Businesses do not create jobs

[eridani]

http://www.truth-out.org/businesses-do-not-create-jobs65095

Businesses do not create jobs. In fact, the way our economy is structured the incentive is for businesses to get rid of as many jobs as they can.

Demand Creates Jobs

A job is created when demand for goods or services is greater than the existing ability to provide them. When there is a demand, people will see the need and fill it. Either someone will start filling the demand alone, or form a new business to fill it or an existing provider of the good or service will add employees as needed. (Actually a job can be created by a business, a government, a non-profit organization or just a person doing the job, depending on the nature of the good or service that is required.)

So a demand creates a job. A person who sees that houses on a block need their lawns mowed might go door to door and say they will mow the lawn for $10. When houses start saying "Yes, I need my lawn mowed" a job has been created!

Demand also creates businesses. The person who is filling demand by mowing lawns for people might after a while have a regular circuit of houses that want their lawns mowed every week, and will buy a truck and a new mower and hire someone to help. A business is born!

[Syrinx]

1. sounds like someone has been listening to Eliot Spitzer

:thumbsup:

[midnight]

2. So distributing money, and not hoarding it, to mainstreet can

help the ecomomy?

[HughBeaumont]

3. Yes, and how is demand created? Why, that would be having disposable income!

And why does no one have disposable income?

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, could it be because in real dollars, wages haven't risen since 1979?

Could it be because of 10 years straight of the most anemic job creation ever recorded, even while corporations and the wealthy were enjoying the longest sustained period of low taxes in 75 years?

Could it be because in 1969, the average house was only 1.5 - 2 times the average family income (try getting a 2:1 ratio on house-to-income today . . . oh wait, you probably could, seeing as how the 2000's housing bubble crashed, and all . . )?

Could it be because we're languishing in the lowest savings rates (a direct result of wages not rising to meet the cost of living, or just not having wages at ALL) in recent history?

Could it be because when wages don't rise to match the cost of living, which isn't going down ANYtime soon, people either go into consumer debt to buy products or they just do without?

So what needs to be done to, you know, STOP this madness?

Here's a clue - I just got a raise. First one in three YEARS (it kind of comes with the territory of working for a troubled bank that recently got bought out). Next year, I'm going to take that raise and finally buy a new used car for the first time in 14 years, possibly other things.

Multiply this instance of bringing people's wages up to where they can actually BUY shit OTHER than necessities times, oh, I don't know, 1-3 million people, and you have yourself an economy again. Oh, it'd be even better if, you know, hiring picked up also.

But hey, what do I know? Go ahead and sit on that cash instead, idiots. It's not like anyone's forcing you to distribute it or anything. You all must be such grand experts at what you do that you can do it without tax revenue, workers, sales or business.

[Scuba]

9. Duh! too bad the right doesn't get this. n/t

[KittyWampus]

15. No arguing with your points BUT disposable income is gotten by businesses creating jobs.

It's a chicken/egg situation and the OP and those trying to make a point are in the silly stage of the argument.

[eridani]

16. Demand must come first. When businesses jump in, a virtuous circle is created n/t

[Marr]

24. It isn't a chicken/egg situation at all.

The government could pass out dollars for digging holes in your yard, and that would stimulate demand the same way. That was the idea behind a lot of the policies that got us out of the Depression. There are many ways to get money into peoples' hands.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

27. Brazil did just that. It's working. And the right goes apeshit.

It's a beauty to see. I'm almost drunk on schadenfreude.

[tsuki]

4. I have been screaming this at the top of my lungs for months. Everyone

needs to scream it, to everyone.

I would love someone to ask Mourning Joe of the Tea Vee Party how many people he hired because of his huge tax cuts in 2001, 2003.

[elocs]

7. I was told by a Republican friend years ago that the point of the tax cut were so the rich

could use the money to create jobs. Yeah, so how did that work out?

Strictly speaking the only obligation of a business is to make money for its owners or shareholders. There is no obligation to create jobs. In fact, the fewest jobs that maintain the maximum profit is desirable. We often see businesses get rewarded by having their stock price go up after they cut jobs.

[elocs]

5. Ironic, but the lawn mowing example is exactly something I did in my neighborhood.

I live in a mobile home court that has lots of retired people. Many of them would have lawn care services come and cut their post stamp sized yards and would be charged $20 each time, every week, even if the grass did not really need to be cut. This bothered me because I knew that many were on a fixed income.

So I put out flyers saying, "Have Mower, Will Travel", offering to cut the yards when needed for $10. I did have a good response and had enough to keep me busy, but not enough for a business since I really did not want to be that busy. Although there were times this past summer when I paid my goddaughter to cut some of the lawns so she could make a little extra money.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

28. Of course, all of those people who needed the lawn cut had... DISPOSABLE INCOME! Ta-da! -nt

[Proud Liberal Dem]

6. I would point out too (as Sam Seder did the day after the election)

that most businesses have incentives (i.e. higher profits) to have FEWER employees doing MORE work.

