Government cannot create wealth

Politicians on both sides of the aisle love to tout how they can create or have already created jobs. This is simply not true. The government has no money of its own and cannot earn any money of its own. It takes money from taxpayers and spends it on things for the common good. When it builds a road, park or school with taxpayer dollars, those are dollars the taxpayer cannot spend on its own. It is a zero-sum game. You take money from one pile and put it in the other with no net gain.

The government does not create wealth, expand the economy or create jobs. Risk-taking entrepreneurs do. Risk takers create jobs by farming, fishing, mining, forestry and manufacturing. They create products that fill people’s needs. If those needs aren’t met, then they fail, go out of business and lose their investment. The government simply buys things at the expense of what the taxpayers would buy.

What the government can do is create the regulatory and taxing environment conducive to incite risk-takers to take the risk. Of course, the opposite can happen, too. It can create the environment in which risk-takers won’t take a risk and job-killing stagnation occurs. But they cannot create the actual jobs. That can only be done by individuals, small businesses and corporations.

Don’t be fooled by the hype and remember, the government didn’t build that, we did.

John Schadl

Arlington Heights