Written By : Warner Todd Huston
November 12, 2011

Warning, here you will see me praise President Barack Obama. Last week the President issued a directive for his various agencies to cut down department spending and one of those ways he targeted to achieve that was to cut out “swag” — items such as coffee mugs, pens, or other items with department logos that are given away for free, items we are paying for with our tax money.

Obama thought that a good way to stop wasteful government spending would be to cut out the T-Shirts, coffee mugs, pens, and the like that federal agencies pay to have made for them have made every year. I can’t say I disagree.

How is a T-Shirt made by the Department of Energy a good use of my tax dollars?

Well, leave it up to the hindteat-suckers in the “swag industry” to start whining that this federal largesse will “cause job loss.”

Tim Andrews of the Advertising Specialty Institute, is not very happy about Obama’s attempt to save the taxpayer’s money.

“For the president to say that buying promotional products is a waste is extremely troubling and shows how little he knows about the industry,” Matt Bertram, president of Fields Manufacturing, said in a statement. “This is again another example of our administration making quick decisions that will hurt small business.”

Andrews says that the $17 billion industry employees 500,000 workers.

Now, I am a big booster of small business. But small business being floated by government spending is called A TAX!!

It is a fake economy, a fake job, not a true economic benefit to the nation. If government jobs were the best thing for an economy we simply wouldn’t need a private sector. But, as we all know, the private sector is what pays for the public sector.

So, small business making a living off the government is not an economic boon but simply government spending requiring more taxes to fulfill it.

I have to say, if some small business loses income, or even close its doors because Obama has just cut it off (IF he ever really does so, that is) from government largesse then I find that a savings over all to the people.

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