#Gingrich, Palin, GOP Offer Magic Jobs Solution: More Tax Cuts Now!
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Gingrich, Palin, GOP Offer Magic Jobs Solution: More Tax Cuts Now!
Sunday 22 November 2009
by: Art Levine, t r u t h o u t | Report
photo
(Image: Jared Rodriguez / t r u t h o u t; Adapted: Bruce Tuten,
christopherleonard, BOSSoNe0013)
With the economy still reeling from unemployment at 10.2 percent ,
Democrats and progressives are battling a barrage of GOP-driven
misinformation about the first $787 billion stimulus plan as they look to
create a new, targeted, fast-acting jobs program, possibly before
Christmas. Aiming to cash in - literally - on growing public anger over
joblessness, Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich separately returned this week
to the Republican nostrum of wide-ranging tax cuts, mostly for the rich,
as the answer to every problem under the sun - in this case,
unemployment. Yet as economist Lawrence Mishel, the director of the
progressive Economic Policy Institute, observed, "These are tried and
failed policies. We already lowered the capital gains tax, lowered
corporate tax rates, lowered inheritance taxes under George W. and it's
absurd to believe that somehow this would stimulate jobs. They're not
even related to jobs."
The new GOP mantra that the first Obama stimulus package was a waste of
money comes against a growing consensus among centrist economists and
analysts that the $787 billion package has had a positive effect, saving
or creating about a million jobs. That's been the impact - although it is
not large enough to satisfy progressives, since only a third of the
stimulus money funded direct job creation. On Saturday, The New York
Times reported:
New Consensus Sees Stimulus Package as Worthy Step
Now that unemployment has topped 10 percent, some liberal-leaning
economists see confirmation of their warnings that the $787 billion
stimulus package President Obama signed into law last February was way
too small. The economy needs a second big infusion, they say.
No, some conservative-leaning economists counter, we were right: The
package has been wasteful, ineffectual and even harmful to the extent
that it adds to the nation's debt and crowds out private-sector borrowing.
These long-running arguments have flared now that the White House and
Congressional leaders are talking about a new "jobs bill." But with
roughly a quarter of the stimulus money out the door after nine months,
the accumulation of hard data and real-life experience has allowed more
dispassionate analysts to reach a consensus that the stimulus package,
messy as it is, is working.
The legislation, a variety of economists say, is helping an economy
in free fall a year ago to grow again and shed fewer jobs than it
otherwise would. Mr. Obama's promise to "save or create" about 3.5
million jobs by the end of 2010 is roughly on track, though far more jobs
are being saved than created, especially among states and cities using
their money to avoid cutting teachers, police officers and other workers.
"It was worth doing -- it's made a difference," said Nigel Gault,
chief economist at IHS Global Insight, a financial forecasting and
analysis group based in Lexington, Mass.
Mr. Gault added: "I don't think it's right to look at it by saying,
'Well, the economy is still doing extremely badly, therefore the stimulus
didn't work.' I'm afraid the answer is, yes, we did badly but we would
have done even worse without the stimulus."
Yet all that hasn't stopped Newt Gingrich's front group for billionaires,
American Solutions for Winning the Future, from issuing a dramatic appeal
for donations in an email alert enclosing his bold new jobs plan.
Offering his would-be donors the illusion of being inside policy-makers,
Gingrich's sweeping cure for what ails us was billed as an "internal jobs
memo":
To: American Solutions Staff
From: Newt Gingrich
Date: 11/17/09
Subject: The Way Ahead
In the email alert accompanying this memo, Gingrich's true goals -
raising money and keeping himself in the public spotlight - are also
revealed. The email offers links to download his tax cuts uber alles
memo, in which all recommendations connect back to opportunities to
donate. "Please help us kick-off our campaign to implement a REAL jobs
plan by donation today," it reads. "You can find out more about our
efforts by reading the memo from Newt Gingrich to American Solutions
staff by clicking here" - or even just writing a check, possibly because,
for some of his followers, making online donations is too scary. They're
worried that Obama's storm troopers or menacing black helicopters may
come after them.
The jobs crisis is real, but, to progressive critics of right-wing
"voodoo economics," as George H.W. Bush put it, it's not at all clear
that Gingrich's solutions are meant to be taken seriously:
The road to economic recovery starts with job creation.
Today, unemployment stands at 10.2% and shows no sign of decreasing.
The Obama Administration and the job killing Congress fail to understand
we are in a crisis situation. Their efforts to create American jobs
failed while spending $787 billion on stimulus that they claimed would
cap unemployment at 8%. Taxpayers have only higher unemployment and
larger budget deficits to show as a result of our big spending
administration and Congress.
Fortunately, we can do something about it.
I am sharing a memo I recently sent to our staff at American
Solutions outlining the policies we need to create jobs and prosperity,
and the ways that we can work together to enact these reforms.
We've seen dozens of Democrats defect from their party's leadership
on key job killing votes like the Energy Tax and ObamaCare. This is a
sign that a "Commonsense Majority" is starting to build within Congress.
Through continued pressure by citizens concerned about the direction our
nation is headed, I believe we can build a majority in Congress that will
bring the current job killing agenda of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate
Majority Leader Harry Reid and President Barack Obama to a screeching
halt.We can pass meaningful job creation measures like an immediate
payroll tax cut, incentives for small business, the elimination of taxes
on capital gains, a reduction in the corporate tax rate, the abolition of
the death tax, and steps to balance the federal budget.
I strongly encourage you to read this memo and join our cause. There
are many different ways to get involved in the coming months, but we
would greatly appreciate your financial support to help us kick-off this
effort. You can make a donation by clicking here.
