qotd - startups and job creation
From Endgame on using startups as a mechanism for job growth. The sad fact is there are many kinds of jobs in the US aren't going to come back either because the have permanently shifted overseas (iphones are never going to be made in the US) or technology has made them redundant (how often do you use a travel agent?). It's not all doom and gloom though America has had the incredible capacity to change itself even in times of crisis. There's still time to do something even though it's going to be miserable for a while but there are ways to ease the pain. The internet provides an incredible opportunity for new kinds of businesses (note I say businesses ones that can generate revenue not just share pictures with friends).
We will need 15 to 18 million new jobs in the next five years, just to get back to where we were only a few years ago. Without the creation of whole new industries, that is not going to happen. Nearly 20 percent of Americans are not paying anything close to the amount of taxes they paid a few years ago, and at least 10 million are now collecting some kind of unemployment benefits or welfare. The jobs we need will not come from government transfer payments. As we saw earlier, they can only come from private businesses. And in reality, as we discussed in previous chapters, it is business start-ups that are needed, as that is where the real growth in net new jobs are. And that means investment. But if we allocate our investment money to government bonds, if we tax the capital needed by entrepreneurs who invest in and start businesses, we delay that return to growth.
