>In my mind, you don't start a company to create jobs. Its a nice economic goal, but it should be a side effect of need internally, not the stated goal of the c

>In my mind, you don't start a company to create jobs. Its a nice economic goal, but it should be a side effect of need internally, not the stated goal of the company. Indeed. The objective of all businesses is to create (or otherwise obtain) wealth. Jobs are a side effect, fringe benefit of that. This is common knowledge to people wired into the startup scene, but these days you hear so much about "Creating jobs" all over the airwaves, from Washington to local politics, to non-profits, to even frickin Starbucks (they have these gift cards you can buy at checkout where the proceeds go to 'creating jobs'). For a while I've wondered if it is generally understood where jobs come from, or is "Creating Jobs" a cargo-cult meme. Eg do most people know that job creation comes from wealth creation? Is that the general unstated assumption behind the "Create Jobs" meme in the US right now? Or, are lots of people who've never actually created jobs (politicians, professional athletes, etc) reciting it but most not really understanding how it fundamentally works? What I wouldn't give to see a politician run on a platform of "Create Wealth, and Jobs Will Follow!", and have that chanted from every rooftop and town hall in the country.