This Is Who The GOP Represents

The two charts above, from Think Progress, show the rise in income and drop in tax liability for the 400 richest Americans. In just the years from 1995 to 2007, their income has risen from $6 billion a year to around $22.9 billion a year (that a jump of more than 281% in just that 12 year period). And when you consider their income jump for the last 30 years or so (since 1980), it is much higher. These people have more money and a higher income than they have ever had.

But while their income and wealth is greater than ever, their tax liability is not. Back in 1995, these people paid an average tax rate of 29.93% (which seems fair since those who make the most should pay the most in a fair and progressive tax system). But in 2007, the average tax rate paid by those richest American had dropped to only 16.62% (which is over 55% less than they were paying in 1995). So while they have a greater income than ever, they have a much lower tax liability than ever also.


These are the very people the Republicans think need an even more massive tax cut. They call them (and the corporations) the "job creators" -- and they tell us that all we have to do is give these people much more money and they will create jobs. The idea is ludicrous. These people already have more money than they have ever had (and the corporations have record-breaking profits and are sitting on trillions of unspent dollars), so why aren't they creating any jobs? Why would giving them more money create more jobs? The answer, of course, is that it wouldn't -- because giving money to the already rich does not create jobs.

There is only one thing that creates jobs, and that is demand -- the demand for more goods and services by the society at large. Giving rich people more money will not create that demand, since they already have enough money to buy anything they want. Giving them more would not increase demand, but only fatten their already large bank accounts.

If we want to create demand (which will create jobs), we must put more money in the hands of millions of people who will spend that money. The payroll tax cut extension proposed by President Obama will do that. But the Republicans don't like that idea, because they don't represent the vast majority of the American people. They represent the rich, and the payroll tax cut won't immediately put more money in the pockets of the rich (although when it increases demand, it will be the rich who will profit from the new demand). But the Republicans are too short-sighted to see that.

While many Americans seem to have trouble seeing it, the Republicans only represent the rich while the Democrats, as spineless as they sometimes are, represent the rest of us. That is just a fact.