Jobs: Created and Eliminated

Last night I saw the movie "New In Town." And it is a tad predictable. The hot female executive goes to someplace in Minnesota and meets the hot male union rep. The movie then proceeds to follow the romantic comedy trajectory. As you know, the romantic comedy has a darkest moment near the end of the film. In this case, the evil corporate types demand the female protagonist eliminate half the factory's jobs.

Just now I'm watching the news and learned how the hot female governor of the state of Michigan will create a passel of jobs.

So that's how things work? Corporate types eliminate jobs and politicians create them. That's a great solution to the movie plot. Let old man Potter buy up the factory, close it down and eliminate all the jobs. Then nice Mr. Smith who's gone to Washington will create new ones. Right?

Here's a question: Where do jobs come from in the first place? Are they spoils handed out by politicians to their voters? Are they annuities extorted from "the rich" by unions?

And how much should that job pay? Politicians make a big deal of raising the minimum wage. But why don't they raise it to real money: Just raise the minimum wage to $500 and everyone with a full time job will be a millionaire! You're probably thinking that your current employer can't afford to pay you that much. Not a problem, if you're job is eliminated, the politicians can just create some more.