One solution: Turning homes into small businesses

COMMENTARY

COMMENTARY

COMMENTARY

By George Templeton

Gazette Contributor

Recreation

It seems that anything that does not fit in Plumber Joe’s tool box and that he does not use every day is claimed to be part of government waste that kills jobs. Education provides the skill foundation and the inspiration for the future job creators. From the lack of Republican applause following our president’s speech on Job creation and rescuing teaching positions we infer that they must think that teachers go to play every day. “There seems to be a fundamental disconnect on what a job is.” Infrastructure construction contractors and their employees, whose task terminates when the construction is completed, don’t have jobs even though they are paid for what they do. Government can’t create jobs but it sure does make opportunities to play!

My career was initiated by a large government contract associated with an over-the-horizon radar whose implementation created an entire town. Everything in our department was funded by that contract. There was no consumer business to begin with. We created products that no one else in the world had and that were essential to our national defense during the time of cold-war mutually assured destruction. Our department grew and expanded into many branches because we replaced vacuum tubes in TVs, radios, and in virtually every consumer product world-wide.

I represented our company, visiting Washington D.C. along with representatives from many other companies, schools, and institutions like the National Bureau of Standards. We were there by choice, not by any requirement because we understood the benefits that can come from diversity and team effort. Government did not regulate anything but it facilitated participation, cooperation, and pragmatic compromise. Note how this contrasts with how our political representatives view bipartisan as meaning “my way or no way” and government as anti-business and “killing” jobs. Federal government participation prevented misleading commercialism and misunderstandings that reduced accidents improving productivity, safety, reliability, quality, and American competitiveness. Our standards provided technical guidance to our military which is the world’s greatest. Our standards were often adopted internationally and were sometimes written into government regulations when applicable to large business like telecommunications or when large scale compatibility issues were important for progress.

There is a synergism between government, education, and industry. Government funds cutting edge university research reviewed by private companies for possible participation. Private business cannot take this over because some research such as in fundamental particle physics and cosmology are much too expensive for any business to independently fund. Sometimes business lacks the expertise to conduct research. What is at stake here is literally our understanding of the fabric of reality. For the last 100 years confusion has steadily grown. Every answer leads to another unresolved deeper question. The issues involved are reminiscent of debate about a flat earth at the center of the universe. The answers will likely lead to a future that no one imagines. Fundamental research has a long reach but often leads to dramatic lifestyle changes for the entire world. Venture capitalists know that they are taking large risks but the possibility of great rewards and revolutionary changes motivates them. University professors and graduate students do not directly make many permanent jobs, but then most small business innovations take many years to grow to the size required to fundamentally alter the life style of people world-wide.

We should be thankful that the antifederalists of the 1780’s were unsuccessful in their efforts to confine the federal government to expressly granted powers and to reserve all others to the states or to the people thereof. The tenth amendment as adopted without the word “thereof” leaves intact the principle of implied powers and acknowledges the existence of undefined powers belonging to the people of the whole country. In 1787 no one could foresee modern technology, globalization, giant farms, food mass production, and the economic interdependence of countries that characterize today’s world.

“Government” is the name we give to the formal part of the framework of rules within which we live together. Regulation does not come from just the Federal Government. States, counties, and municipalities can regulate. Regulations deal with matters such as foods, drugs, fuel economy, medical practice, law, utilities, architectural standards, minimum wages, and unemployment insurance. Any form of coercive action has costs for some and benefits for others.

Our homes have lost much of their value. The high birth-rate following WWII, lack of immigration, overseas job outsourcing, and birth control argue that there are going to be many more folks retiring than working especially in the years 2015 to 2035. Many retiring people will want to downsize to reduce costs and to move into smaller less expensive homes. Some want to live in smaller cities or closer to nature where the life style is less competitive. But what are we going to do to with the excessive inventory of big homes?

Let’s allow homes to become local small businesses, for example seasonal and hydroponic farms! Our home values would skyrocket and real estate would boom. This would quickly create millions of jobs that would be in the tradition of unfettered free enterprise and it would take us back toward the world of the pilgrims where people knew and depended on their neighbors, were closer to nature, and where individuals could have the satisfaction of making a difference for their community and country. The new entrepreneur could conveniently work from home and 12 hour, 7 day working weeks would be possible. Workers would not experience forced early retirement. No longer would America be borrowing from the natural and human resources of the future. A vegetarian diet would help with our country’s growing obesity problem and would reduce health care costs. Because fruits and vegetables would not have to be transported long distances our produce would be fresher, cheaper, and there would be less atmospheric pollution and global warming from shipping them. Reduced consumption and increased savings would increase our competitiveness with China and India. All we have to do is cancel those annoying regulations and embrace our patriotic duty to get our economy moving.

Let’s not just have speeches. Let’s specify the proposed regulations that when dropped will set business free to create jobs and solve America’s economic dilemma.