Hooray: RDA Jobs Going Away

Steven Greenhut: During recent discussions about jobs, Democrats in particular act as if creating government jobs is a good thing, without considering that all government jobs come by diverting funds from the private sector, which is where real job-growth comes from. The more government spends, the less money there is in the economy and the worse things become, as productive people give up more of their cash to pay for those who sap resources. We need some government and some government employees obviously, but much of what government does is negative. Many agencies should not exist. The loss of certain government jobs — those that do not provide fundamental governmental services — should be celebrated, especially if those jobs are lost because of a shut-down of abusive and wasteful agencies.

So despite the weeping and gnashing of teeth in some quarters, we should be relieved that most redevelopment officials will soon be out of work. Redevelopment is a process where government bureaucrats abuse eminent domain against property owners to benefit politically well-connected developers. RDA officials are some of the worst people I’ve ever met as I’ve watched them heartlessly drive people off of their businesses and out of their homes, oftentimes offering them pennies on the dollar for their property and subjecting them to legal nightmares. RDA officials run up debt that citizens are on the hook to pay for. They distort land-use policies in cities and do myriad bad things. So it’s great news if most of them soon end up unemployed thanks to the ending of redevelopment agencies, as upheld by the state Supreme Court.

Here is a typical news story about job losses. I wish all former RDA officials much success in finding new, lucrative employment in the private sector, where they will have to deal with other people from a position of mutual agreement rather than one where they exert force over others.

JAN. 10, 2012