Building a successful blog is a long, slow process.  It takes determination and consistency.  Most people struggle to make money online through a blog because 1) they see the slow growth and give up or 2) because they see how hard it is to monetize traffic (what little traffic they have) and give up.  The most important thing you can do to build a successful blog that can actually make money is to blog about something you are really, really interested in or blog about something related to work or preferably both.

From my perspective, you should have two goals that you should pursue in tandem as you grow your blog.

Engaged Readers

Your first goal, and by first I don’t mean most important, should be to develop a regular readership.  This readership should be fairly engaged with you and your content.  The discussion that arises through your readers typically comes in the form of comments.  If you are not getting any comments from your readers then perhaps your content isn’t interesting enough or it does nothing to elicit an actual reaction from the person reading.

Comments are crucial because they add content.  Content can be indexed by search engines and it can elicit further reactions from readers in addition to the main article or post content.

You should measure your level of engagement as you grow your blog over time.  The best way to do this is to measure the number of comments per post.  Hopefully as the number of engaged and regular readers grows, you will see more and more comments per post.  This is a good sign of a successfully growing blog.

Some blogs have such good commenting and discussion that it becomes a primary reason to visit a blog. For example, I regularly read ZeroHedge partly for the actual posts but even more so for the witty and interesting comments from their large readership. Their readers are a big asset to the blog.

Search Traffic

The other kind of growth that a successful blog will see is search traffic. This will be a function of the quantity of your content (how much content your produce) and the degree to which your content targets specific keywords or topics (seo).

There are two reasons you want your search traffic to grow. First, search visitors will occasionally be converted into regular readers. Second, search visitors tend to be the visitors that click your ads which means your blog makes money. While this isn’t the only way to make money, it’s certainly the easiest through a system like Google’s Adsense. Search traffic overwhelmingly clicks on my Adsense ads much more than my regular readers (over the last 30 days, search traffic is 57.7% of my total traffic yet 97.6% of all adsense revenue come from search traffic), which makes sense if you actually think about it.

In order to grow your traffic, I don’t believe in spending a great deal of time trying to intentionally target specific keywords and optimize your content in order to get an article to rank higher. This will result in your quality of content being lowered which is bad business. Also, interestingly, my articles that bring in the most search traffic were articles that I did not intend to be “search allstars” – it just happened. The articles that I did create specifically for search traffic tend to not bring in much search traffic.

Search traffic tends to do better when your blog is being regularly updated. I don’t have much proof for this, but I’ve definitely seen better performance when my blog is having new content regularly added. This would mean that Google potentially gives your website a bump in preference or ranking if it’s an “active” site. This would make sense, but again it is only a guess on my part.

The best formula for success is to make sure your site is optimized for search but don’t spend much time on the actual content. I know some blogs that attempt to blog about “hot topics” on Google just to capture the short term boost in traffic because of the popularity of a specific keyword. I think this is pretty pointless, because that article you spent time working on doesn’t provide much value and it doesn’t become an asset after the day is over. Your content should become the assets of your site and hopefully will draw in search traffic for a long time.

Content

More important than anything is your content. I’m a believer that blogs should be more than news sites. Why compete with Drudgereport or CNN? Blogs should offer an opinion, and an educated, interesting opinion is best. Your opinion should be backed up by facts and data but you should take a position and you should be interesting. If not, why would someone read what you have to say?

Subscribers

I don’t place the huge emphasis on subscriber count that many bloggers do, but obviously, a higher count is better. First of all, I’d rather readers come to my actual website than read the content through an RSS reader. If they are on my site, they can comment, add to my traffic statistics, click on ads, etc. These are all good things. Because of this, I don’t jump through hoops to try and get people to subscribe. I give them the option if that is their preference. That’s it.

Naturally, your subscriber count should increase as your blog grows because lots of people do read blog content through RSS. It’s tough to identify a standard growth rate for this though because some blogs do things to incentivize or convince readers to subscribe where I don’t. The growth rate will definitely be a function of how hard you try to increase the count as well as the other factors that go into general blog growth.

What Kind of Growth Should You See?

This is a tough thing to narrow down, but there’s no reason that your blog can’t achieve a minimum of 5% visitor growth each month. This requires work obviously and doing a lot of things right, but assuming you’re doing them, 5% should be a minimum with regards to visitor growth. This would mean if you have 100 visitors one month, you should be able to bump up to 105 visitors the next month; or if you have 10000 visitors one month, you should be able to attain 10500 visitors the next month.

