..guess again...

Please explain.

A new iron company is moving in locally where I live, will employ 200 people, this after two factories shipped out in the past two years. It's not enough but it's a start. Any good news is welcome with so much pessimism.

Your town is getting a new company. That's great, Boo.

We do need jobs?

I'd say that we do not need any jobs. Not now, not ever.

To say that we need jobs, is an OK statement for someone who does have no interest in economic affairs, and therefore does not offer any opinion.

If you do offer your opinion, then it needs to make some sense.

We need jobs. Let us think about what this means.

A job, is an economic consequence of having a need, and having a business designed to satisfy those needs. When a need and a business are in place, then a businessman needs an employee, to man the operation.

So, you see, it all starts with a need. Not a need of a job, but a need of a product or a service.

Then goes business. What is a business? A business is a mechanism to deliver the product or the service needed at (very important) the price that is LESS than the price of serving oneself.

An example to clarify things:

A need: I need shoes.
A business: Shoe making.

I need shoes. I could, of course, spend a day to make myself a pair of shoes. Say, I am making $40 an hour, so I would waste 8x40=$320 in that day (since I didn't do my usual work) and some more on materials. Assume that the shoes I made, looks as good as the ones I can buy for $200.

By making shoes, the business serves my need at the price that is less than it would take me to serve myself.

So, this is what a business, any business does. It doesn't have a purpose of employing anyone. There is no such purpose for a business. Instead, a need to employ someone, is a cost to doing business.

On the other hand, it is a need of a business. This need is served by an employee, on the same principle. An employee satisfies a need of a business to man the equipment, at a cost lower than it would cost that business to serve it's own need.

Tallying it all up now, we have:

1. need for a product or service.
2. a business that can satisfy the need at the lower cost.
3. (optional) an employee, that satisfies a need of a business at a lower cost.

The number three, is what we call a job.

Now, to say that we need jobs, is to say that we must get the whole three point process going without having 1 and 2 in place. It is no different than to say "I need a tv set", and forget to say "I need to do something useful to others first", and "I need to save my payment for my services, second".

Yes, people need jobs. They want jobs!!!