Check out this idea in Mississippi. The state government is tapping into some of the state's welfare money from last year's stimulus package to directly subsidize jobs at individual businesses for 6 months. Most of the businesses say they plan to keep the new hires even after the 6 months. What do you think? Good idea, bad idea? I think this is an interesting approach to spending the stimulus package and definitely shows innovation. I'll have to check back later to see what happens more long term but in the meantime check it out yourself. The article and badass Times slideshow are attached.
Stimulus Jobs on State's Bill in Mississippi
Badass Slideshow: Voices of a Mississippi Jobs Program
I think this is a good idea. A really good idea, actually. It's the most direct form of gov't dollars to jobs I've heard of since the New Deal. I think it will be met with much greater support since it's private sector rather than public sector, and everyone accuses New Deal public sector jobs of being make-work and dependent entirely on gov't largess. That's too simplistic a view of those jobs (after all, the WPA built bridges and sidewalks and you can't call that "make work"), but in light of all the anti-government sentiment, I'm fine with the idea of the private sector picking up what could have been done by the public sector --especially if Mississippi is taking the lead on it. Then maybe other red states will quit complaining about the stimulus.
ReplyDeleteAlso, letting the private sector take the jobs (as opposed to the public sector) may be a better way to guarantee that the created jobs are better tailored to local economies, because while every area could use infrastructure improvements, I still feel better about idled factories that already exist in different communities being able to reopen with this sort of program.