They Myth of Jobs Creation

Rich people do not wake up each morning and ask themselves how many jobs they can create today. Rich people do not "create" jobs. Jobs are the result of demand for goods and services. Goods and services are in demand when a large, confident, solvent middle class has money to spend on them.

In recent years, much of America's wealth has shifted from the middle class to the super-rich. It has shifted from those who would spend it on goods and services to those who sit on it in bad times, waiting for good times to invest it again. Good times won't return until the middle class has confidence, and confidence comes from having money in the pocket. Without jobs, or with widespread fear of losing jobs, people don't spend money on goods and services, which causes a further decrease in jobs.

Like it or not, it's government, not banks or hedge fund managers, that primes the economic pump to put money into the pockets of those who really create jobs: people who will spend it on goods and services.

For too many years, government economic policy as shifted wealth from those whose constant spending keeps them employed and the economy growing to those who don't spend it. The government needs to take some of that money back to pay its bills and to prime the economic engine.