Last night I let you in on my belief that we should invest in technological development because it would create jobs. People who have jobs pay taxes. Look at the Tennessee Valley Authority. It built dams. Building dams created dam jobs. People with dam jobs had money to spend so they wired their houses and hooked them up to dam electricity. This employed electricians and power company linemen. The need for bucket trucks increased because you had to have them to run the lines. After the dam workers wired thier houses, they used their dam money to buy appliances to run on the dam electricity. Applicance manufacturers hired more people to meet the need. Those people, although not paid with dam money, paid taxes. (As a side note, all references to dam are to hydroelectric dams.)
Inventions and technology create jobs. Every dollar invested in technological development pays off in more jobs, different types of jobs, more taxes being collected from more people. When people lose their jobs, tax revenues go down. This has been happening in most states for the past few years. Georgia has had a steady decrease in tax revenues due to people not buying stuff and paying sales taxes and not having jobs to pay income taxes.
We have invested billions in building the infrastructure in other countries. The stimulus package was passed into law. I don't know about you, but I don't see the job creation that was suppose to have been generated. The unemployment rate is still high. One US company that manufacturers blades for the hugh windmills seen on wind farms has people laid off and the stimulus money is spent in China to buy Chinese equipment. This doesn't make sense. I have nothing against the Chinese, but I don't believe the intent of the stimulus money was to stimulate the Chinese economy.
We need to hold members of Congress accountable for reading the bills they pass into law. It is their job to protect our interest. We need to use government stimulus money to repair our decaying infrastructure and to increase our techological advantages. Without jobs here, we can't afford to buy any Chinese products or to pay off our Chinese debt. Without jobs, there is no tax collection.
during the
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
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2 comments:
I know that there is a lot to think about when I read what you wrote...but Mom this got me thinking about our economy and I thought of these questions. Im still formulating an answer, but thought I would post the questions at least.
Where are we in our economic development? Are we the youthful robust economy in the prime of the global market? Are we inconsiderate teenagers spending recklessly, trying to cover our losses as we spend outrageously on that one item we just have to have? Are we middle aged slowing down as we make try to decide how to fix our bad credit score? Are we old and alone in a booming global economy… a lesson to younger nations as to what not to do?
I know that I have to answer my own questions. I wrote those questions earlier and have been thinking on them all evening. The answer came when I was just sitting here watching the kids sleep. I thought about what I did as a teenager and what I want for my kids. Here is what I came up with....
I think we are teenagers….We rob Peter to pay Paul and then borrow again from our children to repay both of them. For example our infrastructure (our overtaxed power grids, our aging roadways that need repair and our failing dams) is suffering from neglect and on the verge of collapse and yet billions of dollars are spent on "pet projects" that are meaningless to most people. Will our children be the midlife adults finding themselves in financial crisis…wondering how to pay the debt they inherited from governmental teenagers on a rampage? They will have to wonder how to repair their credit with the other nations, but will they be able to address other nations and say “you shouldn’t do X,Y, or Z” without it being thrown back they owe money? When our great grandchildren have grown into adulthood, will our global economics even be an issue….our third world status just a hairs breath away? Will they have any electricity or roads much less gas to put in their outdated cars? How far are we actually from the brink of internal and financial ruin or are we already past the point of no return? I think that in the right hands, and a “good who to’s and what for’s” we could be the responsible twenty something that has a perfect portfolio, a brand new house and peace of mind that this no matter what….this is all mine.
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