We have been hearing a lot of talk from politicians about job creation. From tax incentives to new government programs, candidates offer a wide of assortment of proposals to “create” jobs. But such proposals are all doomed to failure for one simple reason: government does not create jobs.
Job creation is driven by the production of values. A job is created when an employer needs to expand his production. By its very nature, government is not a producer, but rather, a consumer.
When government attempts to create a job, the money must necessarily be extracted from the private sector. As Henry Hazlitt pointed out nearly seventy years ago, for every job created by government a private job has been destroyed somewhere else.
Government’s only proper role in job creation is to protect individual rights, including property rights. Rather than rob Facebook to pay Solydra, government should protect the rights of individuals to use their property as they judge best.
Any candidate who is serious about creating jobs will call for greater economic freedom. Any candidate who wants to stimulate the economy will call for the repeal of all laws that restrict, control, and regulate voluntary economic exchanges.