Incentives to work

The economist has an article enumerating the problems with the American labor market. Among other reasons, the list amounts to poor incentives to work due to disability and unemployment benefits. I This combined with poor education and training resulting in obsolete (or lack of) skills. I believe that this is only part of the story, the main problem with the is structural. Government takes too much and gives it back to the wrong way, via entitlements. To regain America's superiority, we must return to the source of our greatness: innovation and opportunity. Innovation is the result of many small entrepreneurs trying new ideas and some of them eventually improving their consumers lives.

Entrepreneurship is being crushed by oppressive taxes and regulations for small businesses. Ask any small business owner and you'll discover that their biggest issues are all the expenses that go with hiring people other than wages: social security, insurance, benefits, etc. The government needs to lessen this burden in order to spur new jobs and allow innovation to occur.

Opportunity is the result of education and freedom. Freedom for the individual is the ability to work, save and invest in new opportunities without the burden of excessive tax or logistical restrictions like healthcare. Everyone wants to be their own boss. America used to be the place where immigrants with no education or money could work for a time and then start their own business to live and work as they pleased. Those times are long gone due to the cost and risk of living without health insurance. If healthcare were universal and/or insurance cheap, individuals would not incur such a large risk when they leave their employers to start their own ventures. Getting sick is one of the biggest fears unemployed people have. I was recently injured and unemployed and it was difficult trying to find care amid the bureaucracy of government programs and insurance providers (long story short, I never received the care that I paid for). If we can alleviate these fears, people will take more risks by starting new businesses and creating more opportunities for people to work.

Reducing the tax burden and associated entitlements, such as unemployement insurance and its ilk, America could both improve its competetiveness for entrepreneurs and create new opportunities for workers. The taxes that it does collect should go towards improving the quality of our labor force through training and education. Government should work directly with employers to determine what to train and in return be able to place people in those firms.

Basically, America needs to recognize what it does well and get back in touch with its roots. We were once the land of opportunity, but are now the land of government handout recipients and indentured servants. People can't leave their lousy jobs and work on their own terms anymore due to the large costs and risks associated with living without healthcare. Deadbeat socialist handouts is ruining the European economy, but government provided or cheap healthcare does have a rightful place in every society. Government doesn't have to be a vampire draining hard earned money from its most successful citizens to give to its least successful. The role of government is not to pick winners, it's to provide a solid foundation on which to build society. Handouts are not a solid foundation as they do not add value to society and are not sustainable. Deregulation and reduced taxes for entitlements does not just benefit giant corporations, but also the neighborhood shopkeeper and and the innovative technology start-ups as well. We need those entrepreneurs to make America great.