Even the Soviet Union had better sense than this…

“Today, it’s Climate Day,” said President Biden in a speech on January 27, 2021, “which means that today is Jobs Day.”

“Dealing with [climate change] and increasing our economic growth and prosperity, are one and the same. When I think of Climate Change, I think of jobs.”

These were among the remarks the President made before signing an executive order which created the American Climate Corps.

And while it took more than three years, Mr. Biden’s Climate Corps is finally up and running, and the President inaugurated its new website a few days ago… which currently shows more than 2,000 new jobs available, with another 20,000 coming soon.

I spent some time browsing the listings and saw positions like “Lawn Buster”, “Energy Auditor”, “Home Energy Navigator”, and “Campus Climate Action Leader”.  Many of these Climate Corps jobs focus on “Indigenous knowledge reclamation” and “youth outreach”.

Clearly it all sounds like highly productive work. It reminds me of that old Soviet joke– “we pretended to work, they pretended to pay us.”

Similarly, the climate jobs aren’t real work. Campus Climate Action Leader? Seriously? Yeah, that’s what universities in America need… more fanatical activism.

These pretend jobs are just another government boondoggle with lavish benefits and paid for by more deficit-fueled inflation.

Coincidentally, just as Mr. Biden was heralding the new pretend jobs his Climate Corps was creating, the Labor Department’s monthly jobs report was released… and the numbers weren’t great.

Blue collar job growth– mining, construction, oil and gas, manufacturing, restaurants– was basically flat or negative. The mining and energy sectors in particular are both getting killed, with significant job cuts across the board.

White collar job growth is also flat or declining, which includes jobs in technology, finance, legal, accounting, and management.

It’s notable that the motion picture industry is also seeing a major decline in jobs… which isn’t much of a surprise given last year’s histrionics. The unions went on strike, and now there are fewer jobs as a result. It’s genius.

I’d also point out that the employment services industry, i.e. recruiting firms and temp agencies, saw major job cuts. This is perhaps the canary in the coal mine suggesting the US job market has peaked and may now be in decline.

But there were a couple of bright spots. Healthcare is booming. Americans are apparently sicker than ever, and in-home healthcare is seeing incredible growth.

Social assistance jobs, i.e. handing out taxpayer-funded benefits like welfare, food stamps, and free housing, are also on the rise. This isn’t exactly a strong indicator for the US economy.

And lastly, government jobs are soaring. True to his word, Joe Biden keeps conjuring new federal jobs out of thin air, creating armies of tax police, climate warriors, and powerful bureaucrats to debilitate the US economy even further.

These government jobs offer almost nothing of value to the private economy. They don’t add to American productivity. Quite the opposite, really. More bureaucrats will make it more difficult for people to produce goods and services.

But the people in charge don’t understand such realities.

Cast in point: a few days ago, the acting Labor Secretary– who has enormous power over US businesses and the job market– demonstrated a complete lack of understanding about basic labor principles… and couldn’t even manage to answer the simple question of whether she has ever owned a business. (She hasn’t.)

Not to be outdone by his demonstrably incompetent cabinet members, President Biden gave a speech on Wednesday in which he claimed the US economy is so strong “because we welcome immigrants.”

Well, that’s certainly one way to put it.

Another way would be that the US government deliberately rolls out the red carpet for illegals who come across the southern border. Yet at the same time, talented and productive foreigners who attempt to come into the US legally are forced into an endless, highly bureaucratic immigration process fraught with uncertainty and insane costs.

It’s true that many of the millions of illegals probably have jobs. But they don’t pay a dime in income taxes… plus vast swarms of them are sucking on the teat of outrageous taxpayer-funded subsidies. Free phones. Free housing. Free healthcare. Free education. Free money. So, these migrants are really a net negative for the economy.

In the same speech last Wednesday, the President further claimed that Japan has a weak economy because they’re “xenophobic”. This wasn’t a gaffe. The guy honestly believes that the southern invasion is a major economic boon… and that Japan is missing out because they actually care who comes into their country.

Fiscal restraint, high savings rates, productivity, innovation, capitalism… these don’t factor into their thinking when it comes to economic growth.

Instead, these people believe that the path to prosperity is government jobs, higher taxes, massive deficits, debilitating regulation, diversity & inclusion (which ensures the equality of outcomes, rather than equality of opportunity), free benefits, and illegal migration.

It’s ironic that many of these were core principles of the Soviet Union… except for the illegal migration part. Even the Soviets had the good sense to secure their borders.

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Simon Black is an international investor, entrepreneur and permanent traveler. His daily letter is both educational and entertaining, and we suggest that those who want unbiased, actionable information about global opportunities sign up for Sovereign Man’s free, actionable newsletter at http://www.SovereignMan.com.

From Simon Black of SovereignMan.com