Where Are The Jobs? How Do We Get Them Back

There is not a politician running for office who isn't "fighting for jobs." We hear this mantra ad nauseum. But, how do we get the jobs back? And what is causing the anemic growth of jobs in America? (Actually, we are losing jobs as a percentage of working age Americans grows.)

What is the greatest cause of  job losses today? Rand Paul sums it up pretty nicely in his "Platform to Revitalize America." It is his budget proposal for FY 2013. It's pretty simple. As government grows and spends, it pulls available capital out of the market. On page 12, he says the following:

"As deficits and debts continue to increase, America’s ability to finance both a growing debt and private investments diminish. With more of the country’s capital and savings allocated into government securities, less money will be available for investment in the private sector, which will lead to a smaller capital stock and lower output and incomes in the long-run than if the debt was reduced.

In addition, as this growing debt increasingly becomes financed by capital inflows from other countries (foreigners currently own nearly 45 percent of total debt held by the public, see Appendix Figure 4), the debt service will require more and more U.S. capital to flow to countries such as China, Japan, oil exporting countries, and other foreign nations. Such a trend will continue to weaken economic growth and hurt the standard-of-living in the long-run. Without private investment in new factories, research and development, and innovative expansion, the economy will be stymied from the lack of increasing productivity growth and new job creation.