After reading what Republican Congressman Alan Nunnelee said to the Columbus Rotary Club this week (11/22/2011), one wonders if these leaders of ours have ever read a book that wasn’t required reading. The case in point here is Nunnelee’s belief, and a standard Republican talking point, that “governments do not create jobs” (quoting the news article which presumably quoted him).
From where Nunnelee stood as he spoke, he could almost spit into the Tenn-Tom Waterway. How many jobs for how many Mississippians did the Waterway’s construction provide, Congressman, and whose billions of dollars paid for it?
From where Nunnelee lives in Lee County he can almost see the Blue Springs Toyota Plant. How many jobs for how many Mississippians did the infrastructure construction needed to lure the plant to this location provide and whose millions of dollars paid for it?
How much public money has gone into acquiring and developing the land for the Golden Triangle Industrial Park and how much public money will have to be shelled out to make up for the tax holidays given to the companies which locate there?
How much public money was spent back in the 1930’s building the Tennessee Valley Authority, and how many jobs did this public expenditure create? By the way, TVA is still federally owned and still creates jobs as well as providing electricity to our area, making it the only truly socialist enterprise in the United States. Where does the electricity come from that powers the Congressman’s home and district offices?
Recalling Nunnelee’s claim cited above that “governments do not create jobs,” he also gave high marks to Columbus Air Force Base, which employs nearly 3,000 people and is an economic driver for the region. “I don’t know of anyone that creates more jobs than Columbus Air Force Base,” he said. Columbus Air Force Base is government, Congressman, and you can’t have it both ways.
The fact is, Congressman, that economic growth throughout this country’s history has been paid for out of the public treasury while simultaneously creating hundreds of thousands of jobs. A few examples are the Erie Canal, the Soo Locks at Sault Ste. Marie, Mich, the transcontinental railroads, the interstate highway system, and of course Tenn-Tom.
Once again, in this depression, it is time for government to spend public money, as it has so often in the past, to create jobs and stimulate growth. Rebuilding our decayed national infrastructure would be a good place to start.
Would a book help? Start with Stuart Bruchey’s The Roots of American Economic Growth, 1607-1861, Congressman Nunnelee. It is available to you across the street from your Washington office at the Library of Congress, one of our country’s finest publicly funded, job-producing institutions. You may have heard of it.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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