To obtain consistent growth on a website, it takes a great deal of work and even moreso, it takes consistency and dedication. You really have to keep at it in order to achieve any level of success. You often see stats about millions of blogs are created everyday. What you don’t see is how many blogs are closed or deleted every day (probably just as many). If you’re like me, you have a busy life even without adding a blog into the mix. The only way it works is because I’m blogging about something that I’m involved in and have an interest in. If I had tried to blog about travel (even though I really like it), I would have quit long ago because frankly, I don’t travel enough to write consistently about it. I’ve written almost 500 articles now for this blog and honestly, I’m just getting started. Do you have that in you? If not, your blog is unlikely to get anywhere.

Reinvesting Your Income Back Into Your Blog

If you have an established blog getting even a little traffic, you can easily start to monetize your traffic.  Even if you’re only getting $30-$50 per month in income, this is money you can easily reinvest into the blog.  Reinvesting the cash flow back into the blog is just like any business does.  The objective is growth.

Sure I love getting a little extra income each month, but honestly I’m not blogging to earn a few hundred bucks extra a month.  I’m blogging to earn a few extra thousand a month or more.  It just takes time to get there.  In the meantime, I reinvest almost all of my income from the blog back into the blog in an effort to grow it.  How do you reinvest funds into a blog?  You can buy traffic through Adwords (which I don’t do), you can pay for directory listings that will help your blog rank higher in Google, you can pay writers to write content for your blog, you can buy reviews from other prominent blogs, you can buy ads or links on other blogs, you get the idea.

When consistent growth is the goal, it takes effort and some strategy.  Growth is a long term objective; traffic spikes are for the birds.  I want real, consistent, increasing growth over months and years so that I can develop this blog into a real business, a real income stream requiring less and less effort to maintain the income.  I will continue to document the progress towards this goal.

A reminder why I talk about blogging on this site: I believe blogging can be a real income stream opportunity for 20-somethings as long as you approach it as a business and a long term project. View.

Women & Finances is a new series written by a 20-something about her financial journey. Her columns will be appearing weekly here at 20smoney.com. You can read her other articles by visiting the Women & Finances category.

One way I have tried to cut back my spending recently is in the make-up department. I am an expensive make-up junkie that has not exactly been rehabilitated, but has been on the search for what make up and skin care products it’s okay to skimp and go cheap with. I am going to need reader input and advice on this one, but will share my failures and discoveries.

In the skin-care realm I have found that the inexpensive Cetaphil cleanser works great as a gentle cleanser, but it still needs to be supplemented with a good exfoliator a few times each week. I have tried and tested a multitude of cheap facial exfoliants and none work better than the expensive Kiehl’s Epidermal Retexturing Micro-Dermabrasion. This exfoliant is truly awesome and I know it’s superiority is more than just psychological. It only takes a tiny dot to give a deep scrub and the tube lasts forever. It is worth the $40.00. Now with moisturizers and eye-creams, it’s important to note that I come from the womb of a woman who swears by Creme De La Mer and spends hundreds on their creams. I have gone drug store with these products and find no difference in my skin. As long as they don’t clog pores, they do the trick. My Neutrogena moisturizer and eye cream have worked fine. A great trick I have adopted is using Johnson’s Baby Oil as an eye make-up remover. It works great and keeps the sensitive under-eye area moist.

Make-up has been a trickier animal. I have bought many types of make up at the drug store only to throw them away and end up spending even more money at the mall on the expensive brands. There is less pigment in cheap eye shadow and blush, a significant difference in mascara quality and cheap foundation doesn’t even come close to Dior AirBrush Foundation and Mac Studio Fix. Dermablend Concealer is the best at covering blemishes and under-eye circles and has a lot more pigment and quality coverage than cheap concealers. But with lip liners, glosses and lipstick I have found cheap drug store substitutes that work great. Do you need one Chanel Glossimer? Sure. But there is no need to have four of them when there are cheaper glosses out there and you can mix them with liners and lipsticks to achieve various effects. Bourjois 3D Lipgloss ($15.00) is half the price of a Chanel Glossimer ($27.00) and looks great. I get them at Ulta. I have also picked up a few great cheap and long lasting Rimmel lipliners at Ulta. There really is no gloss that stays on as long as Smashbox Limitless Long Wear Gloss, but it is $21.00 which is a bit steep and is not recommended for kissing with. For kissing, I go middle school all over again with the inexpensive drug store brand Lipsmackers but I am open to input on this.

