The Republican Lie That Just Won't Die

The American public believes that fixing the economy and creating jobs is the most important issue that the Washington politicians should be worrying about. Unfortunately, the Republican answer is to keep repeating the same old lie that they have been using since the 1980's. They are still telling Americans that the magic solution to fixing the economy and creating jobs is to just cut taxes for the rich and the corporations (who'll share that extra money with others by creating good-paying jobs with it).

On the surface this sounds good -- and that's why too many Americans have fallen for this line. But it is just an illusion -- a rosy picture painted by the GOP so they can funnel more money to their benefactors (the rich and the corporations). As the last three decades have shown us, this "trickle-down" doesn't create jobs -- it just fattens the bank accounts of the rich and the corporations. Why doesn't it work?

First, because too many of the rich (and all of the corporations) are more interested in meeting their own greed than in sharing anything with anyone. They will only share productivity with workers if unions are strong enough to demand that, and they will only share with the poor when forced to do so through taxes. Cutting taxes just means they keep more for themselves.

Second, taxes are not a business expense (as Republicans have tried to portray them). They want us to believe that cutting taxes can mean the difference between a business making a profit or a loss. That is simply an outrageous lie. Businesses that don't make a profit, don't pay any taxes -- and businesses that make a small profit pay a small tax on those profits. It is only the businesses that are already making enormous profits that will be helped by cutting the top tax rates -- because they are the only ones making enough to pay those rates.

Third, American corporations are already sitting on trillions of dollars in unspent money. If the Republican argument was true, then these corporations should be creating huge numbers of new jobs. The fact that they aren't doing that shows us that giving them even more money (through more tax cuts) will have no effect on job creation.

Fourth, businesses (of any size) only hire the amount of workers they need to service their customers effectively. Corporations and their lobbyists won't tell you this (because they want as many new tax cuts as they can get), but any good business person knows this. If you don't hire enough workers, then your customers get bad service (and they eventually go to your competitor). But if you hire too many workers, the service doesn't improve but your profits are reduced (to pay the extra workers). The only thing that makes sense is to hire the right amount of workers (regardless of whether taxes are low or high).

Fifth, the only thing that does create new jobs is an increase in the demand for goods/services. If there is an increase in demand, then businesses will meet that demand and make higher profits (and will create the number of new jobs required to meet that increased demand). Giving more to the rich will not increase demand -- because there are enough of them and they already have enough to buy whatever they want. The best way to increase demand is to put more money in the hands of poor and working class Americans -- because they will need to spend that money, and there are enough of them that their increased spending will increase demand.

Cutting taxes for the rich and the corporations has never been a job creator, and never will be. It's just a lie that Republicans tell (so they can funnel even more money to their rich friends). Don't fall for it! Vote them out of office so we can return to a sane and fair economic policy -- a policy that will increase demand and create jobs.