We Can All Become Job Creators
nytimes.com
We Can All Become Job Creators
1–10 of 101 posts
Re: We Can All Become Job Creators
#2Interesting, glad to see, at the very least, a bit of patriotism returning to the idea of jobs. In big companies the push to outsource is strong and political correctness prevents much dissent.
Would still like to see a government regulation help as well: e.g. perhaps companies with more employees per profit would have a tax incentive and companies with fewer employees per profit would have a penalty. This way you essentially pass on 'unemployment' payments to companies rather than giving handouts from the government. Presumably companies would thus at least try to use the labor they were being required to hire. I know this sounds a bit like central planning, but doggonit' as we approach an era where we can survive with few in work due to machine help, we may need to regulate in a form of wealth redistribution. Quite frankly I'd rather see it done through companies than through the government directly. Of course the fact that I don't think the government today can manage a new deal type program is probably also a sign that the government won't be able to pass anything like this to begin with.
Re: We Can All Become Job Creators
#3We need to stop talking about "job creation" and start talking about "wealth creation". It's easy to create jobs -- e.g. I can go round breaking windows with rocks and create jobs for glaziers. But creating jobs that create wealth -- that is, to create an opportunity for someone else to join their labour with my capital in order to build something that someone wishes to pay for, thus enriching all three of us... well, that's trickier.
For existing small businesses, though, I'm wondering to what extent easier access to credit is really the answer. Are there that many small businesses out there right now saying "ohhh, we could be making so much more money if we hired someone, but we need to borrow money in order to hire them"? Some, surely, but many?
The main reason businesses aren't hiring is that they're not convinced that putting extra people on staff will actually be profitable.
Re: We Can All Become Job Creators
#4Interesting, glad to see, at the very least, a bit of patriotism returning to the idea of jobs. In big companies the push to outsource is strong and political correctness prevents much dissent. Would still like to see a government regulation help as well: e.g. perhaps companies with more employees per profit would have a tax incentive and companies with fewer employees per profit would have a penalty. This way you es…
>perhaps companies with more employees per profit would have a tax incentive and companies with fewer employees per profit would have a penalty.
That would be terrible. You'd be penalizing the Googles and Apples of the world, who create good jobs, and rewarding the Walmarts, who create shitty ones.
Re: We Can All Become Job Creators
#5We need to stop talking about "job creation" and start talking about "wealth creation". It's easy to create jobs -- e.g. I can go round breaking windows with rocks and create jobs for glaziers. But creating jobs that create wealth -- that is, to create an opportunity for someone else to join their labour with my capital in order to build something that someone wishes to pay for, thus enriching all three of us... well…
Suppose for a moment, that putting extra people on staff will never again be more profitable than not hiring them at all. What then should society do?
I'm totally open to the idea that the supposition above may be ludicrous, but would like to see how we will create the wealth you describe.
Re: We Can All Become Job Creators
#6We need to stop talking about "job creation" and start talking about "wealth creation". It's easy to create jobs -- e.g. I can go round breaking windows with rocks and create jobs for glaziers. But creating jobs that create wealth -- that is, to create an opportunity for someone else to join their labour with my capital in order to build something that someone wishes to pay for, thus enriching all three of us... well…
I disagree - I'm not an economist, but certainly here in the UK there's a lot of talk about access to credit being a significant limiting factor. Hence the government's 'credit easing' program, which is aimed at lending directly to businesses where the banks won't:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/oct/03/george-osborn...
Re: We Can All Become Job Creators
#7Interesting, glad to see, at the very least, a bit of patriotism returning to the idea of jobs. In big companies the push to outsource is strong and political correctness prevents much dissent. Would still like to see a government regulation help as well: e.g. perhaps companies with more employees per profit would have a tax incentive and companies with fewer employees per profit would have a penalty. This way you es…
>perhaps companies with more employees per profit would have a tax incentive and companies with fewer employees per profit would have a penalty. That would be terrible. You'd be penalizing the Googles and Apples of the world, who create good jobs, and rewarding the Walmarts, who create shitty ones.
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Re: We Can All Become Job Creators
#8We need to stop talking about "job creation" and start talking about "wealth creation". It's easy to create jobs -- e.g. I can go round breaking windows with rocks and create jobs for glaziers. But creating jobs that create wealth -- that is, to create an opportunity for someone else to join their labour with my capital in order to build something that someone wishes to pay for, thus enriching all three of us... well…
The main reason businesses aren't hiring is that they're not convinced that putting extra people on staff will actually be profitable.
I believe it is deeper than that.
If we look to agriculture, there is a short expiration date on the job. If you don't get the crop off in a timely manner, you are quickly going to be out of business. I hear farmers constantly complaining how difficult it is to find good people, but they are left hiring just about anyone out of necessity.
Manufacturing is similar. You have to keep the products going out the door to stay in business. As such, manufacturers also need to hire someone, anyone, to get the job done. Like the farmers, manufacturers will spend the time to make them better employees.
However, in our technology based economy time does not matter. If you make a product and don't make any changes to it in several years, people will continue to buy your products anyway. You can afford to wait to hire who you feel is the very best, even if it takes years to find them. Once you are established, the only way you can lose revenue is if the competition does something significantly better; but they too are waiting on the best.
That is the problem that I see. There is no need to hire poor employees. You can wait to hire the best of the best. If they are busy right now, you can hire them later.
Re: We Can All Become Job Creators
#9We need to stop talking about "job creation" and start talking about "wealth creation". It's easy to create jobs -- e.g. I can go round breaking windows with rocks and create jobs for glaziers. But creating jobs that create wealth -- that is, to create an opportunity for someone else to join their labour with my capital in order to build something that someone wishes to pay for, thus enriching all three of us... well…
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Re: We Can All Become Job Creators
#10We need to stop talking about "job creation" and start talking about "wealth creation". It's easy to create jobs -- e.g. I can go round breaking windows with rocks and create jobs for glaziers. But creating jobs that create wealth -- that is, to create an opportunity for someone else to join their labour with my capital in order to build something that someone wishes to pay for, thus enriching all three of us... well…
Suppose for a moment, that putting extra people on staff will never again be more profitable than not hiring them at all. What then should society do? I'm totally open to the idea that the supposition above may be ludicrous, but would like to see how we will create the wealth you describe.
At that point we've likely reached a point of abundance and can use the non-human labour we're using to provide a nice life for everyone. At that point the major metrics of the economy switch from something akin to GNP to Gross National Happiness.