Here is a conservative mantra that you will hear in quiet, non-public conversations, but not in political speeches:
"If you want to work – although it might require some real ingenuity and effort – you can. So stop whining and get to work!"
If that is true (which, like all platitudes, has some truth in it for some people in some situations), why do conservative political candidates think the government can do anything to create jobs? Why do they whine that the government is preventing people from working? Why don't they (if they are millionaires like Mitt Romney) engage in private individual acts of charity and welfare and use their money, voluntarily and immediately, to develop more industries and businesses that create value by establishing lasting jobs, and not just create temporary jobs that amass material possessions and consume more resources for themselves by adding a new wing on to their mansion, or by buying a couple more cars or boats.
The answer is, it is more complex than this. Yes, the public sector can affect jobs by heavy-handed regulations, and by soaking up too much of the resources (human and monetary), but this is not the reason for the current joblessness. The “pull yourself up with your bootstraps” mentality will not restore us to low unemployment rates.
In large societies where people are so isolated from each other by the crowd, government action is necessary. In small societies where misery is visible to all, people tend to pull together and share more. In modern society, where the wealthy can go home to where all is well – visually and otherwise, in their gated communities – they can deny and ignore the reality of the problem, its gravity, and its connection to them.
Loren M. Lambert © October 19, 2011
"If you want to work – although it might require some real ingenuity and effort – you can. So stop whining and get to work!"
If that is true (which, like all platitudes, has some truth in it for some people in some situations), why do conservative political candidates think the government can do anything to create jobs? Why do they whine that the government is preventing people from working? Why don't they (if they are millionaires like Mitt Romney) engage in private individual acts of charity and welfare and use their money, voluntarily and immediately, to develop more industries and businesses that create value by establishing lasting jobs, and not just create temporary jobs that amass material possessions and consume more resources for themselves by adding a new wing on to their mansion, or by buying a couple more cars or boats.
The answer is, it is more complex than this. Yes, the public sector can affect jobs by heavy-handed regulations, and by soaking up too much of the resources (human and monetary), but this is not the reason for the current joblessness. The “pull yourself up with your bootstraps” mentality will not restore us to low unemployment rates.
In large societies where people are so isolated from each other by the crowd, government action is necessary. In small societies where misery is visible to all, people tend to pull together and share more. In modern society, where the wealthy can go home to where all is well – visually and otherwise, in their gated communities – they can deny and ignore the reality of the problem, its gravity, and its connection to them.
Loren M. Lambert © October 19, 2011
No comments:
Post a Comment