Dueling Jobs Bills

A few days ago President Obama unveiled his plan to create at least 1,000,000 new jobs in the United States. He called it the American Jobs Act. It was not as big a plan as some of us on the left wanted to see, but it was a broad-based and sensible plan and would probably succeed if passed intact. The plan included increased expenditures for transportation infrastructure, the repair & renovation of at least 35,000 schools, and tax cuts for small businesses (especially those who hire new workers).

The plan is deficit neutral and would be paid for by eliminating some tax deductions for those making over $200,000, changing how depreciation is figured on airplanes, and eliminating some subsidies no longer needed by the oil & gas industry. Of course the Republicans hated the president's bill for two obvious reasons -- it would create a significant number of jobs (something they have successfully blocked for the last two years) and it would force their beloved oil & gas industry to actually pay some taxes (Note - Exxon paid no income taxes last year even though they made record profits).

Yesterday the Republicans introduced the first of their "jobs" bills. Texas' most intellectually-challenged congressman, "Loopy" Louie Gohmert (R- Texas), filed a bill which he has hypocritically misnamed the American Jobs Act. What would this bill do? Only one thing. It would totally eliminate the income tax for corporations. This insane bill is a bad one for several reasons.

1. The large corporations (the only entities this bill would help) are already making record-breaking profits. And they currently have trillions of dollars of cash in the bank. If they are not already creating huge numbers of jobs, why would giving them even more money cause them to do so?

2. The Congressional Budget Office (and numerous studies) say that cutting taxes does not create jobs (and raising taxes does not cause job losses). Businesses only hire workers for one reason -- because they need more workers to make their product or deliver their service. Hiring an unneeded worker does nothing but cut into profits.

3. Income taxes are not a part of the cost of a product or service (such as labor, materials, etc.). It is simply a percentage of net profits (after the goods have been sold and costs deducted). A small profit would mean a small (or no) tax owed, while a large profit equals a larger tax bill.

4. The job creation that is needed is the creation of jobs in this country. But there is no provision in Gohmert's bill that would keep the corporations from taking the extra money and creating the new jobs in another country (a low-wage no-benefit country where workers could be abused). And these corporations are already creating many more jobs in foreign countries than they are in the United States.

5. While the president's plan would be revenue neutral and not add a penny to the nation's current deficit or debt, Gohmert's bill is not. His bill would add at least $300 billion to the deficit each year. That sounds very hypocritical for a party that has been screaming about the deficit being too high.

6. Both Republicans and Democrats agree that the primary generator of jobs in this country are the country's small businesses. But this bill only affects the large corporations. It does nothing for small businesses.

As you can see, this silly bill would not be the job creator that this country needs. Instead of creating jobs, this bill would just pay back the large corporations for the money they are dumping into Republican campaign coffers. It is a pay-off for Wall Street and would have no effect on Main Street. Which brings up the question -- What does Main Street think of President Obama's job creation bill?

The Gallup Poll has tried to answer that question. Between September 12th and 13th they asked a random sample of 1,010 adults whether the president's bill should be passed (the margin of error is 4 points). Here is what they discovered:

SHOULD CONGRESS VOTE FOR OR AGAINST THE PRESIDENT'S PLAN?
For...............45%
Against...............32%
Don't know...............23%

IDEOLOGICAL BREAKDOWN OF OPINION ON PRESIDENT'S BILL.
Democrats
For...............70%
Against...............9%
Don't know...............22%

Independents
For...............44%
Against...............32%
Don't know...............24%

Republicans
For...............19%
Against...............60%
Don't know...............21%

While a majority of Democrats and a plurality of Independents would like to see the president's jobs bill passed, it's clear that a majority of Republicans would not. And that's all the congressional Republicans will need to kill the bill (since they don't want a teabagger opponent in the upcoming primaries). There is little to no chance that the jobs creation bill will pass the Republican-dominated House of Representatives.

That means nothing will be done to create jobs before the next election. The only hope for the millions of unemployed Americans is for voters to realize that Republicans are blocking job creation and punish them at the polls in November 2012. If that doesn't happen the massive unemployment will continue for many more years.