Welfare makes America more Entrepreurial

[MidTnBlues]

Pundits and researchers often note the negative correlation between government spending and entrepreneurship, both internationally, and conclude that growth requires trimming social welfare programs. Jim Manzi of theNational Review, for example, a thoughtful commenter on economic policy, wrote last year that, "we must accept some amount of social dislocation in return for innovation." But correlations can be misleading. A series of more recent studies challenge the view that larger or more activist government necessarily threatens entrepreneurship. In fact, that may get the relationship precisely backwards.
Entrepreneurs are actually more likely than other Americans to receive public benefits, after accounting for income, as Harvard Business School's Gareth Oldshas documented. And in many cases, expanding benefit programs helps spur new business creation.

Take food stamps. Conservatives have long argued that they In a 2014 paper, Olds examined the link between entrepreneurship and food stamps, and found that the expansion of the program in some states in the early 2000s increased the chance that newly eligible households would own an incorporated business by 16 percent. (Incorporated firms are a better proxy for job-creating startups than unincorporated ones.)

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/03/welfare-makes-america-more-entrepreneurial/388598/?utm_source=SFTwitter

 

[Blueraider_Mike]

No one disagrees that those in need may need help in times of difficulty. But the problem always becomes that as these programs grow - the the funny thing is THEY ALWAYS GROW, they have to be paid for.

Take food stamps, now that the recession is over and UE is down to 5% shouldn't the program be back down to levels seen before the recession?

Its a leap to say more govt spending encourages entrepreneurship. So Olds reference in "some" states in the early 2000s there is some data to suggest increased new businesses...what about the other states. Which states saw the increase (could it have been other reasons). Jobs were plentiful in these years - remember there is lies and then statistics. They can be manipulated.

We all hope that govt programs would be good investments - this type of piece is not the way to persuade people like me - way too many holes.

The argument moving forward on these programs is to modernize them, stop the duplication and measure there "actual" success.

 

[BlueRaiderFan]

The extremely wealthy have only so much ability to create jobs in the private sector. Taxes from them are used to create government sector jobs. This spurs the economy. Instead of having billions sitting in the accounts of the top 1%, we have jobs that create more jobs and spur the economy. Obama changed the criteria as to how people qualify for EBT. No, we should see the numbers remain the same. People that needed help weren't getting it before. They are now.

 

[Blueraider_Mike]

Originally posted by BlueRaiderFan:
The extremely wealthy have only so much ability to create jobs in the private sector. Taxes from them are used to create government sector jobs. This spurs the economy. Instead of having billions sitting in the accounts of the top 1%, we have jobs that create more jobs and spur the economy. Obama changed the criteria as to how people qualify for EBT. No, we should see the numbers remain the same. People that needed help weren't getting it before. They are now.

At what point do people that receive assistance get in a position where they do not need assistance? More over, where the millions that didn't get EBT actually starving before the criteria was changed.

Meanwhile, the extremely wealthy invest with the ROI makes sense. Govt jobs are necessarily a net positive in the economy. If that is the case, why doesn't the govt just give every unemployed person a job?

The economy is only spurred when the value of the production of the job created is greater than the wage paid. Otherwise, you are just redistributing income.

 

[BlueRaiderFan]

At what point do people that receive assistance get in a position where they do not need assistance? More over, where the millions that didn't get EBT actually starving before the criteria was changed.


It depends on the person. Some recover quickly, others will never be out of need. I have known people that the father worked two jobs and the mother watched the kids, but because they had three kids, they qualified for assistance, even with the father working his butt off. No, the millions that didn't have EBT weren't starving, but they were barely making it. I like that it made their lives just a little easier. Now those people that have a little room in their budget won't be living hand to mouth so much. You see, these are things you and others don't think about. It's simple for you; EBT bad. Work good. There are a lot of people out there that work and still need EBT.



Meanwhile, the extremely wealthy invest with the ROI makes sense. Govt jobs are necessarily a net positive in the economy. If that is the case, why doesn't the govt just give every unemployed person a job?


Not certain what you are saying here. Seems to be full of typos. The last sentence/question is understandable and I think it's because you can only pull so much from the tax base before you cripple it and the government knows it and knows when to stop. Too much of this and you stifle the economy, just like allowing the extremely wealthy to hoard too much cash (above and beyond the hundreds of millions and billions they have saved back) is a bad idea.



The economy is only spurred when the value of the production of the job created is greater than the wage paid. Otherwise, you are just redistributing income.


Untrue and not founded in economics. The economy is spurred when people spend money. Allowing that money to sit in an account and not be used is not helping. Government jobs takes some of that money and creates jobs. People with those jobs spend money. The extremely wealthy have enough to grow business and create government jobs...jobs in which people will use that income and buy things.






This post was edited on 4/4 5:57 AM by BlueRaiderFan

This post was edited on 4/4 5:58 AM by BlueRaiderFan