The Creepy Relationship Between Republicans and "Job Creators"

What is the deal between Republicans and the “job creators”?  Why do they treat “job creators” like some type of fragile, exotic plant requiring just the right amount of water, just the right amount of sun and just the right soil content…or they will die.  It’s creepy!   We can’t impose emission standards on “job creators.”  We don’t dare impose safety standards on” job creators”.  And OMG!  We can’t possibly raise taxes on “job creators”…they will die!   Republicans would have us believe that “job creators” are sacrosanct and that there is a direct correlation between government intervention and the number of jobs that the job creators create.

Bull!

Let’s examine the largest plank in the Republican platform…taxes.  Republicans will tell you that if you increase taxes you hurt the “job creators” and impede their ability to create jobs.  That is simply not true.

Want proof?  We Googled “tax rates job growth” and found a detailed graph provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Tax Policy Center.  This is a non-partisan organization that simply compiled the tax rate/job growth statistics since 1950.  No BS…just facts.

In the past 60 years job growth has been greater in years where the top income tax rate was much higher than it is now.  For instance, in years where the marginal rate was more than 90% the average annual growth in total payroll was 2%.  In years when the top marginal rate was 35% or less…which it is now…employment grew an average of just 0.4%.  You can pick any year, any threshold.  When the marginal rate was 50% or above annual employment averaged 2.3%.  When the rate was under 50% the growth was half that.

There is absolutely no historical data that supports the belief that higher taxes impede job creation.

The President has said he intends to roll back the Bush tax cuts for couples making over $250,000 to pay for increased investment in education and infrastructure.  Why not?  The Bush tax cuts that were supposed to spur job growth have been in place for 12 years and unemployment is still at 9.1%.  So to Republicans who criticize the tax increase as hurting job growth we ask…where are the jobs?

Lower tax rates do not generate jobs.  Demand generates jobs.  Even in this economy, if you develop a purple widget that everybody wants,  people with money will line up around the block to buy it. (See: Jobs, Steve/Apple/I Pad)  Businesses are not hiring for two reasons: 1.) there is no demand and 2.) on the whole the corporate world is doing just fine as is.  Wall Street earnings have increased 31% since Obama took office.  The business community is holding over $2 trillion in cash waiting for demand for their products.  There is no demand because there are no jobs through which people can earn the money to buy the products.  It is a vicious circle; but it is a circle in which tax rates play no part.

The “job creators” are sitting on their hands and their wallets.  There fragile mental state will not allow them to part with their massive earnings in this turbulent economy unless there is demand for their products and services.  So if the private sector won’t act then the only way to spur the economy is through government intervention.  Repairing our infrastructure, remodeling our schools and investing in research and development may not fit the Republican definition of a “job creator”; but if the private sector won’t act then the government must.  After all Republicans always say that the government should only do the things that the private sector can’t/won’t do.  So…

Pampering the hypersensitive “job creators” has not worked.  They have not created jobs.  Blaming their lack of entrepreneurial spirit on tax rates is simply false political posturing.