We Need Jobs!

A recent post from a pro-big government web site said recently that Minnesota had the 7th lowest employment growth rate in the nation for the years 2006-2007. The state's economy needs help. The conclusion writers for that site reached was to spend more on government, not less. Yesterday, I talked with a young man on the front lines of that particular battle. He's a small businessman and told me in no uncertain terms that small business supplies more than 90% of the new jobs in the state and what would I do to encourage that. I asked him what he had in mind and he listed a number of ways governments get in his way, slow him down, distract him from making a living, and adding a tax or two now and then for no more reason than to take from him to give to someone else. All of us know of examples of companies that have down-sized, closed or moved out of state because of international economic changes. Business people don't make those changes whimsically but to make a better profit, make more money, make their enterprise expand. And hire more people. There is a difference between government jobs and private sector jobs but more about that in another post. Meanwhile, the government has to help or get out of the way. The sooner the better.