Aug 4, 2015

"If you want to create more jobs, you create an environment in which entrepreneurs will thrive." from Economic lessons even a liberal can grasp

Excerpt from the link above:
“The key point to understand is that an economy is a kind of operating system. This means that if you want the economy to “do” something — such as create more jobs — you have to go about it the way the operating system is designed to work. Otherwise you cannot possibly succeed.
Think of it this way: our cell phones have operating systems built into them. There’s no Republican way to make a phone call with your iPhone, and no Democratic way to do it. There’s no conservative approach to checking your email with a BlackBerry or an Android, and no liberal approach to doing it. You just do it the way your cell phone’s operating system requires.
It’s the same with an economy. Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of economic operating systems: a free-market economy and a command economy. In a free-market economy, the government sets the rules and enforces them, but otherwise stays out of the way and allows individuals and businesses to call the shots. In a command economy, the government’s role is so large that it not only sets and enforces the rules, but also calls the shots.
Because each country — unlike each cell phone owner — designs its own economic operating system, no two economies are precisely the same. So our country’s free market is somewhat different from Canada’s, which itself isn’t quite the same as Germany’s, Poland’s, France’s, Australia’s, and so forth. Still, in all free-market economies, the government makes and enforces the rules, and then gets out of the way. Likewise with command economies: left-wing communist economies differ somewhat from right-wing fascist economies, but once again, the similarities are more important than the differences. In all command economies, you do what the government tells you to do, or you get your brains kicked in.
Entrepreneurs Create Jobs
In a free-market economy like ours, it’s the entrepreneurs who create jobs. They do this by starting new businesses, and by expanding businesses that are already up and running. If you want to create more jobs, you create an environment in which entrepreneurs will thrive. They’ll take it from there, because creating jobs by starting and expanding businesses is what thriving entrepreneurs do.
Think of it this way: if you want more milk, create an environment in which cows will thrive. And just as it makes no sense to say you want more milk but oppose cows because they’re smelly, dirty, and leave their droppings all over the place — it makes no sense to say you want more jobs but oppose entrepreneurs because when they succeed they often wind up with more money than the rest of us. You cannot have it both ways.
Entrepreneurs thrive when they are confident about the future. Every time an entrepreneur makes a decision to start a new business, or to expand his business by launching a new product or service, he or she is putting his own money — and his employees’ futures — on the line. So an entrepreneur wants to know what taxes he’s going to pay in the years ahead. He wants to know what his costs will be for high-priced expenses such as his employees’ health care. He wants some certainty that the regulations in place when he launches that new product or service won’t change six months later and destroy his investment overnight. And an entrepreneur wants some confidence that the overall economy will be sufficiently robust to provide customers who’ll buy that new product or service and by doing so enable the entrepreneur to earn back his investment and make some profit besides.

5 comments:

  1. I assume this is an argument for discontinuing marijuana raids, since no other aspect of business has seen the formation of new enterprises at the rate or number of this industry. The total investment in our county is unknown, but quite large, and the new employment likewise has grown considerably. I applaud your courage in stepping forward with the philosophic justification for letting "1000 flowers bloom.''

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    1. Nice try Ed. Let's stick to the topic of free market and those who oppose it. That applies to all industries. Your claims about the total investment of marijuana or the current pc term, cannabis, into our county is a good future topic. A future post with two opinions, you could be the "1,000 flowers bloom opinion" but you might have to wrestle Kym for that spot. Unless you want to write the counter opinion ?

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  2. As for the raids, are you saying that violations regarding water use and damage to the environment are okay because the marijuana is profitable? Once tons and tons of back taxes are paid on cash that no one can say for sure is all going into the local economy, regulations that other businesses undergo from day one are met with no grandfather clauses and businesses that are funded with the green economy are upfront who the backers are, we can talk about the booming industry's pros and cons. Also , it is time not to hide behind the medical aspect and be upfront why most people want cannabis legalized.

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  3. Like all full-time long-time Humboldt residents, I want the environmental damage stopped and reversed, and I'd like to see how much of that can be done voluntarily before tossing everyone into court, or trying to steal the land with oversized fines. I had a client who was asked for $250,000 because law enforcement tossed about a cup of diesel on his land while seizing his generator. It doesn't take many examples like that to sour people on Humboldt county environmental enforcement.

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    1. Ed, is that example really representative of enforcement? Most lawyers representing growers and most growers will always see enforcement as adversaries. Law enforcement is the last step. There has been resistance to regulation until recently. These issues did not happen with mom and pop grows, did they? I am against greed, against unbridled cash, against people claiming to be businessmen that have no talent and prevent a hard working entrepreneur from competing on a level playing field. First responsibility must be taken by those making tons of money with no regards to the environment and bringing in a criminal element which should not be blamed on laws and enforcement. Then someone like you, environment representatives and the community should sit down and work on regulations for those wanting to do legitimate business.

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