How Not to Create Jobs

With unemployment at a 26-year-high, “jobs” have now replaced “home ownership” as the statistical benchmark by which politicians are measured. The president mentioned “jobs” more than 20 times during the State of the Union, and elected officials from both parties are readying a battery of proposals from cutting taxes to expanding TARP all designed to spur hiring.

One of the most frightening comes from Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (D., Ohio), who last week teased the media with his plan to “Create One Million Permanent Job Opportunities.” With large companies like Verizon (VZ) and Sam’s Club (WMT) laying off thousands of workers, how is that possible?

Kucinich’s scheme involves temporarily reducing the age to receive Social Security from 62 to 60, which would let an estimated four million people leave their jobs and begin collecting early benefits. Younger workers who are currently unemployed would then be able to take those jobs.

Congressman Kucinich falls prey to the “fixed pie fallacy,” falsely believing that there are a limited number of jobs available and that it’s his role as an elected official to allocate and distribute them as he thinks most appropriate.

“These are not temporary jobs but permanent jobs that already exist in our economy even under the current recessionary circumstances," said Kucinich, implying that, along with income, health care, natural resources and housing, these “permanent” jobs are the government’s responsibly to pass out.

The real intent, it would appear, is to enlarge our dependency on the government even amid a record deficit and burgeoning entitlement state.

Indeed, the congressman called for expanding Social Security to younger workers even before the economy collapsed. In 2003, he argued: “We need to reclaim the benefits of quality life extension for our seniors by reclaiming Social Security benefits at age 65. America can afford it. Social Security’s finances are more secure than ever.” For Kucinich, there’s never a bad time to expand the entitlement state.