I love John Stossel! (Frank, do me a favor and shut your eyes for this portion!) I love the fact that he’s incredibly sharp, makes sense, respects other people’s earnings, understands the dangers of big government and the basic principles of economics. I love the fact that John is one of my Facebook friends and the fact that he’s got this indelible charisma.
(OK, Frank, you can open your eyes.)
John’s latest column mirrors what one of my favorite economists, Dr. Walter Williams, wrote a while back, and what I’ve been writing about as well.
Governments create no wealth. They only move it around while taking a cut for their trouble. So any jobs created over here come at the expense of jobs that would have been created over there. Overlooking this fact is known as the broken-window fallacy. The French economist Frederic Bastiat pointed out that a broken shop window will create work for a glassmaker, but that work comes only at the expense of the cook or tailor the shopkeeper would have patronized if he didn’t have to replace the window.
Creating jobs is not difficult for government officials. Pharaohs created thousands of jobs by building pyramids. Our government could create jobs by paying people to dig holes and then fill them up. Would actual wealth be created? Of course not. It would be destroyed. It’s like arguing the hurricanes create jobs. After all, the destruction is followed by rebuilding. But does anyone seriously believe that replacing destroyed buildings creates wealth?
Go read. It’s well worth your time. And consider his words, the words of Dr. Williams, and – to a lesser extent – my words, when you begin leaning toward believing assbag politicians when they promise to “create jobs.”
