I have a column at American Issues Project today. Here is an excerpt:
Governor Beverly Perdue recently announced that with every construction project in North Carolina funded by federal stimulus money a sign will be posted saying "Jobs Now." She said, "That is going to be the logo in North Carolina. We want people to know that we are putting folks back to work."
In the coming months there will be similar announcements from state and federal officials identifying specific jobs that are being financed by the stimulus funds. Some will bear signs, as in North Carolina, while others will be listed on websites tracking the money.
Brian Balfour of the Civitas Institute asked the following when hearing of the "Jobs Now" project: "It's easy to see the 'Jobs Now' projects of government roads and bridges. But where does that money come from? What use would that money have been put toward if not taken by the government to finance their public works?"
We know that money comes from taxpayers, but there is no definitive way to know where that money would have gone otherwise - if other policies had been in place. How it might have been spent is a matter of speculation, but it's a pretty safe bet if that money was left in the pockets of taxpayers it would be less likely to end up growing government at the expense of the private sector.
Full text follows:
Governor Beverly Perdue recently announced that with every construction project in North Carolina funded by federal stimulus money a sign will be posted saying "Jobs Now."
She said, "That is going to be the logo in North Carolina. We want people to know that we are putting folks back to work.”
In the coming months there will be similar announcements from state and federal officials identifying specific jobs that are being financed by the stimulus funds. Some will bear signs, as in North Carolina, while others will be listed on websites tracking the money.
Brian Balfour of the Civitas Institute asked the following when hearing of the “Jobs Now” project: “It's easy to see the ‘Jobs Now’ projects of government roads and bridges. But where does that money come from? What use would that money have been put toward if not taken by the government to finance their public works?”
We know that money comes from taxpayers, but there is no definitive way to know where that money would have gone otherwise – if other policies had been in place. How it might have been spent is a matter of speculation, but it’s a pretty safe bet if that money was left in the pockets of taxpayers it would be less likely to end up growing government at the expense of the private sector.
A recent report from the Employment Security Commission of North Carolina showed big losses of private sector jobs in the state, but the same report showed the government continued to grow during that time. Alex Crafts at Red Clay Citizen looked at the state employment figures and noted that “over the last year, 210,000 non-farm industry workers have been left unemployed, while government has increased their workforce by 19,800.”
Some groups, like the Business Coalition for Fair Competition, will push for public policies that promote the “utilization of and reliance upon the private sector by government at all levels” and “eliminate unfair government-sponsored competition with private, for profit enterprise, including small business.”
Other groups with various interests will be compiling information and tracking where the stimulus money is going at websites such as TracktheStimulus.com and Recovery.gov. But there is no way to track what jobs would have been created had the $787 billion been left to taxpayers to spend.
Balfour wonders, “What signs will be given to the laborers put out of work because of a redirection of resources from the private sector to political ends? What signs will be given to those workers deprived of opportunity due to jobs never created because resources are tied up in public works?”
I don’t expect to see any signs going up in vacant storefronts on Main Street identifying “Jobs That Might Have Been.” Nor do I expect to see a website called “How Americans Would Have Spent $787 Billion If They Had Been Allowed to Keep It.” What I do hope to see and hear is a debate on the topic.
Those seeking to justify the $787 billion in “stimulus” spending will likely try to claim credit for every new job over the next few years. According to a recent report in the Wall Street Journal regarding findings of the Government Accountability Office, “The first official scorecard for the $787 billion economic-stimulus plan shows limited progress in getting out the small portion of money meant for states and communities this fiscal year.”
Nationwide, in March alone, private employers cut jobs by 742,000. The President claims his policies have already created or saved some 150,000 jobs, but 1.2 million jobs have been lost in the American economy since his inauguration.
There are ways to track and show how the government spends money and there are ways to track how individuals and businesses spend money. What cannot be tracked or quantified are the ways money might have been spent by individuals and businesses if different policies had been in place. There are ways though, through specific examples and anecdotal evidence, for people to get an idea about some ways different policies could have had different outcomes.
A businessman can explain how, if taxes had been less burdensome, he would have hired additional employees. A family can describe ways their dollars would have been pumped back into the economy through expenditures on home improvement, or a much needed vacation, had they been allowed to keep more of the money they earned.
If the debate over the next few months and years is over how many jobs were created as a direct result of the 2009 “stimulus” act, we will not learn much. A more interesting and informative discussion would be about how much the government was grown during that time and how private business might have benefitted from policies that kept more of taxpayers’ money in their own hands.
Hopefully over the next couple of years we will see a vigorous debate about what is better for the economy as a whole – a world where government spends more money or where individuals and businesses do.
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