Time for Republicans to put up or shut up on jobs, jobs, jobs

One year ago today, on September 8, 2011, President Obama submitted to Congress his American Jobs Act.  The bill is intended to facilitate the economic recovery in a number of ways.  It was supported by over 62% of Americans at the time.  Economists supported the Act, saying that it would prevent recession in 2012, increase GDP by 2% and return two million workers to the work force.

However, in the midst of the economic crisis, the bill got no support from Republican Congressmen, was filibustered and died.  The obstructionists were very proud of themselves for voting against this bill and the economic recovery act as well.  A true back-handed lesson to all of us if we think that Republicans in Congress want to represent the middle class as they claim.

Well, President Obama is going to give them another chance to put up or shut up about jobs and helping the middle class.

On the Campaign trail, one day after the Democratic Convention, President Obama is again asking Congress to fulfill their common goal of improving the economy in what has so far been an empty Republican pledge to work on "Jobs, Jobs, Jobs" by approving the American Jobs Act.

The highlights of the American Jobs Act are:

1. TAX CUTS TO HELP AMERICA’S SMALL BUSINESSES HIRE AND GROW

• Cutting the payroll tax in half for 98 percent of businesses: The President’s plan will cut in half the taxes paid by businesses on their first $5 million in payroll, targeting the benefit to the 98 percent of firms that have payroll below this threshold.
• A complete payroll tax holiday for added workers or increased wages: The President’s plan will completely eliminate payroll taxes for firms that increase their payroll by adding new workers or increasing the wages of their current worker (the benefit is capped at the first $50 million in payroll increases).
• Extending 100% expensing into 2012: This continues an effective incentive for new investment. 
• Reforms and regulatory reductions to help entrepreneurs and small businesses access capital.

2. PUTTING WORKERS BACK ON THE JOB WHILE REBUILDING AND MODERNIZING AMERICA

• A “Returning Heroes” hiring tax credit for veterans: This provides tax credits from $5,600 to $9,600 to encourage the hiring of unemployed veterans.
  
• Preventing up to 280,000 teacher layoffs, while keeping cops and firefighters on the job.
  
• Modernizing at least 35,000 public schools across the country, supporting new science labs, Internet- ready classrooms and renovations at schools across the country, in rural and urban areas.
  
• Immediate investments in infrastructure and a bipartisan National Infrastructure Bank, modernizing our roads, rail, airports and waterways while putting hundreds of thousands of workers back on the job.
  
• A New “Project Rebuild”, which will put people to work rehabilitating homes, businesses and communities, leveraging private capital and scaling land banks and other public-private collaborations.
• Expanding access to high-speed wireless as part of a plan for freeing up the nation’s spectrum.    

3. PATHWAYS BACK TO WORK FOR AMERICANS LOOKING FOR JOBS

• The most innovative reform to the unemployment insurance program in 40 years: As part of an extension of unemployment insurance to prevent 5 million Americans looking for work from losing their benefits, the President’s plan includes innovative work-based reforms to prevent layoffs and give states greater flexibility to use UI funds to best support job-seekers, including:

             › Work-Sharing: UI for workers whose employers choose work-sharing over layoffs.
             › A new “Bridge to Work” program: The plan builds on and improves innovative state programs where those displaced take temporary, voluntary work or pursue on-the-job training.
             › Innovative entrepreneurship and wage insurance programs: 
States will also be empowered to implement wage insurance to help reemploy older workers and programs that make it easier for unemployed workers to start their own businesses.

• A $4,000 tax credit to employers for hiring long-term unemployed workers. 
• Prohibiting employers from discriminating against unemployed workers when hiring.
  
• Expanding job opportunities for low-income youth and adults through a fund for successful approaches for subsidized employment, innovative training programs and summer/year-round jobs for youth.

4. TAX RELIEF FOR EVERY AMERICAN WORKER AND FAMILY

• Cutting payroll taxes in half for 160 million workers next year: The President’s plan will expand the payroll tax cut passed last year to cut workers payroll taxes in half in 2012 – providing a $1,500 tax cut to the typical American family, without negatively impacting the Social Security Trust Fund.
  
• Allowing more Americans to refinance their mortgages at today’s near 4 percent interest rates, which can put more than $2,000 a year in a family’s pocket.