When it comes to eyeliner, mascara and bronzer I am truly an Estee Lauder fan on all three accounts and have trouble deviating. I love Bronze Goddess and have done back to it after looking horrible with drug store bronzers that can make you look dirty or too sparkly. Bronze Goddess is truly a good median of both and the large palette is great for a large bronzer brush. Their Automatic Eye Pencil Duo is great for smudging with the sponge on the other end and I love that the sponge is capped to keep it sanitary. Estee Lauder Projectionist Mascara ($19.50) has been my favorite for a while. Even with the hype about Maybelline Great Lash and other drug store brands, I find no comparison. Projectionist makes my lashes look awesome. And has anyone found a cheap nail polish that stays on as long as OPI? I have yet to.

I would love to hear what your favorite beauty products are–especially if they save money!

Kevin says: Wow, now that is some different advice than the usual 20smoney.com content!  I hope there are some female readers out there that enjoy this article and this series!

So many 20-somethings struggle to start their career early in the 20s.  Whether you have a degree or not, it’s important to start your career as soon as possible.  There is a learning curve involved in any industry and it will take years to grow in your career.  Delaying can cost you opportunity and money.  Lots of it.

Learning A Business

Whatever industry or area you start your career in, you will likely know very little about it going in, even with a related college degree.  The key is to simply start so that you can start the learning process.  Just about all of your value once you’re a few years into your career will come from skills that you learn on the job.  The longer you wait to begin the process, the longer it is until you have much value to another employer.

In addition to the skill growth, you will learn a lot about the business or the industry.  You will learn how it works, and you will learn how you can make money in this field.  This is of course absolutely essential if you are to ever go into business yourself within the field.  How often do you see someone start a business in a field they know nothing about and actually succeed?  It doesn’t happen.

The Perfect Job

Now, I’m going to let you on a little secret: you probably won’t love your first job.  The key is to acknowledge the imperfect scenario but get the most out of it.  I didn’t love my first job, but I learned an incredible amount and it was a fantastic experience.

Too many people fill a few years up with temporary jobs such as working at a restaurant or whatever (nothing against working at a restaurant) because they can’t find their perfect job.  It probably doesn’t exist because you have no experience and don’t even know what you want.  Just get in somewhere so you can start to gain some value as an employee and as someone who can contribute to a company.  Once you get in, you will have a much better idea of where you should be in the future.

So, again, the most important thing you can do is not waste time, but to get into your career.  If you’re wasting time today, there’s no better time to switch gears than right now.  Good luck.

This guest article was written by Adrienne Carlson, who regularly writes on the topic of executive mba programs. Adrienne welcomes your comments and questions at her email address: adrienne.carlson1@gmail.com

It’s risky business indeed, when you want to put your hard earned money into the stock market. What with all the ups and mostly downs that are going through this industry right now, you’re right to be wary of stocks and funds, especially if you’re a newcomer and just testing the waters. Stocks and bonds are good investment options, if you know what you’re doing with your money. And if you’re looking for tips on making wise investment choices, read on:

• Never look for huge payoffs: Always remember that the more you expect, the greater the risks. So while you may have a chance of gaining large amounts of money, you may also end up losing much more. The stock market is very fickle and not predictable at all, so don’t look for huge payoffs – in your greed, you may lose more than you gain.

Kevin says: I don’t necessarily have a problem looking for huge payoffs as long as I understand the risk.  I think that there is a place for speculation in one’s investment strategy as long as they understand the risk and implement methods to limit the risk.

• Always clear your debts before putting money into investments: If you have outstanding debts, pay them off first before investing money in the stock market. You may want to play around with the rates of return and think that you’re probably going to get a higher return on your investment, using which you can pay off your debt which has a lower interest rate. But since stock market returns are not a certainty, trying to make a fast buck by playing around with interest rates is a foolish idea. You may find yourself deeper in debt than before.

Kevin says: This is a good point that you should definitely get rid of debt prior to building an investment portfolio.  The only exception to this in my opinion would be to participate in your 401(k) to take advantage of company matching since this is essentially free money.  Every other dollar should go towards paying down debt.

• Play safe and take the fixed deposit route: If you want to play safe and get a guaranteed return for your money, you’re better off going with deposits and bonds that have fixed rates of interest for a certain period of time. This way, you know for sure that you are assured of a certain amount of money at the end of this period.

