Monday, Jan. 12, 2009 | Kelly Bennett‘s and Rob Davis‘ article is written with the tone that the government’s program to print money (read: borrow money from other countries) to “create jobs” and reverse economic downturn is a well thought out, organized solution. In fact, that is a false assumption, from the very beginning.
It is a false premise, that the government itself, by throwing money at the problem, can reverse the recession. There has never been a recession that has been solved or turned around by government spending. It only makes things worse. It will take the private enterprise, consumer confidence, retail and wholesale buying, and resumption of manufacturing and services to eventually turn the whole U.S. economy around. Government jobs are just temporary in nature and although it might employ a few people in a temporary nature, no real new lasting jobs are created.
So, what’s a local government to do? Well, grab the money when you can, by hook or by crook, and make it serve a good use. But don’t think it’ll solve the situation, in fact, it could make it worse, just by creating a place for money to be spent, that’ll eventually go away, when the money goes away.