Private Industry, Not Government, Produces Jobs

“America is a great nation today, not because of what government did for people, but because of what people did for themselves over 190 years in this country.”
—Richard Nixon
Last week, as I enjoyed a succulent red grapefruit at breakfast, I spotted a news story in direct opposition to one of President Nixon’s most endearing quotes, printed above, which was part of his August 1968 acceptance speech.
That story dealt with President Obama attempting to fix the widening unemployment gap using funds from the bank bailout appropriation. In effect, he would spend public funds in an attempt to create employment. Such notions never worked in the past because job creation is a private sector function, not something to be run by bureaucrats.
Here is more of Nixon’s acceptance speech that ought to be replayed today.
“To put it bluntly, we’re on the wrong road and it’s time to take a new road to progress.
“Again we turn to the American Revolution for our answers. The war on poverty didn’t begin five years ago in this country; it began when this country began.
“It’s been the most successful war on poverty in the history of nations. There’s more wealth in America today, more broadly shared than in any nation in the world.
“We are a great nation. And we must never forget how we became great.
“America is a great nation today, not because of what government did for people, but because of what people did for themselves over 190 years in this country.
“And so it is time to apply the lessons of the American Revolution to our present problems.
“Let us increase the wealth of America so we can provide more generously for the aged and for the needy and for all those who cannot help themselves.
“But for those who are able to help themselves, what we need are not more millions on welfare rolls but more millions on payrolls in the United States of America.
“Instead of Government jobs and Government housing and Government welfare, let Government use its tax and credit policies to enlist in this battle the greatest engine of progress ever developed in the history of man-American private enterprise.”
Instead of more government money poured into some black hole in a dubious attempt to provide paychecks to workers, we need only look at where those jobs have gone, and gone for good. Trade agreements have, in essence, cooked our goose. Places that once flourished with small industries that provided jobs for skilled American workers, have gone across oceans, and the goods they once produced are shipped back here aboard container ships.
Look inside you shirt, skirt, blouse, underwear, shoes, the computer used at work and the car you drive, if you own one. The answer to the question of private American enterprise is simply gone, proven by labels of origin.
In the same morning newspaper, I read an account of General Motors about to pour some $700 million into plants in Michigan to produce the electrified Chevrolet Volt. It sounded heartening, the company that was deemed too big to fail, that was bailed out by taxpayers, is investing in plants throughout Michigan in order to produce a next generation car. Will it sell? Only if the price is right, but who will step up to the plate to buy one if private industry jobs aren’t growing throughout the land?
Right now, many of our countrymen are fearful about their jobs. How can GM or any carmaker expect sales to blossom if fear rests in the hearts of the masses that they may not have a job to earn money to pay for those new Volts?
Private industry is the land’s largest employer, not government, although that seems to be the direction in which we are headed. Left alone, private industry and the forces that drive it are the stuff that made this land and its people strong.
Government was never envisioned as our great employer. It was placed to protect and defend us from foreign enemies, not give us a paycheck for which we will be owing to the hand that produced it.
Faith-based welfare, provided by religious institutions, is far more effective to individuals than any government handout. That is because it offers a facet of hope and divine wisdom that no government welfare check can provide.
Fresh ideas spring from a free people. Ideas can foster private industry growth that are far more rewarding than any government program. Did a government-funded handout program invent the personal computer? Was the electric light invented by some government incentive? Was Henry Ford’s idea of mass production done under government control?
Did Milton Hershey spawn a wondrous candy empire with government funding?
The answer to all the above is no.
Telling us where we are to go in the future must not be the job of government. It must be left to private industry driven only by market forces.
We face an unsettling future if we expect the federal government to redistribute our wealth.
America’s private industry principles brought us through thick and thin for many years. It will do the same once again if only it is allowed to proceed on an unfettered course.
Look only at Russia to witness a failed economic idea, one that it seems we are hell-bent to follow to our peril.