Am I Too Simple-Minded?

   Maybe I'm stupid, but it seems to me that if more people were employed (thus increasing revenue from income taxes without raising the rates), then more people would buy stuff (thus increasing revenues from sales taxes, excise taxes, property taxes, etc.).  And if more people bought stuff, there would be an increase in demand for stuff, which would result in hiring more people to make stuff and to transport stuff and to sell the stuff.

   Sounds almost too simple.

Information, Please

   I'm going to teach C# at OSU-Tulsa this Fall semester.  If you, dear reader, know a C# developer, or a company with a C# shop, who would be willing to give me some "real world" info, I'd really appreciate it.
   I'm not looking for proprietary code or anything like that.  Just some basic information like:

• "We develop X number of apps for Y number of clients", or 
• "We have X number of C# developers, but we also focus on this other language as well", or 
• "We usually take on Z number of college students as interns during the summer"

   It would be nice to introduce things that are currently happening, because my goal is to make this class a dynamic process and, hopefully, more meaningful to my students.

   This idea may go up like a lead balloon.  But, as "Mythbusters" showed, when done right, a lead balloon can indeed fly.

For What it's Worth...

...I think the politicians in Washington are looking at the forest and forgetting about the trees.
   Sure, there is a deficit - a huge one.  But I don't think it's a good idea to slash spending to the point of laying off workers ( = unhappy taxpayers = unhappy voters ) when the unemployment figures are so high.
   A better idea, IMHO, would be to find a way to increase jobs.  More workers would mean more revenue because these people would be paying taxes on their income and they would be buying things which would increase demand which would increase production and sales, which would increase the need for more workers which would mean more taxpayers.  Heck, this could be done without increasing taxes - or, to jump-start it before things get worse, have a temporary tax increase with a well-defined goal and timeline.
  The biggest problem with my idea is that the the politicians are more interested in creating sound-bites to get themselves re-elected (isn't it odd that they never seem to suggest cutting their own salaries and staffs?).  They don't want to come up with ideas for growth because it's so much easier to bad-mouth everybody else.  Thinking isn't that hard, but it does require effort.  I guess when your salary is guaranteed (at taxpayers' expense), your health care is assured (at taxpayers' expense), your travel is covered (at taxpayers's expense), you get used to the easy life.  All you have to do is scare voters away from your opponent and/or the polls altogether, and you get another free ride.
   Maybe the voters should ignore the scare tactics and focus on candidates who have positive and constructive ideas.  The forest is big, but it's possible to thin out the overgrown areas without slashing and burning and destroying the good and useful trees.