What do you expect?

I came across a Wall Street Journal article about unemployment in America. Apparently in the month of June, the unemployment rate fell in 39 states, stayed the same in 6 and grew in 5. Sounds like a positive story to me. I'm waiting to hear the spin that Fox News will put on it later. Surely they will find some negative impact that lower unemployment rates have on the country.

Jobs have become the main focus of just about every political campaign going on in the country right now. I can't help but wonder why no one has brought up a very obvious point. There is nothing...let me repeat myself...NOTHING that any politician can do to get the job market back on track. They can talk about taxes and incentives all they want but none of it will inspire employers to open their doors and start accepting resumes.

Ask anyone what the biggest lesson they learned during the recession was and they'll all likely tell you that they learned what to live without. Employers are no different. People are so desperate to hold on to their jobs that they're willing to work long hours and take on extra responsibilities without the benefits. I can use my job as an example. When things really started to turn bad my company fired a good amount of people. I currently hold 3 titles. At one time, there were 2 other people there doing the other jobs. The company is paying me about 1/4 of what the salary was for the 3 other employees combined. They're saving a ton of money by having me do all the work.

State/federal jobs are no different. Many of those are funded by taxes. The national unemployment rate is 9.5% which means that 9.5% of able bodied American workers are not paying taxes. That doesn't even include all the people that just don't pay their taxes and anyone that gets paid under the table. States and cities have had to cut hundreds of jobs because there just isn't enough revenue coming in. For all of those people that whine about taxes, keep in mind that without them there would be no police, fire department or schools just to name a few things. When selfish people decide they don't want to pay their taxes, services have to be cut and that means more lost jobs.

Before you decide to vote Republican, Democrat or Independent, understand that it's a dangerous cycle. There won't be more job creation until there's more tax revenue and there won't be more tax revenue until more people are working and making money. Politicians have very little to do with that. Offering a business some kind of tax credit if they hire an unemployed person doesn't work much either because the employer would save more money without the employee. I don't believe we'll ever see job rates at a level they were just a few years ago. Maybe if some magical industry is created that needs to hire thousands of workers there will be some more opportunities but that's about the only scenario I can find.