5. FULLY PAID FOR AS PART OF THE PRESIDENT’S LONG-TERM DEFICIT REDUCTION PLAN.

• To ensure that the American Jobs Act is fully paid for, the President will call on the Joint Committee to come up with additional deficit reduction necessary to pay for the Act and still meet its deficit target. 

Below is the original presentation to Congress on September 8, 2011.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/videos/2011/September/090811_AmericanJobsAct_Enhanced_HD.mp4


 

Deciding factors that create jobs

Republicans advocate reducing taxes on the job creators as a viable means to grow jobs.  They claim that burdening job creators with additional costs will reduce the likelihood that they will hire.  I like to call this the "job creator lie" because it is nothing more than a Republican empty threat.  Greed is the source of the lie.  It is intended to prevent government taxes on the wealthy, ruling class who apparently are teetering between great wealth and possible financial ruin and taxes would make all the difference.

Are taxes really the major determining factor preventing job creation?  Certainly not.  Studies have shown that there is absolutely no correlation between taxes and job creation.  In fact, some have reported that in times where the rich have had to pay higher taxes, more jobs have been created.  You can rest assured that taxes are not the reason that Republicans spread this job creator lie.

So let's assume that greed is the main reason for the lie.  What then are the factors that really play a part in job creation?  Some factors like supply and demand appear obvious.  There are many theories behind how these two factors interact.  But which is most important?  And are there any other factors like cost of labor or business owner's wealth?

When a business is started, it is assumed that markets have been evaluated and the product or service is something of value which consumers will purchase.  Some estimate of the demand and the profits are made in a business plan and start-up funding is found.  Eventually people are hired to operate the business and the first jobs are created.  In some large businesses there is a choice of hiring from an American workforce or a foreign workforce.  Because patriotism is not a belief of many profit motivated businessmen, where it is possible it is an easy choice to hire cheaper labor from foreign sources.  So even when a new business is started, American job growth is not guaranteed.  In that way, business owner's wealth and cost of labor is an important factor determining where jobs will be created.

Simply stated, job growth usually happens when a business has a product or service which has demand that exceeds the supply or when the demand for a greater number of products or services offered exceed the capacity of the existing workforce.  The important word is "demand."

When we talk about demand sources, we are talking about the consumers who mainly are also the workers in America.  The major factor which affects consumer demand is consumer pay.  Pay comes from jobs.  When Americans do not have jobs or when those that have jobs are not paid well, American demand for products will decrease.  This decrease in demand cannot be overcome by making more products.  It cannot be overcome by reducing taxes of the wealthy business owners.  It cannot be overcome by producing cheaper products in a foreign country or by foreign workers in America.  It can only be overcome by finding new markets or sources of demand.

For many businesses this is not an option.  As demand decreases, so do the profits of that business.  Without new sources of demand, the business is forced to take drastic actions.  Perhaps first trying to increase demand by reducing the price of products and then by reducing the workforce to be more in line with the decrease in demand.  Eventually it may mean the business is sold off to a venture capitalist or becomes bankrupt and fails.

Businesses need consumers.  The loss of demand is a bigger threat to them than any increase in taxes.

There should be a synergy between the executives and the workers in a business where both parties are aware of the importance each has for the other.  In recent years workers wages have stayed stagnant while executives wages have increased 300 percent.  The greed that is implied in these statistics is as much a cause for the loss of demand and resultant loss of jobs than anything else unscrupulous business owners have done.

It is time that American workers have been made whole again and received the importance they deserve  in this relationship with business.  President Obama's policies are the greatest hope we have to restore jobs to Americans, revitalize the economy and return demand to businesses.

Can Independent voters help us avoid another Great Depression?

Picture this:  November 6th, 2012:  Election day in America.  As a Citizen of these great United States you find yourself, like many others, still undecided on whose name you will cast your ballot in favor of.  You have 2 (or possibly 3) choices.   Leaving out potential third party candidates or write-in votes, (Ben Dover and Amanda Hugginkiss will not be elected despite at least 300 votes cast for them), the realistic options you are left with are either current  President Barak Obama or Former Governor Mitt Romney.   Decisions, decisions. 

