise. Every federal program is an example of socialism, which can never bring economic prosperity as well as capitalism. Every federal program which allegedly creates one job has the hidden long-term effect of
putting two people out of work.
"Liberty Under God" is the cure for unemployment.
Many decades ago, the great economist Henry Hazlitt came up with a wonderful example: Why dont we break every glass window? Suddenly, millions of people will be needed to manufacture new window panes and install them. | |
The economy grows in a healthy manner when businesses discover and satisfy a real need in the market, when they generate benefits and invest part of their earnings.
Twelve Questions As We Face the Crisis: Newsroom: The Independent Institute
We don't need "jobs." We need wealth-creators.