[pipoman]

8. And most often demand is created through

a sales, merchandising, and/or marketing plan. Most successful business isn't successful by accident, it is induced by an interested party or parties.

[eridani]

17. Nope. Doesn't matter jackshit how much people want your product--

--if they don't have the money to buy it.

[pipoman]

20. It is really hard for me to take seriously

people who don't take time to use spell check..and it doesn't really surprise me when careless people aren't able to make ends meet.

[eridani]

21. Please point out the misspelling.

Nope. Doesn't matter jackshit how much people want your product--
--if they don't have the money to buy it.

I don't think that there is a formal agreement about jackshit vs jack shit, myself.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

29. Oh, your argument is reduced to "your spelling is wrong"?

Then you lost. Bye.

[geckosfeet]

10. Accurate. Businesses squeeze as much as possible out of the people they have.

Once they realize that they are leaving money on the table (demand) they will staff up.

Which makes us wonder, when will the administration start empowering people to create demand instead of investing tax money in corporations who tend to sit on it or invest it. People need decent jobs at decent wages.

It’s Official: Rich Declare War on the Middle Class

[stray cat]

11. And workers certainly do not create jobs nor do protesters

[TBF]

12. Workers are enslaved and would really have a hard time creating jobs since

over 40% of the wealth in this country is controlled by 1% of the population. Think about how screwed up that is - at least if you favor the workers' perspective.

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[fascisthunter]

32. no one said they did

[KittyWampus]

14. Sorry, but businesses create "demand". What do you think advertising is and why billions are spent

on it and the psychology behind it?

This is one of the stupidest attempts to try and make a point yet.

You are basically trying to say whether the chicken or the egg came first.

[eridani]

18. You need to use economists' definition of demand

Marketing to people without the money to buy is useless. The official defination includes that fact.

[eridani]

19. RE--advertisomg "creating" demand

It doesn't. To create NET demand, people need more money, period. Advertising mainly serves to channel already existing demand toward different product mixes.

[pipoman]

22. Nonsense

"So a demand creates a job. A person who sees that houses on a block need their lawns mowed might go door to door and say they will mow the lawn for $10. When houses start saying "Yes, I need my lawn mowed" a job has been created!"

For every person who is out of work who will actually "go door to door and say they will mow the lawn for $10.", there are 10 who will lay on the sofa saying, "someone should go door to door and say they will mow the lawn for $10". The demand isn't created by long grass, it is created by the person willing to get off their ass and solicit the demand.

Ultimately the OP is an excuse made by the person who wishes to lay on the sofa and dream up reasons why their ideas won't work, then return to their bonging.

[eridani]

25. Nope. Without people willing to pay to have their lawn mowed, no demand. n/t

[pipoman]

26. Spoken

like a person who believes they buy the things they spend their money on as opposed to sold those things. People are sold almost everything they buy, either the packaging, point of sale, advertising or a sales person creates demand. Go on believing you decide if it makes you feel better, salespeople and merchandisers like your type.

[eridani]

33. Salespeople only shift demand; they never create it

Creating demand for a new product creates jobs for those producing it, and takes jobs away from the people who were making the stuff that the new customers were spending their money on before. Therefore no net job gain--in fact, probably a net job loss, since newer production processes are usually more efficient. The only way that people can buy the new product and continue to buy whatever they were using the money for before is if they get more money.

[Major Hogwash]

23. True enough. I guess the only question left is to ask if businesses have babies.

Since corporations are now considered people, according to the Robert's Supreme Court decision in regard to the Citizens United case.

"Soylent Green is people!!!"

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

30. Error: you can only recommend threads which were started in the past 24 hours

Ah well, at least the Ronnie Raygun Fanboy Brigade won't be able to get this below 23.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

31. Kick

[BzaDem]

34. Demand is certainly a necessary component to creating jobs, but it is not by itself sufficient.

The truth is, if everyone started demanding things but no one saved/produced, there would be no services/investment to gobble up the demand (and thus no jobs).

Likewise, if everyone wanted to provide but not demand/consume, there would be no demand (and thus no jobs).

Both are essential to job creation. At any given time, they supply and demand need to balance. You act as if there is only one side to the equation, but that is of course false.

Now, in this economy, the problem is demand and not supply. There is too much savings sitting on the sidelines and too little demand for it to be activated to create jobs. So you are correct that in this economy, more demand creates jobs.

But in a different economy (say at high interest rates), there might be too MUCH demand/consumption, and not ENOUGH savings/forgoing consumption. In that case, the problem wouldn't be demand, but rather supply.

So it depends on the economy.