L i b e r t y W i r e
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Dear friends,
If you’re tired of politicians endlessly
creating new bureaucracies to make it look like
they’re doing something - anything -- to solve
society’s "problems", then you’ll appreciate
today’s op-ed by Libertarian Writer's Group
columnist Steve Dasbach. Enjoy!
Jim Babka
President
American Liberty Foundation
=============================================
Wishing upon a Czar
by Steve Dasbach
In the two and a half years since George W.
Bush took office, 2.7 million Americans have
lost their jobs. The vast majority (2.5
million) have occurred in manufacturing,
prompting the President to announce a bold,
innovative new program to boost manufacturing
employment.
He’s going to - drum roll, please - appoint a
"manufacturing czar" [the proposed formal
title: Assistant Commerce Secretary for
Manufacturing and Services].
It’s a classic political move. If a president
wants to make it look like he’s doing
something, but has no idea what to do, he
appoints a "czar". However, a "Manufacturing
Czar" will do nothing to help the millions of
Americans who have lost their jobs.
President Nixon started the trend in 1973 by
appointing John Love as Energy Czar. Of course,
his appointment did nothing to help solve the
energy "crisis", leading President Carter to up
the ante and create the Department of Energy.
That didn’t accomplish anything either, other
than create a gigantic new bureaucracy.
Since then, we’ve been blessed with Drug Czars,
Heath Care Czars, Aids Czars, and Privacy
Czars, to name just a few.
President Clinton even appointed a "Counter-
Intelligence Czar" just before he left office,
charged with developing "a national
counterintelligence strategy identifying and
prioritizing the keys to American prosperity
and security. Informed by such a strategic
analysis, the czar will then coordinate the
efforts of the intelligence, defense and law
enforcement communities." We saw how well that
worked on September 11, 2001.
The President’s new "Manufacturing Czar" isn’t
going to be any more successful than his fellow
Czars, given that the decline in manufacturing
jobs is largely irreversible. It’s also
beneficial to the economy, though extremely
painful for those individuals whose jobs no
longer exist.
This trend in manufacturing jobs parallels our
earlier experience with agriculture. Employment
in farm occupations went from 71.8% of the
population in 1820 to 37.5% in 1900 to 2.7% in
1980. Does anyone think we would be better off
as a society if President Cleveland had
appointed an "Agriculture Czar" to stem the
loss of farming jobs?
Whoops - I forgot. He created a cabinet-level
Department of Agriculture instead, which has
become pretty adept at dispensing corporate
welfare and paying farmers to NOT produce food,
but has utterly failed to prevent job losses in
farming. Our new Manufacturing Czar isn’t going
to fare any better.
There are many reasons for the decline in
manufacturing jobs. Better technology and
production methods have led to substantial
productivity gains. Fewer people are able to
produce more goods and services for less cost,
just as was the case in agriculture. The
economy as a whole benefits from better and
cheaper products, leading to expansion and new
jobs in other industries.
Of course, some manufacturing jobs are being
lost to foreign competition. But many of these
losses are self-inflicted, caused by short-
sighted trade and labor policies enacted by the
same politicians who claim to be "protecting"
American jobs.
One example is the steel tariff imposed by the
Bush administration early last year. The tariff
saved approximately 1,700 jobs in the steel
industry. However, the tariff cost more than
200,000 jobs in American industries that use
steel, representing more than $4 billion in
lost wages. To put this in perspective, the
entire American steel industry employs fewer
than 200,000 people.
If the new Manufacturing Czar tries to save
American jobs through protectionist trade
policies like the steel tariffs, the result
will be even more suffering, out-of-work
Americans.
Instead of appointing yet another Czar to make
it look like he’s doing something about
unemployment, President Bush should consider a
completely new approach - repealing
counterproductive laws and regulations that
stand in the way of job creation.
He can start by repealing the steel tariffs,
along with similar trade restrictions in other
industries. Then, he can try asking America’s
small business owners for help in identifying
the most onerous rules and regulation that need
to be scrapped.
And instead of creating yet another useless
Czar, President Bush should consider getting
rid of the rest of them instead, with some
useless agencies and cabinet departments thrown
in for good measure.
However, don’t hold your breath waiting for
that to happen. It’s just so much easier for
presidents to wish upon a Czar.
— About the author —
Steve Dasbach was National Chairman of the
Libertarian party, 1993-1998 and National
Director of the Libertarian Party, 2000-2002.
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--
..
"Let it not be said that no one cared, that no one objected once it's
realized that our liberties and wealth are in jeopardy. "
..
-Hon. Ron Paul of Texas, 7/10/2003, "Neo-CONNED"
..
http://www.house.gov/paul/congrec/congrec2003/cr071003.htm
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