Spend enough on "job-creating" and you'll go broke. Look at South Australia Nick Cater on South Australia, the showcase of Holden-style subsidy economics: The state government is keen to spend on subsidies not just for Stones concerts but for manufacturers like Holden, so why are manufacturing jobs actually shrinking? Here's one hint: Payroll tax is up by 47 per cent in real terms since 2002. Here's another: Cheap power used to be one of SA's competitive advantages, yet power bills are three times larger than they were in 2002. One reason for that, of course, is that no state has erected so many wind farms, producing so much expensive power. Rather than cut business costs, South Australia's Labor Government has relied on state "investment" in jobs - including Stones concerts. It's preferred to spend rather than cut: State public servants now outnumber manufacturing workers. Labor's employment record ... is a net loss of 23,000 manufacturing jobs and a net gain of 20,000 bureaucrats... When Labor came to power, the public service salary bill ate up 43 per cent of the government's income. Now it accounts for 47 per cent, the largest figure of any state in Australia. And after "creating" all these jobs and lavishing the private sector with more job-creating subsidies, the state should be flying. But the sums haven't quite worked out: The budget deficit last year was an uncomfortable $1.3 billion.