"And if all others accepted the lie which the party imposed -- if all records told the same tale -- then the lie passed into history and became the truth." ~ George Orwell, 1984 (published in 1949)
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor was in town yesterday (specifically, at Stanford's Hoover Institute where he could surround himself with sympathetic Republicans) to tell this whopper: "Cutting the federal deficit will create jobs."
It's not true. Cutting the deficit will creates fewer jobs. Less government spending reduces overall demand. This is particularly worrisome when, as now, consumers and businesses are still holding back. Fewer government workers have paychecks to buy stuff from other Americans, some of whom in turn will lose their jobs without enough customers.
But truth doesn't seem to matter. Republicans figure if their big lies are repeated often enough, people will start to believe them.
Unless, that is, those big lies are repudiated -- and big truths are told in their place.
What worries me almost as much as the Republican's repeated big lies about jobs is the silence of President Obama and Democratic leaders in the face of them. Obama has the bully pulpit. Republicans don't. But if he doesn't use it the Republican's big lies gain credibility.
Here are some other whoppers being repeated daily:
"Cutting taxes on the rich creates jobs." Nope. Trickle-down economics has been tried for thirty years and hasn't worked. After George W. Bush cut taxes on the rich, far fewer jobs were created than after Bill Clinton raised them in the 1990s.
To his credit, President Obama argued against Republican demands for extending the Bush tax credit on those making more than a quarter million. But as soon as Republicans pushed back he caved. And the president hasn't even mentioned that the $61 billion Republicans are demanding in budget cuts this fiscal year is what richer Americans would have paid in taxes had he not caved.
"Cutting corporate income taxes creates jobs." Baloney. American corporations don't need tax cuts. They're sitting on over $1.5 trillion of cash right now. They won't invest it in additional capacity or jobs because they don't see enough customers out there with enough money in their pockets to buy what the additional capacity would produce.
The president needs to point this out -- not just in Washington but across the nation where Republican governors are slashing corporate taxes and simultaneously cutting school budgets. President Obama says he wants to invest in American skills, but many states are doing the opposite. Florida Governor Rick Scott, for example, says his proposed corporate tax cuts "will give Florida a competitive edge in attracting jobs." They'll also require education spending be reduced by $3 billion. Florida already ranks near the bottom in per-pupil spending and has one of nation's lowest graduation rates. If Scott's tax cuts create jobs, most will pay peanuts.
"Cuts in wages and benefits create jobs." Congressional Republicans and their state counterparts repeat this lie incessantly. It also lies behind corporate America's incessant demand for wage and benefit concessions -- and corporate and state battles against unions. But it's dead wrong. Meager wages and benefits are reducing the spending power of tens of millions of American workers, which is prolonging the jobs recession.
President Obama and Democratic leaders should be standing up for the wages and benefits of ordinary Americans, standing up for unions, and decrying the lie that wage and benefit concessions are necessary to create jobs. The president should be traveling to the Midwest -- taking aim at Republican governors in the heartland who are hell bent on destroying the purchasing power of American workers. But he's doing nothing of the sort.
"Regulations kill jobs." Congressional Republicans are using this whopper to justify their attempts to defund regulatory agencies. Regulations whose costs to business exceed their benefits to the public are unwarranted, of course, but reasonable regulation is necessary to avoid everything from nuclear meltdowns to oil spills to mine disasters to food contamination -- all of which we've sadly witnessed. Here again, we're hearing little from the president or Democratic leaders.
Look, the president can't be everywhere, doing everything. There's tumult in the Middle East, we're suddenly at war in Libya, Japan is struggling with the aftermath of disaster, and surely Latin America is an important trading partner.
But nothing is more central to average Americans than jobs and wages. Unless the president forcefully rebuts Republican's big lies, they'll soon become conventional wisdom.
Robert Reich is the author of Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future, now in bookstores. This post originally appeared at RobertReich.org.
Dean Baker: The Imaginary World in Which Washington Lives
"Cutting corporate income taxes creates jobs" Nope - see #1
"Cuts in wages and benefits create jobs" Nope - see # 1 and in addition it effects the spending power of the consumers. If people can't buy stuff then the corporations don't make money. Less taxes collected from regular wage earners - less taxes from corporations because of less profit.
"Regulations kill jobs" - Nope - Less regulations have the potential to kill people. Less people to pay taxes etcetera etcetera.
In addition, by cutting education you might have a stupid population that would be easier to control but you also have less people capable in creating whatever you're selling or providing whatever service might be needed. Less capable people taking care of the rich when they get old and need constant care. There will be those that are smart enough to recognize this and they will be the very ones the wealthy former corporate CEO's, Senators, Representatives, Presidents will need to wipe their butts when they are too infirm to do it themselves. It will be a particular interesting form of hell for those that created this mess when that time comes....
He would go on Meet The Press or Fake news and refute every lie. And do it as soon as it was put out in the press. Not 2 days later or a week or a month. I always felt that is biggest weakness in the party right now. The people who are supposed to have Obama's back should be out every time they throw out some hypocritical statement (think Newt and his flip flop on Lybia) and attack it relentlessly. When they lie about healthcare they should be on all the channels saying "thats a lie". Not nicely either.
If he gets the Republicans riled up, they'll shut down the government -- which another article on HP today pointed out could very well cause a serious recession.
I think he's playing a lot of things close to the chest right now so try to ensure they aren't empowered to do that.
How's that messaging for you?
And for those who believe tax cuts will attract businesses, there are a limited number of businesses shopping for sites. They all want to pay as little as possible. So even if it works, and if half the states cut their taxes, the other half will have to follow suit until we hit the bottom; then the lowest state wins. I've heard CEOs say that taxes are low on the list of considerations.
I want my state to provide a great safe place to raise families, great public education. a clean environment, great roads, clean water, and so on. In other words, a place where companies want to be because that's where the best people want to be!
Now doesn't that sound like a better idea?
Actually, it's more like they're already squeezing their workers' "increased productivity" to the max and using the threat of job security to keep them in line. Why hire new workers when you can just overwork the ones you already have?
The article even mentions a free trade skeptic in favor of industrial policy. Someone by the name of Robert Reich.
-Franklin Roosevelt
Business investment spending, which had declined for 9 straight quarters, reversed and increased 6.7% per quarter. That is where the jobs came from. Manufacturing output soared to its highest level in 20 years. The stock market revived, creating almost $7 trillion in new shareholder wealth. From 2003 to 2007, the S&P 500 almost doubled. Capital gains tax revenues had doubled by 2005, despite the 25% rate cut in 2003.
It's not tax cuts, my friend.
That was apparently your first mistake. Your post doesn't offer any factual information on why you don't think it was the tax cuts that created this growth and jobs. You think that the quality of american made products started recently? Quality has actually gone up, especially in the automotive industry, because of competition from Japanese and European manufactures starting in the late 70's and continuing through to today.
Unless, of course, you're making them up.