The President was on the West coast a week or so ago to huddle with a group of business executives primarily representing the tech sector; folks like Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg to talk about creating jobs. After that gathering he came north to Portland Oregon to the unveiling of a new product line at Intel.
When Presidents go anywhere, they are almost always expected to have public remarks and the trip to Intel was no different. I really wasn’t listening to the substance of Obama’s remarks because he always talks about job creation but he never delivers.
The reason for him being there was applicable because Intel is a great example of a private sector job creator. The competition in the micro-chip industry keeps the players working their tails off to create products that are in demand in the market place. This is a company that understands competition. When the existing products become stale or the competition begins to close the gap on market share there is a huge push for next generation products that raise the bar for everyone else in that industry.
So what is it that the President doesn’t understand about the difference between a government subsidy to a company to produce a product that has no demand in the market place and a company like Intel?
The whole tech sector is a product of market driven innovation offering the guy with the best product a chance to get filthy rich. That is the American Dream.
The idea that by putting subsidy dollars into environmentally friendly products that nobody wants and would never pay for if their price were established by a competitive market we can create sustainable jobs is a joke.
The alternative plan for the government is to drive up the cost of producing those in-demand products so the price differential between the good stuff and the government preferred stuff favors the government preferred stuff, consumers will buy the government preferred stuff.
The government needs to get out of the business of anointing winners in a free market. The market will do that all by itself.
Anyone who has been in business can attest that the process of bringing a product to market is a process of trial and error or listening carefully to your customers and tailoring your product to their demands.
What the President and his economic development team is doing is similar to the old Soviet Union when the government would decide what was appropriate and only make those products. Quality sucked and competition was “discouraged” through harassment. Does that sound familiar?
Given a level playing field, American businesses are more than capable of creating all the jobs we need. The biggest obstacles to job creation are government regulation and a legal system that rewards frivolous lawsuits.
We are not building electric power generating plants of any kind in this country because government regulations and environmentally related lawsuits either discourage them or prevent them outright. Construction jobs building them would be good. Operator jobs when they are completed would be better.
If the only consideration was the jobs created, fast tracking permitting and dismissing frivolous lawsuits would be worth the effort. Then if you factor in the supply of energy we need to meet the demands of the market we get to be double winners. So why wouldn’t the government work to clear these hurdles?
I wish President Obama was the only president that failed to clear hurdles but he isn’t. The effort to create jobs will require the coordinated efforts of both the executive branch and the legislative branch over a sustained period of time.
The government will never be a job creator, but it is a great job killer.
Posted on February 24, 2011 at 7:27 am in Federal Government, Political commentary | RSS feed
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No Loss for Words
Who are the Job Creators?
by Steve DanaThe President was on the West coast a week or so ago to huddle with a group of business executives primarily representing the tech sector; folks like Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg to talk about creating jobs. After that gathering he came north to Portland Oregon to the unveiling of a new product line at Intel.
When Presidents go anywhere, they are almost always expected to have public remarks and the trip to Intel was no different. I really wasn’t listening to the substance of Obama’s remarks because he always talks about job creation but he never delivers.
The reason for him being there was applicable because Intel is a great example of a private sector job creator. The competition in the micro-chip industry keeps the players working their tails off to create products that are in demand in the market place. This is a company that understands competition. When the existing products become stale or the competition begins to close the gap on market share there is a huge push for next generation products that raise the bar for everyone else in that industry.
So what is it that the President doesn’t understand about the difference between a government subsidy to a company to produce a product that has no demand in the market place and a company like Intel?
The whole tech sector is a product of market driven innovation offering the guy with the best product a chance to get filthy rich. That is the American Dream.
The idea that by putting subsidy dollars into environmentally friendly products that nobody wants and would never pay for if their price were established by a competitive market we can create sustainable jobs is a joke.
The alternative plan for the government is to drive up the cost of producing those in-demand products so the price differential between the good stuff and the government preferred stuff favors the government preferred stuff, consumers will buy the government preferred stuff.
The government needs to get out of the business of anointing winners in a free market. The market will do that all by itself.
Anyone who has been in business can attest that the process of bringing a product to market is a process of trial and error or listening carefully to your customers and tailoring your product to their demands.
What the President and his economic development team is doing is similar to the old Soviet Union when the government would decide what was appropriate and only make those products. Quality sucked and competition was “discouraged” through harassment. Does that sound familiar?
Given a level playing field, American businesses are more than capable of creating all the jobs we need. The biggest obstacles to job creation are government regulation and a legal system that rewards frivolous lawsuits.
We are not building electric power generating plants of any kind in this country because government regulations and environmentally related lawsuits either discourage them or prevent them outright. Construction jobs building them would be good. Operator jobs when they are completed would be better.
If the only consideration was the jobs created, fast tracking permitting and dismissing frivolous lawsuits would be worth the effort. Then if you factor in the supply of energy we need to meet the demands of the market we get to be double winners. So why wouldn’t the government work to clear these hurdles?
I wish President Obama was the only president that failed to clear hurdles but he isn’t. The effort to create jobs will require the coordinated efforts of both the executive branch and the legislative branch over a sustained period of time.
The government will never be a job creator, but it is a great job killer.
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Posted on February 24, 2011 at 7:27 am in Federal Government, Political commentary | RSS feed | Reply | Trackback URL