Kevin says: Fixed income has a place in some people’s financial plans, mostly people close to retirement.  Young people can take on a little more risk in my opinion.  For me, I have my cash reserves (which I basically assume zero return) and my stocks portfolio (which I aim for large returns).

• Do your research before investing: It is always wise to do your research before you invest in stocks and mutual funds. If you do know something about the stock market, study the conditions carefully and keep monitoring your portfolio. If not, entrust your money to someone else you trust and who does know the market better than you do.

Kevin says: This is an interesting topic and while this is very against the grain, I actually don’t think research is as important as I used to.  So many stocks go up and down with the general market now, that I almost think technicals are more important than fundamentals in today’s market.  Research and fundamentals have value but in 2009, technicals dominate.

• Stick with your plan: Don’t hope for your investments to show gains or offer huge returns immediately. Be patient, don’t keep buying and selling at random, and wait for your money to grow. Take the long term strategy instead of seeking money instantly.

• Diversify your portfolio: It’s not good to put all your eggs in one basket, so make sure your portfolio is a diverse mix of bonds, stocks and mutual funds. If one is on the down trend, the up trend in others will end up saving you from losing too much money.

Kevin says: I have different views on diversification that most people.  I tend to be more speculative in nature.  If you’re looking for diversification, you can do it through a handful of ETF index funds in my opinion, avoid individual companies.  And, you don’t really need to pay someone to build/manage a diversified portfolio since it’s so easy to mimic broad market performance through ETFs.

These may be conservative ideas, but they do help you manage your money and make a small profit, a little more than a savings account will give you and a lot less than bold and risky ideas will. However, the main issue is that you know how to manage your money without taking too many risks and maximizing your profits at the same time.  Thanks for your thoughts Adrienne!

BRK-B Split

Berkshire announced recently a 50-1 split of their class B shares which may make it easier for small time investors to pick up shares of BRK (think $68/share vs $3400/share).  As such, I’ve decided to document a strategy that could involve building a portfolio with these shares as a big part of the portfolio.

BRK-B As A Play On The U.S. Economy

Berkshire is a holding company with many businesses ranging from flooring to insurance to railroads.  It’s a pretty diversified way to play the U.S. economy.  Plus, you basically get the opportunity to have Buffett manage your money.  Therefore, as the part of the portfolio with exposure to the U.S. economy, you could consider dumping your money into BRK-B shares.

Other Allocations

If you put say a third of your portfolio into BRK-B, I would recommend putting a third into gold and other inflation hedges (perhaps other commodities plays).  The last third, I would probably put towards international exposure, specifically Asia.

So here is your portfolio design:

• 33% into BRK-B shares – broad U.S. economy exposure plus hopefully you get some out-performance from the Warren Buffett factor
• 33% into inflation protection – GLD, GDX, DBC, TIPS, maybe USO
• 33% into international ETFs – EWC, FXI, AIA, etc.

This is a very simple portfolio design, but in some cases, simple is good, especially for new 20-something investors.  This is just one idea.  Hopefully, it may help you develop a structure for you to pursue as you invest money each month (or year or whatever).

Any thoughts?

I have a close friend that recently just quit his job and is starting a company.  He’s in his mid-twenties, and sure the economy sucks, but neither is stopping him from going for it.  Very cool.  What I’ve really taken away from his journey is the way that a person who is launching a start-up manages his or her life and finances.  Then, it struck me as odd that we don’t manage our lives this way more often, even if we’re not starting a new company.

Unexpected Expenses

A few days after quitting his job, my friend’s air conditioner at his home went out.  Talk about terrible timing.  One day you’re losing income, the next you’re forking over several thousand bucks for a new A/C.  Because he is starting a company, every penny he spends is extremely crucial.  Loss of guaranteed income plus new expenses that goes into starting a company (rent, payroll, equipment, marketing, etc.) is a stressful scenario.  Then, you throw in a large, unexpected expense.

Because of the situation, you enter crisis mode to manage your money.  If we are to survive this tough time financially, we have to be very careful in our planning and execution.  No money should be spent on anything that is not absolutely necessary.  How many Americans should be living exactly like this today?

Crisis Mode

Americans are broke, are losing their homes, and are underemployed.  Yet, many Americans continue to spend money like everything is fine.  These people need to go into crisis mode.  They need to drastically cut spending, spending money only on things that are mandatory for living.

People should also be in crisis mode over their savings because frankly, most people aren’t going to be able to self-fund their retirements.  The macro-financial picture of our country as a whole is very ugly.

