Posted on 05/31/2014 2:14:01 PM PDT by Kaslin
On many occasions, I’ve explained that economic output is a function of how much labor and capital are productively utilized.
This is why I relentlessly criticize policies that undermine GDP growth by hindering the use of these “factors of production.”
That’s a bit of economic jargon, but it helps to explain why we shouldn’t bediscriminating against capital by double taxing income that is saved and invested.
And it helps to explain why we shouldn’t be discouraging labor by subsidizingunemployment and idleness.
But it’s time to issue a very important caveat. The goal of policy should be economic freedom, not maximizing GDP.
There’s nothing wrong with people choosing to be out of the labor force – so long as they’re not expecting taxpayers to pay their expenses.
Many women, for instance, may want to be at home with children, particularly during their younger years.
Moreover, some older workers may want to retire early.
So while I think it’s bad news that labor force participation has dropped under Obama, there’s more than one possible way to look at that data when you factor in the voluntary choices of some segments of the potential workforce.
But it’s very difficult to give any sort of optimistic or positive spin to these numbers from the Senate Budget Committee. They show a very worrisome trend among prime-working-age men.
These are people who should be in the labor force.
Here’s what John Hinderaker at Powerline wrote about these sobering figures.
An unprecedented number of men–one in six–between the ages of 25 and 54, what should be their prime earning years, are either unemployed or out of the work force entirely.
Here’s the breakdown.
One in eight, the highest proportion since record-keeping began in 1955, are out of the labor force… Another 2.9 million men in the 25-54 age group haven’t given up–they are still in the labor force–but are currently unemployed.
And here are the consequences.
…the damage done to a generation of American men (and women too, of course) will not easily be undone. Those who missed a chunk of what should have been their most productive years, or departed the labor force entirely, will suffer from Obamanomics for the rest of their lives. The damage being done by our current, inept economic policies is literally incalculable.
Here’s another chart, this one comparing idleness among men in 2007 and 2014.
So how do we fix this problem, keeping in mind that this is not a partisan issue since the bad trend started under Bush?
The big-picture answer is free markets and small government.
In other words, you create jobs by having Washington get out of the way.
P.S. Over the years, the President has made some remarkable statements.
With these statements in mind, here’s some Obama humor.
No substantive policy message, I’ll admit, but still funny. Sort of like this t-shirt, this Pennsylvania joke, this Reagan-Obama comparison, this Wyoming joke, thisBush-Obama comparison, this video satire, and this bumper sticker.
We've had a century of historical record that shows the failure of socialism. We've had two centuries of historical record showing the success of market economies free of government interference (in America until the mid 30's, in Hong Kong and elsewhere during the last century).
Why the confusion? Mainly a dearth of good education and a surfeit of brain washing in the socialist false doctrine. Without proper education, people don't know how the "invisible hand" of the voluntary free market works and trust instead of the very visible iron hand of government (disguised, of course, with a velvet glove that says "We're here to help"). People unwittingly choose the obvious, visible, but deceptive outstretched hand of coercive government over the benign but invisible hand of the voluntary free market.
It all goes back to the age-old, fundamental battle between the bravery, risks, and rewards of freedom from government versus the "security" of open (but lying) "guarantees" and hidden oppressive agenda of tyranny.
Actual unemployment is at least double and maybe triple what is being reported. Only the figures on the success of the governments five year tractor production and chocolate harvest are trustworthy.
-PJ
For those who can't hear it, I am being sarcastic.
The Left doesn't want us to know that there's turnover within that "poor" group, people leaving while new immigrants and young people are added. Part of the Leftist lie is conveying a static picture when in fact a free society is a dynamic picture. Today's poor are ofttimes tomorrows success stories. The Left ignores that and uses statistics to lie with half-truths by not showing the upward mobility of people in a society when people and markets are free of government interference.
The problem is when freedom has worked so well and people have too much time on their hands, they begin to question why everything isn't perfect or feel guilty about it. That's when the Left moves in. The Left ignores the 90% good and focuses on the 10% short fall and says, "there ought to be a law!!" Thereby, with government's help, the 10% short fall becomes the 90% short fall.
As Milton Friedman said, “A society that puts equality before freedom will get neither. A society that puts freedom before equality will get a high degree of both.”
I could not agree with you more.
To think of the possibilities if only this stuff was taught from an early age. People wouldn’t be so gullible and so easily duped by the Leftists’ false hopes and deception.
THIS IS GLORIOUS NEWS!!! The more people out of the workforce the better the unemployment numbers become. If we can get a few more million out of the labor force the unemployment number would be close to zero.
“These are the people who will seek to raid our retirement savings when the time comes when they are no longer able to earn an income of their own. - PJ”
Already being done; that is why Social Security is insolvent. We were told the current withholdings from our checks were paying current retirees; I suspect those funds are also being used to feed younger people that never intended to work from day one as well. This welfare money doesn’t grow on trees...
Don't Blame "Boomers" For Not Retiring - they simply can't afford to.
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