Why repugicans Are Afraid to Reveal Their Job Creation Ideas
It is difficult to believe that any American might think, even for a
nano-second, that repugicans serve anyone other than the rich and
corporations, and it is why they are hesitant to lay out their true
agenda heading into the midterm elections. President Obama
touted the economic growth the nation has witnessed during his tenure in
office, and assailed repugicans for not having “
the courage to lay out theirs.” Although the President has a point, repugicans have laid out their “
ideas to create more jobs and grow more wages,”
but because they know their ideas will not, have not, and cannot do
either, they only reveal their true ideas to their corporate and wealthy
supporters. Americans are not the smartest people on the planet, but
they are aware that repugicans’ failed economic policies do not create
jobs and increase wages because they just experienced a Great Recession
founded on repugican failed policies.
The President duly noted that after laying out his
ideas for more jobs and better wages, repugicans took a stand for the
rich and blocked policies that would help the middle class and lift the
poor out of poverty such as “raising the minimum wage, enacting fair pay, refinancing student loans, or extending unemployment insurance for the unemployed.”
He also explained repugicans have sort-of backed off the fear
mongering about the out-of-control deficits they created during the shrub
years, and relaxed the fright-fest related to the Affordable Care Act.
The point of the President’s speech was that the midterm elections
should be “a referendum on two starkly different visions” for
the economy, and he could have pointed out that there has been some very
good economic reports in spite of repugican obstruction.
First, economic growth in the second quarter of 2014 was at its
highest level
since 2006; two full years before repugicans created the Great
Recession. The promising report was in spite of repugican claims that
the only way to grow the economy is more tax cuts for the rich and
eliminate banking, workplace, and environmental regulations. It is
precisely the same thing they claim will create more jobs, so it was
curious the President was silent that for the first time in 14 years,
economists
reported that “
initial jobless claims can’t go much lower,” and that “
job creation is occurring at the strongest pace since the recession ended.” All this in spite of a tax increase on the richest Americans and regulations holding firmly in place.
The president said repugicans should “have the courage to lay out” their ideas for creating job growth, and assailed their ridiculous trickle-down economics platform. He said, “If
there were any credibility to the argument that says when those at the
top do well, eventually everyone else will do well, it would have borne
itself out by now.” The President is absolutely correct about tax
cuts for the rich and corporations never producing prosperity for anyone
other than corporations and the wealthy, but he is wrong that
Republicans have not laid out their “ideas for creating job growth.” In fact, just last week John Boehner presented repugicans’ five-point plan to create jobs and grow wages during a
speech at the American Enterprise Institute that, although a plan, is
precisely what the President criticized and not one Boehner is willing
to present to the voters.
Boehner 5-point repugican cabal “plan to create jobs, boost
wages, and bring good-paying jobs home” includes in part eliminating
corporate taxes to stop inversions, and then “get workers off the
sidelines by building a culture of hard work and responsibility around
them.” First on Boehner’s list is drastically slashing taxes for
corporations and the rich (trickle-down economics) he said will create a
job bonanza and increase wages. Boehner said the repugican cabal plan was crucial
to “resetting the foundation of our economy for the next two or
three generations, provide a stream of good-paying jobs, and provide
more security straight through retirement.” When Boehner said “resetting the foundation of our economy,”
he meant revisiting the shrub-era tax cuts and deregulation that were
partly responsible for increasing the deficit, the Great Recession, and
more profits for the rich.
His second point was “to rein in the regulatory system.”
He particularly noted the Dodd-Frank banking reform and said that if
America stopped regulating banks and Wall Street, there would be a jobs
boom and Americans’ wages would increase. It is more of the shrub-era
deregulatory frenzy that created the Great Recession President Obama
warned was not sustainable. The President said “to have an economy where
growth was based on inflated prices and bubbles that burst, and the
casino mentality on Wall Street where the recklessness of a few” would
threaten us all is not defensible. “That was not a formula for sustained
growth.” Except that it was a brilliant formula for Wall Street that
has grown by leaps and bounds as well as taken the lion’s share of the
recovery which is why repugicans are anxious to “rein in banking regulations.”
Boehner’s third point was “reforming our legal system”
and cutting awards for corporate malfeasance. According to repugican
ideology, it is unfair for corporations, large and small, to pay damages
to victims that Boehner claimed just drives up prices to the consumer
and kills potential and existing jobs. He said he is all for “taking care of people who have been injured,” but within “reasonable limits on damages and compensation” because the current system is too costly for big business and their bottom line.
The fourth point of the repugican plan was once and for all solving “our spending problem”
on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid entitlements. Of course,
Social Security is self-funded and does not, and cannot, take any money
from the government, but repugicans want to cut benefits, raise the
retirement age, and hand the Trust over to Wall Street for
administration and disbursements. Boehner failed to reveal how making
drastic cuts to, or privatizing, Social Security would create a job
explosion or increase working Americans’ wages, but he did note that
since Americans are living till they are 80, the retirement age must be
increased and benefits must be cut. It makes no sense as part of a job
creation and wage increase economic plan, but no more than the fifth
point in a plan meant to increase the wealth of corporations.
It is unbelievable really, but Boehner said enacting
a comprehensive privatized school initiative across the whole of
America was an integral aspect of the plan to create new jobs, boost
wages, bring jobs home, stop inversions, and build a culture of hard
work into Americans “standing on the sidelines.” Apparently, Boehner
thinks that giving parents an opportunity to find “the better (read more costly and underperforming) schools they need and deserve” is part of helping them get ahead and “not just get by.” Interestingly, repugican national cock-head Reince Priebus reiterated Boehner’s “privatize America’s schools” plan and said it was economically prudent and a civil rights issue parents are desperate to see implemented.
Maybe President Obama saying repugicans should “have the courage to lay out their ideas for creating jobs and growing wages”
was to bait them into telling the people their intent is returning to shrub-era economics and more recessions. It is worth noting that
Republicans have laid out their economic agenda, but they have been very
careful to reveal their plans primarily to their wealthy donors and
corporate think tanks, but not the public. Remember, Mitch McConnell
told the Koch brothers’ billionaire cabal that if repugicans gain
control of the Senate they will “go after all of the federal government,”
including Social Security. Paul Ryan admitted repugicans can hardly
stop Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and food stamps without a repugican Senate, but they are not campaigning on those issues for
obvious reasons; they would never get elected.
It appears it is up to President Obama to expose the repugican job creation and wage growth agenda and show the stark
contrast between his successful policies that lifted America out of the repugican recession the repugican cabal will return to with a vengeance if they
control Congress. The President was right to imply repugicans are
cowards for concealing their plans that will not create jobs or grow
wages, and now he has to take the next step and reveal why their
cowardice prevents them from telling the people their only plan is
creating more wealth for the rich and corporations at the expense of the
poor and middle class.
