The Pipe Dream (Reposted)

Here is a little something reprinted from March 9, 2009 that might help span the gap for my writers block right now. I should have something new by Sunday.

The government is going to stimulate the economy and create jobs with this multi Trillion dollar plan. It’s a little like the Marshall Plan in reverse. We are going to get the money before the disaster, not after it. The reasoning is, we get the free martini and the deck chair to sit in. Logic states that if you’re lounging in a deck chair enjoying the band, you can’t be standing in line to board the lifeboats.

Giving hundreds of billions to AIG is not going to increase jobs or stimulate the economy. This company is on life support, and we don’t even know why. This has to be a bill for previous consumption (financial insurance bets). We didn’t eat the meal, but we get to pay the bill. Add insult to injury, we have massive layoffs.

Interestingly there are two different types of layoffs. In the private sector, the layoffs are the result of a lack of consumption, car sales are in the dumps and real estate has gotten too real. In the government sector, the layoffs are a result of decreasing tax revenues, teachers and police. Notice if you’re in the latter group your workload increases and your wages don’t. It might be a good thing, less education makes for dumber criminals.

We couldn’t afford to spend the money when times were good and now we can??? It doesn’t take a pencil and paper to figure out that we have been shorted a couple of cases of whiskey, on this order!

The government isn’t creating new long term jobs. These jobs have to disappear when funding stops. Of course when you think about it, four years is a long term job in the government sector.

We need to invest in the private sector and focus on building items that people want to consume. Give that a thought or two. Look at all the business expenses the owner has to outlay for pension, health care, unemployment and taxes before he even hires one person. The government already has its hand in your till.

A lot of new entrepreneurs in California are starting pot farms; there are no government startup costs, fees or taxes. Plus the state offers a free vacation plan if you get caught.

A world war seems to have pulled us out of the depression in the 1930’s. The government was buying from the private sector, tanks ships planes and armaments. The private sector needed employees to fill the government order. So if we carry this forward to today, a government contract to purchase four million General Motors vehicles could be a hell of a stimulus to the economy. Give the cars to the people that didn’t act financially irresponsible. It’s their savings that the government is spending anyway.

Of course, it’s probably not in the cards and that's what a pipe dream is all about; there is no realty, just a lot of smoke and government mirrors.