The 2014 New Mexico Legislature is coming to an end of its 30-day session. There have been lots of controversies aimed at getting the members of the Legislature reelected in November but little else to help the people who need help the most: unemployed and underemployed New Mexicans.
The every other year 30-day legislative session in New Mexico concentrates on a state budget and anything else that catches the governor’s fancy. Me, I fancy jobs because jobs make New Mexico strong and we are not strong in our business sector.
For most people there are many more advantages to jobs than unemployment. Sure, with unemployment Democrats can throw palliative money at voters for the purpose of getting votes. They stand before cameras talking about helping New Mexico families. It gets them reelected but the people remain unemployed.
The underlying issue to what ails New Mexico is that the New Mexico State government along with County and Municipalities are not doing the right things to support businesses in this state. So businesses are not hiring enough New Mexicans for our economy to improve.
More so, the least likely to be employed are the least skilled since we have minimum wage laws which prohibit businesses from dealing honestly with potential employees. Businesses should be able to compensate employees by what the employee can do for the business.
New Mexico needs to lose the notion that government knows best for the citizens and let the citizens make their own economic decisions. The marketplace will bring prosperity to New Mexico if New Mexico confines its interference to making sure, as Milton Friedman says, “business…engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud.”
Every other political intention takes away from a vibrant economy and gives political power to the power brokers who prosper when the average New Mexican does not. They play upon emotions with slogans, some of which are right out of the communist playbook… which incidentally did not ever work in any communist country. Income equality comes right from Karl Marx and has never worked.
For those who think more government is the answer there is only one question: show me where bigger and bigger government has worked. Yes, it hires more cousins but in taking money out of the economy to run the government it spoils the economy and brings greater suffering to the most fragile citizens.
Obviously, if New Mexico is to prosper, really prosper, then the people who want to choke businesses must be voted out of office. They are pleasant fools who spout the communist/socialist line without realizing the harm it does New Mexicans.
We need to vote out those in both parties ruining the New Mexico economy and vote in those who realize that in a vibrant marketplace “A rising tide lifts all ships” as John Kennedy said.
The problem is there are almost more government workers in New Mexico than non-government workers. How can anyone get control of the runaway government? Only when the government workers themselves realize that if they completely kill businesses, there will be no more money for them. Self interest.
It is the first rule of the marketplace, you must take care of your customers or long-term you are gone. It also is true of those government workers. Milton Friedman observed, “One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.”
The huge increase of government policies and programs over the last few decades in New Mexico have all begun with good intentions but the unemployed and underemployment in New Mexico are the results.
Dr. Michael Swickard hosts the syndicated radio talk show News New Mexico six to nine a.m. Monday - Friday on a number of New Mexico radio stations and through streaming. Email: michael@swickard.com