It may seem like a simple decision for most but let us not forget that the Independent vote is heavily sought after.   History has shown us that  these voters end up swaying most elections in toss up States; States that candidates so desperately covet.  One only needs to look back as far as 2004 in the Bush vs. Gore General Election to realize that Florida and its independent voters had the option to sway the political landscape one way or the other on their own.  As you can see from the graph in statewide voter registration for Florida, Independent voters are at an all time high.  Because these voters registered themselves as Independents, they're essentially saying to the world...

 "I do not toe any major party's political line.  I will make my decision on which candidate proves to me he will make my country and my life better than his opponent."

Well said, Independent voters!  We hear you loud and clear.  This one is written with you in mind.

All I seem to hear from Republicans these days are a plethora of what they believe are rhetorical questions such as, "What has Obama done for this country?  He's had 3 1/2 years... how is this country ANY better ?!  " and "You really want a guy with the middle name Hussain to be in office!?  He was born in Kenya, didn't you know that?"  or one of my personal favorites, "I'm a Christian therefore I'm a Republican."  Which really makes me start to believe that the first two words of the cliche "I think; therefore I am" does not apply to these unfortunate few.  

So let's take a closer look into these mind-boggling questions and answer a few to help those undecided voters realize who they're voting for. 

What has President Obama done for this country in his 3 1/2 years? 

Sit down with any Republican for long enough and this "rhetorical" question will eventually arise.   They will then come to the conclusion for you if you do not answer the way that their party tells them is correct. They then speak for you and say the answer is 'nothing.'   According to them, the last 3 1/2 years that Barak Obama has been President, he's brought our country on the brink of collapse and has done nothing to help.  Really?  If you're a free-thinker with an IQ that can surpass that of an 8 year old, you know this certainly is an incorrect conclusion.  

President Obama has done a multitude of things to help this nation that the Republican's would like to spin into a negative or belittle in one way or another.  In fact, Obama has enacted beneficial policies and established funding for improvements to America that even the most hardened of Republicans would have a tough time making sound detrimental to the country as a whole...though I assure you most will try.  Among these accomplishments, some of the most bi-partisan friendly are as follows:

• "Eliminated Osama bin laden: In 2011, ordered special forces raid of secret compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in which the terrorist leader was killed and a trove of al-Qaeda documents was discovered.
• Ended the War in Iraq: Ordered all U.S. military forces out of the country. Last troops left on December 18, 2011.
• Kicked Banks Out of Federal Student Loan Program, Expanded Pell Grant Spending: As part of the 2010 health care reform bill, signed measure ending the wasteful decades-old practice of subsidizing banks to provide college loans. Starting July 2010 all students began getting their federal student loans directly from the federal government. Treasury will save $67 billion over ten years, $36 billion of which will go to expanding Pell Grants to lower-income students.
• Increased Support for Veterans: With so many soldiers coming home from Iraq and Iran with serious physical and mental health problems, yet facing long waits for services, increased 2010 Department of Veterans Affairs budget by 16 percent and 2011 budget by 10 percent. Also signed new GI bill offering $78 billion in tuition assistance over a decade, and provided multiple tax credits to encourage businesses to hire veterans.
• Tightened Sanctions on Iran: In effort to deter Iran’s nuclear program, signed Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act (2010) to punish firms and individuals who aid Iran’s petroleum sector. In late 2011 and early 2012, coordinated with other major Western powers to impose sanctions aimed at Iran’s banks and with Japan, South Korea, and China to shift their oil purchases away from Iran.
• Improved School Nutrition: In coordination with Michelle Obama, signed Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act in 2010 mandating $4.5 billion spending boost and higher nutritional and health standards for school lunches. New rules based on the law, released in January, double the amount of fruits and vegetables and require only whole grains in food served to students.
• Gave the FDA Power to Regulate Tobacco: Signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (2009). Nine years in the making and long resisted by the tobacco industry, the law mandates that tobacco manufacturers disclose all ingredients, obtain FDA approval for new tobacco products, and expand the size and prominence of cigarette warning labels, and bans the sale of misleadingly labeled “light” cigarette brands and tobacco sponsorship of entertainment events.
• Passed Credit Card Reforms: Signed the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act (2009), which prohibits credit card companies from raising rates without advance notification, mandates a grace period on interest rate increases, and strictly limits overdraft and other fees.
• Brokered Agreement for Speedy Compensation to Victims of Gulf Oil Spill: Though lacking statutory power to compel British Petroleum to act, used moral authority of his office to convince oil company to agree in 2010 to a $20 billion fund to compensate victims of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico; $6.5 billion already paid out without lawsuits. By comparison, it took nearly two decades for plaintiffs in the Exxon Valdez Alaska oil spill case to receive $1.3 billion.
• Expanded Health Coverage for Children: Signed 2009 Children’s Health Insurance Authorization Act, which allows the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to cover health care for 4 million more children, paid for by a tax increase on tobacco products."

