Are you a Republican?

Okay,  so you have a kid who you give a piggy bank so he can learn the value of money and plan how he will spend it.  You give him little odd jobs and pay him with a mutually agreed upon process by which he puts some of that money in his piggy bank.

Well the kid learns well and begins to go out and find his own small jobs that pay him for each little thing that he does.  In the process he continues to put away the same percentage of the pay into the piggy bank.  In the process he starts collecting quite an impressive pile of money.  The kid then decides to open a savings account so that his money can collect interest.  So you open that savings account in his name but in doing so you realize that he is starting to gather a significant sum.

Well,  look at all that money,  you think.  You have an idea, let's say replacing your front doors.  But you are a bit short on cash. So,  you pull out a note pad and write out I.O.U.  $200.  You take the $200 out of his savings account and put the I.O.U.  in his piggy bank.

The kid keeps working and you keep putting his money in his account.  But you also keep finding new and different ways to spend his money.  So,  you keep putting I.O.U.'s in his piggy bank and taking money out of his account- that money no longer collects interest.

Well, eventually,  the account runs out of money. 

Rather than telling the kid that you have been taking all of his money and replacing it with IOU's  and assuring the kid that you will give him his money-  you tell him that the account is empty.  You call him irresponsible and say that the idea of saving that money for the future was foolish.  You criticize him for his poor money handling skills and close his account.

If this all sounds like a perfectly acceptable way of handling money-  you may be a Republican.

And still they ask, Where are the Jobs?

So, the Right keeps asking, “Where are the jobs?”  And today’s jobs report gives, at first glance, gives fuel to their flame.   Unfortunately, the attention span of the average American is equivalent to that of a sugar- dosed third grader with ADD.  The situation is compounded when operatives on the right will exploit this national disorder by telling lies often enough and consistent enough that people will begin to perceive the lie as reality  (Orwell was right).

With regard to job creation the picture is harder to discern than one might think.  But the easiest way to the truth is to compare Obama to his immediate predecessor regarding job creation.  When comparing Bush and Obama it is important to look at more detail than the right will ever provide.  And it is a mixed picture.  In total, Bush did in fact create more jobs than Obama.  But that statistic includes public sector jobs created under the Bush administration.  Under Obama public sector jobs have been steadily decreasing-  in part because of forced Republican policies that belittle and bemoan such jobs.  It was Speaker Boehner who, when confronted with the loss of public sector jobs his policies would cause, responded,  “So Be It!.”   What an arrogant prick.

In fact,  when we consider public sector jobs,  Obama continues to perform better than Bush ever did.      This Article from October of 2010 demonstrates the job growth patterns of the Obama administration in the private sector.    At that time, more private sector jobs had been created under Obama than under the whole 8 years of W Bush.    And, while sluggish (because of right-wing influenced pressures) the policies of President Obama continue to create new jobs. 

Indifference on the right and policies of greed by big corporations can only work against us for so long before they will need to change their tactics.  With productivity or the American worker at an all-time high, demand will soon exceed the ability of factories to meet demand without hiring is seriously doubtful.  Even their own greed will work in favor of businesses actually busting down the doors and letting new employees into the mix.

The right wing will continue to talk about how bleak things are.  It is in their best interests to do so.  But they fail to acknowledge that the slide in employment began under their watch and was reversed and halted under the Obama administration.  This chart   demonstrates the job slide from January of 2008 to January of 2009 (when Obama took office) from 4.8%  to 7.6%.  In the months between the time he took office and the time his policies began to take effect  unemployment continued to grow, peaking at about 10%.  Some will say that Obama ‘promised’ to keep unemployment below 8% between the time he was elected and the time he took office.  This has been sufficiently debunked previously on this blog and elsewhere, but suffice to say that a president elect would have no interest in making such a promise after an election- especially when anyone paying attention could see we were on a slide beyond 9% at the time he was preparing to take office.   I remember talk about urgent change to save our economy from full on depression.

At the time Obama took office the Dow Jones opened at 8279.63.  Today The Dow opened at 12,719.49.  The recession that started in 2007 was declared  ended by economists in June of 2009.   For those who would disagree because they just don’t like Obama, or they are focused more now on their personal hardship than they were in 2007 or 2008 or the first part of 2009,  it needs to be explained that recession is a technical term defined by economic growth-  it is not about attitude of the people.

Job growth has been on a slow but mostly steady upward trend since Obama took office  (as demonstrated by the famous bikini chart found here).

I for one wish he would be more aggressive and that he, along with Democrats, would be bold enough to introduce a new stimulus package devoted to our infrastructure that is falling apart (think 35W bridge and tell me you are not nervous).  The projects now will put people to work in the short term and prepare us for the time when the private sector will finally reopen their wallets.

Anyone who pays attention to facts knows full well that Democrats have been historically better at jobs creation than Republicans in every administration since Herbert Hoover.   It was Hoover who articulated the continuing policy of the right wing that government should play no role in job creation and that corporations and the market should be left alone without government influence.  That policy worked so well for him that Republicans have been selling it ever since.

So what caused the dip in economic activity in the past month.   Most economists will cite four causes:  Greece disaster, oil price spikes,  bad weather and the effects of the Japan Tsunami as the principal causes- 

Boehner says its Obama’s fault (idiot).   

Before he makes such an accusation it is incumbent on him to demonstrate what he or his party has done to try to stimulate job growth.  Instead,  we have example after example of his party shutting down job growth ideas-  even ideas that have been traditionally put forth by the right.

I can’t deny that I wish Obama could do more.  At the same time I refuse to accept the outright lies put forth in criticism of him.

Jobless and Wageless Recovery

This Article from HuffPost demonstrates the greed of big business and the failure of the tax policies of the right.  In spite of the fact that production levels in the US now match pre-recession levels and companies are pocketing record profits, the politicians of the right will tell you that Obama is failing in creating jobs and that tax incentives for these businesses and the wealthy will spur hiring.

Both historical evidence and the current situation demonstrate the falsehood of their argument.  So,  what will it take?

My position on this would be that since the corporations are benefiting from increased productivity of the American worker, it is only reasonable that they should pay a surtax on their increased profits.  The proceeds of this tax could stimulate growth by rebuilding the infrastructure and reduce the deficit.

There could, at the same time,  be a tax credit against this surtax that would be given to businesses that hire new workers.

It is high time that our elected representatives start standing up for the middle class.  If they do not, the middle class will cease to exist.   It is, after all, workers not corporations who make our nation great.  It is individuals,  not corporations who vote (at least for now).