Comments about ‘Letter: GOP favors wealthy under guise of enabling 'job creators'’

I'm not an economist, so I cannot say anything concrete about the theory of trickle down economics. One this is certain, though, the wealth gap in the US is growing ever larger, with the middle class losing ground despite despite being as motivated and educated as ever. So the Republican's rhetoric of "protecting job creators" falls a bit fla

Thanks for writing Roger. You make an excellent point. I know the economy (at least for me) can be difficult to understand and it is hard to sort out what to believe and not believe. But it also seems quite simple to look at simple numbers. Last month politcal pundits were crying disaster when the labor market only created 60,000 new jobs. Certainly that is only about 35% of what is needed to keep up with demand. But it is interesting to compare numbers.

If you don't count the last disasterous year of the G W Bush Administration, the average number of jobs created was 65,000 per month. If you do count that last year the average was 20,000 per month. And this during the period of low, low taxes after the Bush tax cuts. During the Clinton Adminstration when we had tax rates that Republicans claim are too high today, the economy created an average of 248,000 jobs per month.

So it seems this claim that higher taxes will kill the job market is just nonsense, when you look at actual numbers. Of course some people aren't persuaded by facts.

Look at Mitt Romney, he is helping create jobs in the Cayman Islands and Switzerland.

Excellent letter, Mr. Terry. You nailed it. But are any readers taking heed?

Roger that, Roger. I wonder how many jobs Mitt Romney creates with his money in overseas banks. Probably zero, except for the hired help he uses here. And I saw a news story about many cities struggling to stay afloat. Why? The jobs in those cities were shipped away, and the guy who was a major player in that trend now wants to run the country. Are we freaking nuts?!?!

How many people think that jobs are created out of thin air? How many people think that putting their life savings at risk to build a business and create jobs for others is somehow "required" of anyone who saved his money all of his life and ended up with a little nest-egg?

When I read letters like this, the first thought that comes to my mind is that the writer NEVER created a business and that the writer NEVER created a job for anyone else. I have created three businesses in my life. Believe me when I say that workers have it easy compared to owners. If you think that paying your own bills is hard, just think how hard it would be to pay the bills of ten workers, or a hundred, or a thousand.

Every job has a value. The value is the price that ANYONE would pay to have that job done. It has nothing to do with the amount of money that the worker needs, or wants or thinks that he is worth. It has everything to do with value.

Greedy workers should start their own businesses and risk their own money.

Excellent letter.

I'd also like to add... We've had over 10 years now of record low taxes. Yet... Where's the jobs?

This past decade was horrible in terms of job creation even before the Great Recession.

So despite the tax cuts, the so called, "Joc Creators" weren't creating (domestic) jobs.

Get rid of the tax cuts for the healthy. They have proven ineffective.

Do you ever wonder why McDonalds and Wal-Mart pays minimum wages to their workers? Is it because those businesses are cash-strapped or is it because little is required to train the workers? When McDonalds can train a new worker in a matter of hours and can find a replacement worker in a matter of minutes, what is a McDonald's job worth? It's worth minimum wage. But, thank goodness for McDonalds. Many young people get their first job there. Many young people learn how to be reliable and how to do a simple job well because of McDonalds. Except for management, working for McDonalds is not the "career" that most people seek.

Those who complain about wealthy employers know nothing about risk. Just drive down any street in America and see how many businesses are closed. Every closed business means that someone's dreams ended when that business closed. It also means that their life savings are gone.

Why don't the disgruntled workers buy those businesses and hire each other? Why don't they put their money where their mouth is? Is it because they know that they don't have what it takes?

"Those who complain about wealthy employers know nothing about risk. Just drive down any street in America and see how many businesses are closed. Every closed business means that someone's dreams ended when that business closed. It also means that their life savings are gone."

Or that they were poorly managed...

Of course, CEOs and other leaders here are never ever ever held accountable because they're the "Job creators."

Instead of firing these job creators we give them even more tax cuts and taxpayers' money in the form of golden parachutes.

repubs blame workers for our problems. And it never ends, they blame old people, young people, minorities, unions, firemen, and teachers.

I blame greedy, corrupt, and incompetent leadership.

From those who ship their operations overseas, to those with Swiss bank accounts, to those CEOs who took billions in bonuses while laying off workers.

The lack of leadership found in today's Corporate Leadership is what's ruining America, not the workers trying to make ends meet.

Conservatives idealize the Gilded Age.

America needs more Robber Barons.

Maverik, I'm HEALTHY but don't get any of those tax cuts you mention.

Where do I go to sign up?

Or was it a typo?

"Those who complain about wealthy employers know nothing about risk. Just drive down any street in America and see how many businesses are closed. Every closed business means that someone's dreams ended when that business closed.

So you admit that the tax cuts aren't working. Businesses are still closing despite having record tax levels (lowest in 50+ years). That's interesting.

"It also means that their life savings are gone."

No it doesn't. You obviously don't know how business works. If this were true how many billions in debt would wall street and bank CEOs be?

"Why don't the disgruntled workers buy those businesses and hire each other?"

A. Because they never had the capital in the first place and the big banks are rewarding Joe Sixpack for bailing them out by NOT lending to them. IN fact, banks are typically foreclosing on Joe's house. (again, you lack of business knowledge is astounding)
B. Because what's the point of buying a business right now? When buying is down, the middle-class disappearing, and the rich aren't spending enough (here) to force businesses to hire/create.