Are you having trouble getting ahead financially?  Maybe you need to initiate a crisis lockdown on your spending.  Imagine what you would do if you quit your job to start a new company from scratch.  How would you get by?  Write down some ideas and execute them.

The real economy is in shambles, despite trillions of cash being thrown at the symptoms: housing, banking, etc.  Because the real economy is unlikely to rebound to any significant extent in my opinion, it’s only a matter of time before politicians begin pushing stimulus 2.0.  Add in the fact of looming commercial real estate crises and broke state and local governments, and you have a clear slam dunk, right?

Amazingly, there are already politicians discussing the need for a second stimulus.  This is insane since the majority of the first stimulus isn’t even spent yet.  While I don’t think the stimulus would work, if you did believe in its effectiveness, why would you push for a second bill when less than a quarter of the first one has been spent?  What planet are these morons living on?

The question will be the public reaction.  Many Americans are already pissed off about the first stimulus (myself included).  A few trillion dollar bills too many perhaps for our blessed leaders.  Interestingly, tonight’s elections in New York, New Jersey and Virginia may be a reflection of this disdain for deficit spending (you can make an argument either way).  The results tonight will be interesting.

There is a growing segment of the population that is becoming more educated on the economy and the markets.  Internet blogs and websites are providing individuals with real, hardcore economic data and discussion that is very different than the mainstream media (see Growing Divide Between Financial Blogs & Mainstream Media [10/28/09]).  The encouraging sign of all of this is that the traffic is increasing for these “smart” blogs, as I like to call them, and viewership is definitely stagnant at best for outlets like CNBC.  Maybe it’s because the CNBC folks like the “Fast Money” traders ridicule economists with a different point of view.

Even more encouraging is the intelligent comments and discussion that can be seen at blogs such as ZeroHedge. A quick visit to such a blog will show the following:

1. The majority of the community doesn’t buy into the economic policy of the Fed and the other government leaders
2. Most of these folks don’t believe that government is fixing the economy
3. Most are skeptical of the market rally and its sustainability absent government stimulus
4. Most are looking to exploit and make money off these developments

When compared to the average American citizen who is clueless about real capitalism and the functioning of our economy, the difference is staggering.  Most Americans goto work each day, watch American Idol at night and watch football on the weekends.  The extent of their market exposure or economic education is their monthly 401(k) statement at best.  Most of these folks see a headline that reads “GDP growth 3.5%” and figure that the economy is improving, if not already back to normal.  There is an extreme absense of desire to understand the economy or desire to have a say in the direction of our economy on the part of most Americans.  They are content with a job, a TV and a weekend.

Consequences Of Financial/Economy Education Spreading

Now, with that said, thankfully, it seems that the internet is the vehicle that is spreading some strong, quality economic reality and financial education.  Also, an economic crisis probably has an impact on individuals becoming more aware or having an interest in what is going on.

As more people become aware to the realities of the economy and begin to challenge the mainstream Keynesian “We need the Fed” type economic view, we will see some significant changes I believe.  Remember Ron Paul’s 2008 President campaign?  Despite being up there in years, his supporters were mostly… young people!  Very encouraging.  Make no mistake, the Ron Paul / End the Fed / free-market economy supporters are supporting something drastically different than the economic policies of Barack Obama (and George W Bush for that matter).  Add in the skyrocketing popularity of Glenn Beck, a noted Libertarian with similar economic views, and there is some exciting things brewing.

What I Want

I want a President (and other leaders) who will run on the idea of not doing anything.  Quit trying to sound like an economic expert or a health care expert.  You’re not either.  Instead, run a campaign by saying “Hey, I’m gonna get government out of the way”.  Give me and others the opportunity to make money.  Give us the ability to take a risk, start a business, and make a killing if it happens for me.

In order for this to happen, more people need to continue to become educated.  The financially educated segment is growing and we need this to continue.  Question economic policy.  Do we really need the Federal Reserve?  Do we really need economic stimulus from the government?  And if we do, was the close to $800 billion back in early 2009 actually spent in a stimulative manner?  As Glenn Beck says, question with boldness.

I’ve recently done a great deal of thinking about the entire American education process.  As a new parent, I’ve really started to brainstorm the best path for my child and future children.  While college is very far away for my kids, it’s an interesting topic, especially since I’m only a few years out of college.

A little background… school was always something that I was good at.  This is not to toot my own horn, but to help provide context for my college experience.  Because, in some respect, many aspects of my education came fairly easy to me, my work ethic towards school was awful.  I learned pretty early that I could get by, even ace, some tests with nothing more than some last minute cramming.  Naturally, this stayed with me into college.

