How Politicians create Jobs...

As we are in the middle of a presidential political cycle, their are quite a few candidates who tell the electorate that they have "business expertise" to create jobs. I become very frustrated when I listen to these people tell about how they will create jobs. Their is an inherit belief that politicians can create jobs. We have already learned that politicians don't create jobs. Sure, if we took away all the regulation associated with jobs that might help, but it is not going to help in the long-term or is it a realistic expectation.

The New York Times has an excellent article on Sunday explaining the issues of jobs and why Apple makes products overseas. Check out the their article: How the U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work. They also have an excellent video further illustrating the issues of jobs in the United States. The video presents the job market as only having very lows and very highs with no one in the middle, but their is a large middle class, it is just that segment of the population should be growing, not contracting.

"But as Steve Jobs of Apple spoke, Obama interrupted with an inquiry of his own: What would it take to make iPhones in the United States? Not long ago, Apple boasted that its products were made in America. Today, few are. Almost all of the 70 million iPhones, 30 million iPads and 59 million other products Apple sold last year were manufactured overseas.

Why can't that work come home? Obama asked.

Jobs' reply was unambiguous. "Those jobs aren't coming back," he said, according to another dinner guest.

The president's question touched upon a central conviction at Apple. It isn't just that workers are cheaper abroad. Rather, Apple's executives believe the vast scale of overseas factories as well as the flexibility, diligence and industrial skills of foreign workers have so outpaced their U.S. counterparts that "Made in the USA" is no longer a viable option for most Apple products." from here.

It seems that politicians don't realize how complex the job ecosystem is and it is not really within their control whether there is job growth or not. But if a politician sounds uncertain of anything, they have few chances of getting elected, or staying in their own job.