Mike Richards, are you a rich person? Do you know what rich is? Your 250,000/year is NOT rich. Not even close. Please explain to me why our economy was in much better shape prior to the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy? The answer is pretty obvious.

I know of at least 50 people that were laid off from their jobs so that executives could receive a pay increase. This was happening at the same time that the general workers were told that there were wage freezes.

Isn't it wrong of businesses to get rid of workers just so those at the top can get pay raises when the rest of the company sits at stagnant pay?

This causes unemployment to increase as well as further increases the gap between the wealthy and the middle class.

Just think though, if the executives could have said no to pay raises for themselves, at least 50+ people would be employed. Those 50+ people would help support additional workers via bill paying and purchases. Then those additional saved workers help others and so on.

Employment can't increase while waiting for demand to increase because the demand won't increase without more employment.

Try this, in every previous recession, public employment went up during the recessions and then down when the recession was over. What was and is the GOP response to the current recession? Cut budgets and lay off more workers, this further drops demand for goods.

Because what's the point of buying a business right now? When buying is down, the middle-class disappearing, and the rich aren't spending enough (here) to force businesses to hire/create.

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You see, rich people do NOT create jobs. Consumers create jobs. If there are not enough consumers (middle class), no matter how many tax breaks you give the rich, they are NOT going to invest money because there is no one to buy the products. Giving a tax break to the middle class creates more jobs. This has been shown to be true over and over, but those in the far right cannot see the forest for the trees. They only chant their mantra that trickle down economics has to work.

It doesn't.

Roger,

Hugh was wrong, honesty and integrity are the only things that offer any real check. All one has to do is look at ANY govenrment in the world and see the corrpution that power gives.

You talk of CEOs of large corporations and Wall Street, but they are not the issue here. The issue is the SMALL businesses that are the main job creators, and THEY are who BO will tax and thereby kill jobs. Even some in his OWN party are saying the $250k threshold is too low.

Emajor, ECR, one vote, one old man, Esquire, Maverick, and Henderson seem to have missed that point, too. I think they just saw an opportunity to voice support for their anointed one and took it.

One Vote,
Do you have any idea of how many billions of dollars of BO’s porkulus went to China or Finland or Mexico? Something like 80% of the “green energy” money went overseas.

Sophomoric rants don't create jobs. None of the "liberals" who have posted today have any valid ideas about creating jobs. It is obvious that they, just like Obama, have had no business experience. It is obvious that they, like Obama, are blaming the "rich guy" for all of our unemployment woes.

How about putting your money where your mouth is? How about creating the jobs that Americans need? How about competing with a world-wide work force instead of telling us that if somebody else had his money stripped from him, that then, and only then, would jobs be created.

How much money does Obama need before he generates private sector jobs? He's run the deficit up by $5,000,000,000,000 in three years. $1,000,000,000,000 of that, or more, was targeted at creating shovel-ready jobs.

He failed. Everyone who believes in his failed policies support pouring U.S. Treasury money down a rat hole.

Go ahead, take your pot shots, but until you have created A SINGLE job, you, just like Obama, are just blowing smoke.

It's interesting to note that both political parties see increasing productivity as one of the prime solutions to our economic woes. But there is a downside to productivity improvement. Increasing labor productivity means one of two things: (1) a company can produce more product with the same number of workers, and (2) the company can produce the same amount of product with fewer workers. Under either scenario, fewer workers have to consume more product. In general, profits from productivity gains do not go to the consumer classes. They go to those who invest in more production--sometimes in the U.S., more often in foreign lands.

How do we remedy this growing imbalance caused by increasing productivity. The only logical way is to share ownership with the workers. Yes, Henderson is right--workers have never had the capital to buy the businesses they work for. But we could change laws and implement programs to make worker ownership a reality. The result could also be called economic democracy. Our current system of corporate ownership is very much an authoritarian system, which is incompatible with our American political principles and our social ideals.

In Utah (the "know it all state") some people still aren't persuaded by facts. Utah is also proof that the Utah population never gets exposed to self rule and a democratic government so they keep their heads buried in oil shale. They are really are socialist (RINO's) and its leaders believe that the common man is not meant to be prosperous. All the GOP care about is more big guns for the hunters, subsidies for the Koch Brother's and their "Rich and Famous" friends. That's "welfare for the rich" government, subsidies to big business, pork-barrel Pentagon contracts to weapons makers, huge tax breaks for wealthy individuals, and most recently, colossal contracts for reconstruction to politically connected companies like Halliburton. Is the Uglund House Romney's second home?. I think so. Obama the mighty Robot beats Mitt Romney at rock-paper-scissors every single time. Utah's Channel of Prehistoric travels back in time, reveal the amazing extinct creatures that caused the crash of 2008. THEY will drive millions of American families into the nightmare of poverty, homelessness, and a grim dependence on government bureaucrats the same leaders that got us into this.

My views.

@ lost in DC, the idea that a tax increase on those making over $250,000/yr. is a tax on small business, is totally false. The GOP is lying and they know it. Even a sole proprietor will deduct business expenses and pay only on the net profit. There are even a number of other credits available to them, driving down their taxable income. With any type of business entity, the concept will be the same. The GOP is in the scam business.