I scored a 1380 on the SAT back in 2000/2001 and went to the University of Florida.  While not Ivy league, UF is easily the hardest school to get into in Florida and currently, the average SAT score for incoming students is in the high 1300 range I believe.  I majored in Computer Science (an above average program with regards to difficulty) and minored in Business Administration.  I graduated in 4 years with a 3.7 GPA and had a great job prior to graduation.  A success, right?  Yes and no.

Now, that you’ve read the resume version of my education, let’s look at the real version of my education.  I can say with confidence that I probably attended less than 50% of my classes.  I had incredible amounts of free time.  What do I have to show for my free time?  Memorization of movies such as Rounders, an above average tolerance for alcohol, and a high interest in the stock market (ok, the last one isn’t bad).  The point is, that if I worked hard and had a system that was more applicable, that education should have taken 2 years max.  There was a great deal of wasted time and money that was a part of these 4 years.

Pros and Cons

On the plus side, having a degree is essential for landing high paying jobs and starting your career.  Besides the simple “check mark” that a degree offers you, many companies use the college campus to do recruiting.  It’s much easier to get a job while you’re still in school than a year out of school in my opinion.

Furthermore, many students do mature and become independent by going off to school.  While this is true for me, I also did the stupidest things I’ve ever done during my years in college (not exactly a sign of maturation).  I won’t get into details here. Lastly, while not as important, there’s nothing I’d trade for the ability to wake up on Saturdays in the fall and go to a Gator game each week.

On the negative side, there is a great deal of wasted time.  Even when I was actively learning, only a small segment of what I learned in college actually became applicable to my work or career.  While there is an argument to be made for a “well rounded education”, some of my classes were well outside this label of well roundedness.  For example, in my computer science program, some of the theoretical math classes I took were insane.  Since the day I left that course, never again have I heard nor will hear of anything discussed in that class.  Ok, whatever.

The one highly marketable skill that I have, my development/programming skills didn’t really even come from college course work.  They came from picking it up on my own, and they grew 5x during my first year of work for Accenture (not from course work).  My business skills?  Marketing & management were both a joke.  I picked up some basic financial and accounting skills through those classes, but overwhelmingly, everything I know about business, entrepreneurship, finance, the stock market has come from real world experience and reading on my own.

Final Thoughts

The society and business world that we live in today pretty much demands that you receive a degree for any significant level of success.  I think the goal then is to make sure that you spend your 4 years of college (or more) learning marketable, specific skills that will make you valuable and give you the opportunity to succeed.  If your course work does not offer this opportunity, then it is up to you to find other educational opportunities outside your typical course work.

Here are some tips:

• Find a mentor to help you develop real-world skills that will help you in business or whatever area you see yourself going in
• Find a hobby and learn it – for me, it was the stock market and computer programming – probably the two greatest skills that work for me today
• Enjoy yourself in college but also maximize your free time for productive use – I used my free time for leisure; if I could go back, I would have used those years productively!

What was your college experience?  Do you feel you wasted any time during those years?  Do you use the skills that you learned through college course work?

Obama made some statements today saying that he expects more job losses coming.  It was an ordinary statement, except one thing jumped out at me.  He said the private and public sectors must do a better job at creating jobs.  Private sector, yes.  Public sector?  Not so much.

This is a huge problem in our country.  People view public sector jobs as the same as private sector jobs.  Here’s the main difference.  Public sector jobs, when created, suck capital and resources out of productive means.  Private sector jobs, when created, allocate resources toward productive means.  One grows the economy, the other restricts the economy.

Yes, some public jobs are necessary, and we must allocate some capital for these functions.  But, the goal should be to keep these at a minimum and keep as many of our resources as possible in the private sector to increase our productive capacity and grow our economy.  Keeping them at a minimum is not what Obama is saying.  He says we must create more!

Here’s the deal… we CAN create more public sector jobs.  It just requires out dumb leaders to call for it to happen.  They can raise revenue and allocate it towards more jobs.  Whether this is a good thing or not is another story (it’s not a good thing).  Sadly, our President hasn’t figured this basic economic principle out.  I guess we can’t expect the majority of our country to figure this out if our leaders haven’t.

In a nut shell, our government’s actions in the economy will end up slowing our recovery where if they got out of the way completely, the recovery would speed up big time. This includes public sector jobs, stimulus and bailouts.