Title: Democrat Congressman: Regulations Create Jobs Source:
HE.com URL Source:http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=46767 Published:Oct 12, 2011 Author:John Heywood Post Date:2011-10-12 07:04:13 by CZ82 Keywords:None Views:3543 Comments:7
Democrat Congressman: Regulations Create Jobs
Because, see, you have to hire people to comply with them.
In a fascinating demonstration of pure undiluted economic ignorance today, Minnesota Democrat Keith Ellison – who sites on the House Financial services Committee - explained on MSNBC that regulations create jobs.
Asked by Tim Carney of the Washington Examiner whether he thinks government mandates and regulations have a “negative effect on unemployment,” Ellison said “I think my answer is no,” and went on to extol the job-creating benefits of hiring people to comply with oppressive laws:
When we talked about increasing fuel efficiency standards, the industry responded, and they need engineers and designers and manufacturers, and they need actually more people to help respond to the new requirement.
I believe if the government says, look, we have got to reduce our carbon footprint, you will kick into gear a whole number of people that know how to do that or have ideas about that, and that will be a job engine.
I understand what you mean, because if anything adds a cost to a business, you could assume that that will diminish that business's ability to hire. But I don't think that's actually right. I think what businesses want is customers and what -- if they are selling product, if they have a product to sell they will do well even if they have some new regulations to meet.
(Emphasis mine.) The standard Democrat narrative about their economic failures involves portraying themselves as brilliant central planners who faced an impossible job cleaning up after the Bush Apocalypse. Pressed hard, they might be willing to grudgingly admit that a few of their genius programs didn’t work out quite as well as hoped, but they looked great on paper.
Ellison reveals the truth: the Democrat Party is a band of lunatics who have no idea how private industry works at all. They really do think “jobs” are gifts government showers upon the people. Businesses who don’t respond to wise Democrat stewardship by producing the desired number of good jobs are greedy and evil.
It’s rare to see an adult human being express such a complete misunderstanding of not only the laws of supply and demand, but the very concept. Ellison’s response boils down to the conviction that jobs are created when the government issues commands, and citizens scramble to obey. Does anyone want to journey a little farther down that road and see where it leads?
