This post brought in this comment:
So where are the entrepreneurs that were supposed to ride to the rescue? We’re 2 yrs into this crisis, where are they? Ok ok, we got facebook, we got twitter, but combined they employ less than 1000 people. When are the entrepreneurs going to create jobs? how long do we have to wait?
With all due respect entrepreneurs will create jobs when there is money to be made. Empty commercial office space, including much retail, should be offering people a clue about current money making potential (as but one example of economic vitality). The government making jobs up just because people don’t have them — which is what we are doing — is insane. Additionally, entrepreneurs understand risk management. If the odds don’t look good, they don’t blow their last buck. The government of course doesn’t have to worry about risk management. If it feels good, the government does it.
November 8th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
Yeah I realize that. But isn’t the alternative, putting people on unemployment and welfare and paying them to sit at home and do absolutely nothing even more insane? Ive always said both options suck. Either way, the govt is going to spend money, so shouldn’t we at least get a few potholes filled while we’re waiting for the real money making opportunities to arise?
November 8th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
The moral hazard in getting people addicted to the dole is far worse than any other direction IMHO. BTW, people don’t have to be put on unemployment and welfare. Just like the banks, maybe if we didn’t try to save every failure, resourcefulness would once again play a role in society. Now, whether individual or corporation, if you fall down you are saved from ever hitting the ground. How does anyone or anything learn a lesson in that kind of a culture? Answer: they don’t.
November 8th, 2009 at 9:01 pm
I think this society wants the upside without the downside(the costs of economic growth) and so installs a government that facilitates that wish. The result stifles the entrepreneurial spirit.