Sarah Palin added her voice to the rising GOP chorus by telling Rush
Limbaugh that America should return to the good old days of tax-cutting
under Ronald Reagan. "We need to cuts taxes on the job creators," she
said. "This is the only solution that will be successful... We need to
stay committed to the common-sense, free-market principles that work."
(Of course, as Paul Krugman and other experts have noted, any short-term
boost in economic recovery that occurred early in the Reagan
administration wasn't due to tax cuts, and it quickly fell apart as
income growth slowed and deficits ballooned.)
To make these tax-cutting "solutions" even remotely plausible to those
who don't remember the Bush years, it's been essential that the GOP
distort, exaggerate and fabricate what Obama originally promised, so he
can be portrayed as a smooth-talking con man who aims to destroy the
American economy. The Democrats face a legitimate challenge in improving
a desperate jobs situation. However, as Media Matters pointed out in
skewering GOP talking points on the economy, simply lying about what the
Obama administration claimed its stimulus package would do doesn't
provide any real answers:
Fox & Friends hosts Brian Kilmeade, Steve Doocy, and Gretchen Carlson
parroted a House Republican press release and repeated its claim that the
stimulus impact is "6 million jobs shy of what the administration
promised us" since the administration stated "that 3.5 million jobs would
be created. And, in fact, the United States has lost 2.7 million since
the stimulus plan." However, the administration estimated that by 2011 -
not September 2009, when the 2.7 million job losses since February were
recorded - 3.5 million jobs would be created or saved by the stimulus
compared to the number of jobs that would have existed at the end of 2010
had the government not passed the legislation....
That may all seem like liberal nit-picking when the unemployment problem
is so high - as bad as 17.5 percent if you include those who are
underemployed. Yet it certainly cannot be resolved, progressive
economists say, by ending all government spending to promote jobs and
granting huge tax cuts to the wealthy; the essential elements of the
Gingrich plan. The only proposal of his that economists concede could
make a difference economically is reducing payroll taxes, but that's
already included in the president's stimulus package as part of the Make
Work Pay tax credit that offers up to $400 for individuals, as Mishel
observes.
Gingrich's other proposed solutions are viewed as so preposterous that
Mishel could barely contain his outrage. When asked about Gingrich's
proposal to end the already lowered "death tax" - or inheritance tax -
leveled on the top 2 percent of millionaire inheritances, Mishel burst
out, "How the fuck does that create jobs?"
As Heather Boushey of Center for American Progress commented, "Abolishing
the estate tax, the tax on the very wealthiest Americans who leave large
inheritances, will not create jobs. It only calcifies heightened
inequality and means that the Paris Hiltons of the world inherit a bit
more; it does not help the vast majority of American families."
What are some of Gingrich's other brilliant ideas? Take a look, as
summarized on his organization's web site:
2. Incentives for Small Business Investment. Allow small businesses
to expense 100 percent of new equipment purchases each year to help them
invest in new, more productive technologies.
3. Abolish Taxes on Capital Gains. If we want to compete with China
and have most productive factories in the world, the best jobs, and the
highest take home pay, we should match China's capital gains rate of
zero. This would dramatically increase investment in America.
4. Reduce the Corporate Tax Rate. When you combine state and federal
taxes, America has the highest corporate tax structure in the world. We
believe that by matching the Irish corporate tax rate of 12.5 percent,
America would be the most desirable economy in the world to open a
factory, create a new job, and develop a new product.
Mishel says, "They're the very weakest approaches, totally useless. They
don't create demand for goods and services," the key underlying problem
in the current crisis.
Boushey sums up, "Items two to four are basically corporate giveaways.
The problem is not that the firms are paying too much in taxes, it's that
there are no consumers. We need to focus on direct job creation, not
corporate subsidies."
On top of all that, Gingrich wants to freeze the remaining original money
in the stimulus package and use it to help pay for cutting payroll taxes.
He also calls for basically ending additional government spending for
jobs creation, in order to "balance the budget." Boushey notes, "We
should focus on balancing the deficit once we see strong economic growth
and unemployment come back down. Until then, these efforts are likely to
hamper the nascent recovery, pushing us in the wrong direction.
So, ultimately, what would be the real-world impact if the Gingrich-Palin-
GOP tax cuts and drastic spending cuts actually became law?
"It would cost us at least two million jobs in the first year," Mishel
says. "They want to take us backwards to what's already failed."
--
Slavery: The belief that people can be property
Corporatism: The belief that property can be people.
Steve
<de...@dead.com> wrote:
>http://www.truthout.org/topstories/112209ms01
>
>Gingrich, Palin, GOP Offer Magic Jobs Solution: More Tax Cuts Now!
Naw, since most of the out of work people are Democrats... just let
'em suffer the consequences of voting for Obama...
Dänk 1010011010
wrote:
> http://www.truthout.org/topstories/112209ms01
>
> Gingrich, Palin, GOP Offer Magic Jobs Solution: More Tax Cuts Now!
The problem with the Republican party is that it has no new ideas, and
simply recycles one old idea over and over. Tax cuts worked once back
in the early 1980s - a different time with different circumstances.
Because they worked once, Republicans believe they will work again,
and seem to believe they are the solution to all problems.
Republicans even cut taxes when the economy was booming, leading to
the bubble that finally burst last year.
A tax cut in a time of high taxes might indeed boost the economy.
Unfortunately, taxes are now too low, since they do not even begin to
cover the amount of government spending. Additional tax cuts are only
possible if more money is borrowed from China to pay for spending.
Of course, the Democrats don't offer anything better, spending Chinese
money like drunken sailors on crack while also offering to cut taxes
for the majority of Americans. Neither party offers anything remotely
resembling a balanced budget, and massive budget surpluses are needed
to repay the existing $12 trillion national debt. If America can
afford $2 trillion for a luxury item like national health care, it can
afford to pay its bills first.