Friday, November 11, 2011

Here's how to create jobs

We're sick and tired of these Tea Party politicians who say the way to create jobs is to "liberate the free enterprise system from the shackles of government." That's code for "cutting taxes for our rich buddies the Benedict Arnold Koch brothers."

It's also whackadoodle economics.

Let's just see how well our favorite Tea Party governors have done with their state economies.
Want to know how to create jobs? Teamster General President Jim Hoffa pointed out in the Detroit News that North Dakota (yup!) and Michigan are the No. 1 and No. 2 fastest growing states in the country. It wasn't because their free enterprise systems were unshackled. It's because the government invested wisely. In North Dakota, the state deposits its tax revenue in a state-owned bank that reinvests that money in North Dakota. In Michigan, federal government loans are bringing back manufacturing.

Writes Hoffa,
Michigan and North Dakota show that government can and should pick winners and losers.
They show that globalization isn't inevitable and that unions help create American jobs. And they demonstrate that economic growth doesn't rely on overcompensated executives at big, bailed-out Wall Street banks churning out complicated financial instruments.
Michigan especially shows how manufacturing is essential to our economic health. When the auto industry moved overseas, Michigan's economy collapsed. Now it's coming back, and so is Michigan's economy.
Read the whole thing here.