You would be hard-pressed to find any republican who could argue that these few examples are not worthy of recognition  and applause.  If you'd like hundreds of more examples, please visit the following link:  What the f*ck has Obama done so far?

"Mitt Romney has my best interests in mind.  He's a smart business man and with that kind of a mind, our economy will recover faster!"

Really?  Do you make over 250,000 dollars a year?  If not then you're like 98% of the nation and will not be getting any positive attention from a Romney Presidency.  And if you do... good news!  Mitt Romney WILL help you... financially, at least.  As a millionaire or billionaire he'll make sure you get tax breaks in order to help you survive this difficult economic time.   

How will he do this?  In a way that makes Romney appear to not have a conscious.  His tax break to the wealthiest of Americans will be paid for by the rest of us.  He and his running mate will pay for these favors for the wealthy by eliminating medicare and medicaid as we know it, increasing medicare costs on seniors, disassembling social security, and by overhauling every social program that has helped those less fortunate survive.  

Romney has given little information on the specifics of his economic policies and instead is asking the American people to trust him and wait until after he is elected to hear more about his solutions for our economy.  Most observers have noted that of the information we know about Romney's economic policies, it is almost certain that he will repeat the mistakes of the Bush administration which got us into this Great Recession.  A vote for Mitt Romney will make our economy collapse further.  This recession can get worse and could land us in another Great Depression.  

Giving tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy has never, ever helped the economy recover.  If you are in the 98% and are considering voting for Mitt Romney this election cycle, you truly are 'shooting yourself in the foot.'

Being a Corporate leader does not necessarily make a good President.  The United States government is not run like a Corporation.  Although we strive for control of the deficit, there is no government profit motive.  What is very important is how we achieve control of the deficit, and that is where the political parties differ to the greatest degree.    

"Mitt Romney can do a better job than Obama in turning our country around. "

No President aside from George Washington ever starts his Presidency off with a clean slate.  They always walk into some remnants of their predecessor.  Sometimes that's a good thing.  Sometimes it's not.  

President Obama's predecessor, George Bush, left office with an approval rating of only 22%.  This is the lowest in history.  His VP, Dick Chaney had an outgoing approval rating of only 13%.  When his policies were fresh in our minds, Americans did not show any love for then-President Bush.  You might even say most of us hated him.  Remember Bush's commitment to two unnecessary wars that not only caused death of our servicemen and women but also led to huge deficit spending?  Remember the housing market collapse that was encouraged by Bush's contempt for government regulations on banking?  Remember the stock market crash that was also encouraged by Bush's deregulation of Wall Street?  Surely you can concede that President Obama walked into a mess in his first year as President.  Just because a new President takes office, these remnants of Bush policy decisions do not go away. And despite Republican obstruction in Congress, President Obama's policies have started leading us out of the Bush economic disaster.

Any idea how long it took the United States to recover from the Great Depression?  I'll help you out.  It started in 1929 and bottomed out in 1933.  It wasn't until 1941 that the economy rebounded.  

Just before the Great Depression the Republican agenda was very similar to what it is today.  Herbert Hoover was the Republican incumbent whose policies led to the start of the Great Depression.  Loose regulation on the banking industry and government indulgences to Wall Street were prevalent.  Franklin D. Roosevelt, a Democrat, succeeded Hoover and initiated policies that would echo today's Democratic Platform.  For example, his New Deal initiative gave people federally funded jobs.  He supported the middle-class to grow the economy from the middle out, as President Obama is proposing. 

These are just some of the hundreds of differences between Obama and Romney.  Hopefully you are listening to their speeches and can see the differences for yourself.  Perhaps this blog has given some reasons that a vote for Obama is in your best interest.  In fact, I'm baffled why 98% of the country won't vote for Obama.

If you vote for Romney, then you must be in the top 2%.  Here's hoping that your compassion for others is greater than your vote would imply.