Job Creation Theory . . .

Job creators.

The phrase which probably had its origins in the "creators" of Ayn Rand's Conservative Testament, Atlas Shrugged,  has been used for decades by those who have opposed tax increases on the rich.  Newt Gingrich used it in the early nineties.  It was used widely in the rhetoric of the opposition to the Clinton tax increases which were supposed to doom the economy, which then boomed for 116 consecutive months and led to a federal surplus. It was again popularized by George W. Bush to gain support for his tax cuts for the rich of 2003, a  move which was supposed to free up the "job creators" to provide even more prosperity as they  would have even more money freed up to trickle on the rest of us.  The only thing that trickled down is the national debt created by such a reckless policy, and as we know, it hasn't been a trickle, it has been a flood. And it ran the economy into the ground.  If you enjoyed that, you will need to vote for Mitt Romney. He is proposing the same policy.  But I digress.

Job creators.  It makes me sick.

Not because I don't appreciate those innovative individuals who work and sweat and take personal risks to create businesses that give other folks opportunities to work at a good job.  I know plenty of those folks.  They are the ones that still go to their business and work, hands on, who sometimes give more to a retiring employee because it is the right and good thing to do.  These are the ones who figure out how to leave an employee on the health plan a little longer than required because not to do so would be inhumane. These are the folks who know what it is like to pay the employees at the end of the week and go home wondering how his or her own monthly bills are going to get paid. These are the folks who might mortgage their home to invest in an idea they believe in and for which they will work.  These folks are the real job creators.  Some of them are rich, some are not rich, but doing okay, and some just make a living.  These are the real job creators.

But these are not the "job creators" that we hear about on the news.

Job creators.

Like a cross held up to a vampire, the holy words ward off any bloodsuckers who might suggest that the very wealthy among us pay more taxes.  Job creators, a noble moniker, has now been co-opted by the spin doctors, and devolved into a euphemism for super rich.

I would prefer it if no one had to pay higher taxes, wealthy or not.

What makes me sick is the insinuation that a class of wealthy individuals who contribute little or no meaningful labor or work are somehow more valuable, or even as valuable, to the economy, or society,  as the people who actually do the labor,  the work, or take real risks to build something.

We worry a lot about the rich and what higher taxes would do to them, and thus to their philanthropic ability or desire to invest in the rest of us.  If one played the drinking game while watching the news channels, and the trigger phrase was "job creators,"  one would  be too drunk to go to work.  If one was watching FOX news, one would die of alcohol poisoning.  It makes it seem that "job creators" are an endangered species.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  They have thrived since the Bush administration cut their taxes to a fifty year low in 2003. Many thrived even while the rest of the country fell into an economic abyss.

Jobs are created when it is profitable for a business to hire another employee. That is to say, when a business gets to the point that the addition of an employee will make it more profitable, it will begin to hire. In most businesses, that means that there must be more customers with money, ready to buy.

Jobs are created by a healthy, vital middle class with money to spend.

The super rich need no more breaks.  A majority are subject to a significantly lower effective tax rate than most of the middle class.  That's just crap, Bob, you might be saying.  But it's true.  Mitt Romney's effective tax rate is less than 15 percent on multi-millions of annual income.  Barack Obama's tax rate is in the low twenties on a million or two of income.  And they are not the exception.

I don't know about you, buy my income is far less than that, and my tax rate is higher.

The logic is that the super rich provide the capital that creates jobs with the wealth that they have accumulated through investments, so it should spur the economy to keep the taxes low on that kind of investment income.  This post is getting too long so that subject will be the topic of a later, and even more wonky post. I would direct you to the policies of 2000-2008 as homework.

I don't want the rich to be treated unfairly.

But, I don't understand why there is not as much conversation about giving tax breaks and value to the working class, to the laborers, and to the small businesses.

These are the real job creators.  These are the wealth producers.

Isn't that ironic?

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