"You’ve probably heard this phrase a lot during this campaign season: “Government doesn’t create jobs.” It’s the ultimate dismissal of self-government, usually reinforced by a bow to the ultimate power of job creation by the private sector (or if you want to score even more points, by small business.)

But saying it over and over – even in the most reverent tone – doesn’t make it true. It’s a fact that government does create jobs.

These days, thanks to the collapse of the newspaper industry, I am a self-employed entrepreneur. But I owe my three-decade private sector career to a make work, government jobs program. My first professional journalism gig was as editor of The Sho-Ban News. My boss was the tribal government – and my position was funded under the federal Comprehensive Employment and Training Act or CETA. So every time I hear the campaign phrase, “government doesn’t create jobs,” I think how different my life would have been without that government job.

But that broader myth persists. A report by Congressional Republicans, “The War on Western Jobs,” sticks to this storyline and blames DC. “Federal policies emerging from Washington are making these challenges more difficult,” it says. “Too often, federal policies stand in the way of job creation and economic growth.”"

Get the Story:
Yes, government does create jobs! (Mark Trahant 10/11)

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