Here’s an odd thought: Could it be that it was just this kind of widespread imprudent and drunken spending that was carrying along the growth and activity in the economy? And were we all living in “the Land of Oz,” until someone shot the man behind the curtain?

“ …the true answers to spurring a resurgence in the economy has to happen someplace with more pulling power, namely businesses.”

I agree with this, in principle, but I think it’s actually more complicated. I don’t think a business can, by itself, just simply decide one day to hire more workers. Most small to medium sized businesses run pretty close to the line, and don’t have a lot of excess capacity to just “go out and hire somebody” without a lot of justification, such as a big increase in customers that their stores can’t adequately handle, or unexpected orders that their manufacturing or supply lines can’t fill. That’s why I thought it was so silly to think that the Feds could simply give business some incentive payments to “hire workers”. If I ran a small mfg operation, and some unexpected funds came in, all else being the same, I certainly wouldn’t hire someone. What would I give them to do? I wouldn’t buy new machinery, because things are smooth just the way they are, and I wouldn’t know if I could justify the new machines later. So I wouldn’t waste the money. I’d probably put it in the bank for a cushion so I could handle “real growth” when it came along. Then, when more customers started coming in the doors, I’d prudently use it where needed, to accomodate the increased demand. Some companies I worked for would use an unexpected uptick in profits to replace outdated and failing equipment, or buy larger or faster machines, because their marketing managers (with their fingers on the industry pulse) could make reasonable projections of increased orders to justify it. (They used to call this “investment”) What they WOULDN”T do, is go out and hire a dozen workers, in the hope that orders might increase, UNLESS marketing could make reliable projections of increased sales.

I feel silly saying this, because almost everyone in business and manufacturing knows this, because their world has always worked this way. The businesses that didn’t learn this don’t exist anymore.

“…Businesses have to be cut loose to grow and prosper.”

Cutting loose is only part of the problem. There has to be a reason to grow. If you open the gate, the cows may wander out for awhile, but they’ll come right back if there’s no grass out there.

”Not to let go of the reigns entirely, but to give businesses the incentives they need to grow jobs and increase spending on goods and services. I am a big believer in trickle-down economics, it worked very well for Reagan…”

Reagan had something going for him that we don’t have now. He was winning the Cold War, and we were all scared to death of A-Bombs.

”…and you would think that we should have collectively learned that lesson by now.

Public confidence in the economy can never be achieved with new government road construction programs or Union contract-handouts such as are present in Obama’s current Jobs plan, it has to be generated by companies in the private sector as they see regulations and tax rates drop off. Tort reform has been a clarion call now for quite a few years, but I have yet to see anything substantial happen on that front in Washington. Those in control of the agenda at this point just don’t have the political will to tackle that because they are too beholden to those legal firm interests who have been wining & dining them for decades. And this is not just a problem with Democrats; Republican politicians have had plenty of opportunities in the past to engage in real tort reform and have failed to take it on then as well.”

If the Feds removed all of their bureaucratic impediments tomorrow, the economy would still just sit there. Manufacturing needs demand, but something has to start it. There needs to be a spark, which will probably involve a lot of personal risk. After all, we have stopped the whole machine. That’s the true magnitude of what the Democratic “Spread the Wealth” philosophy has done to us. It will take some doing to get it all going again.

Anyway, for what it’s worth.

Businesses have to be cut loose to grow and prosper. Not to let go of the reigns entirely, but to give businesses the incentives they need to grow jobs and increase spending on goods and services. I am a big believer in trickle-down economics, it worked very well for Reagan and you would think that we should have collectively learned that lesson by now.

Public confidence in the economy can never be achieved with new government road construction programs or Union contract-handouts such as are present in Obama’s current Jobs plan, it has to be generated by companies in the private sector as they see regulations and tax rates drop off. Tort reform has been a clarion call now for quite a few years, but I have yet to see anything substantial happen on that front in Washington.

Those in control of the agenda at this point just don’t have the political will to tackle that because they are too beholden to those legal firm interests who have been wining & dining them for decades. And this is not just a problem with Democrats; Republican politicians have had plenty of opportunities in the past to engage in real tort reform and have failed to take it on then as well.

As with anything, the government has so entrenched itself directly in the path of success for many companies through onerous healthcare legislation and other “Social Engineering” projects, that it will take a change in leadership within our government before we can possibly turn this boat around.

Ever since I spouted off and got myself on your website, I have been a little more tuned in to the subject, and now I notice that a lot of different people around the country have been saying the same thing. Further reading shows me that a number of politicians are also saying the same thing, and that’s good. But once again I think many of them are just slightly missing the point. Notice I said “slightly”, because this is still all good.

The politicians and government entities are still talking as if the confidence is something they will provide for us, as if they were going to send us a big “US Govt.” box, and there’s some bright shining confidence inside. That’s where they’re a little off. Confidence comes from us. We talk among ourselves, we come up with ideas, we follow through, maybe start some kind of little movement, and folks become interested, excited, and confidence grows from that.

As I said in the previous post, we just need to get the roadblocks out of the way, and part of that, unfortunately, does have to be done by government: limiting the power of unions and tort reform.

These are sensitive subjects, and many people avoid them but they don’t realize how tightly connected to our freedoms they are. As I said earlier, they’re the mud at our feet and the noose around our neck. So maybe we should start a dialogue about how folks like you and me can actually make some meaningful movement in that direction, without alerting the wolves.

Any ideas?

I agree with you completely, almost. I think you’re spending your time working out how he’s going to pay for it without raising taxes or increasing the deficit, but something else has to come first. Go back to the beginning.

Will those job proposals actually make jobs?

The short answer is: NO.

He’s going to give everybody money so that more teachers, firefighters, veterans, etc. can be hired. He’s going to spend money on infrastructure (highways) etc. so construction workers can be hired. and on and on.

But all these things are relatively short term fixes, like cold cream on measles. As soon as the federal money runs out, the jobs stop, and everybody in the country knows that. Banks know that, too. So will they make loans or mortgages based on short term jobs. No. Will businesses expand, build new factories, hire more workers based on short term money. No. Will everyone run out and buy a house? No. Why would they? They’ll just lose it again.

They’ll spend this Federal money as long as he hands it out, and then crawl back in their holes. They won’t invest, because they know the same old cliff is waiting at the other end of it.

So, what would make someone try to buy a house? What would make banks begin to loan again?

CONFIDENCE, MAN! Don’t you see it? Confidence that this country is going to keep on perking and providing a good life for you and me. That markets will be there if I start a company. That our government will stop screwing up everything we try to do for ourselves. Confidence that someone’s in charge that actually has brains and a sense of responsibility. And confidence that we actually have brains and can work our way out of this if government will just leave us alone to do it.

But we need to shake off the shackles we’ve put on ourselves. We’ve unionized ourselves into a straightjacket. We’ve litigated ourselves into the poorhouse. We’ve got to fix these problems, so that we can move on. We have to have the guts to to get out of the dust, stand up and yell “We’re back”. Then do what’s necessary even at personal cost.

We did it before. That’s how we started this place. And the world admired us for it. But somehow we’ve convinced ourselves that we should be ashamed of our beginnings, and it’s strangling us.