Republicans say they are willing to raise the debt ceiling, but only in exchange for corresponding budget cuts -- and no tax increases, saying they would hurt job growth.
House Speaker John Boehner told Obama over the weekend that his caucus would not support a $4 trillion package that includes higher taxes. Boehner proposed going back to a smaller deal, some $2 trillion or so in cuts, developed during meetings led by Vice President Joe Biden.
Clear-headed thinking
George W. Bush, along with a Republican-dominated Congress, in the midst of a mild recession that bridged the September 11, 2001 attacks, passed not one, not two, but THREE tax cuts, bringing the tax burden on the top 1% to the lowest level in history.
Let me repeat that: three tax cuts, over three years, and the rich who presumably would trickle jobs all around the country, had their taxes lower than they ever had them.
That was by 2003. The first net job created by the Bush tax cuts did not come until the second quarter of 2005. His net jobs created in eight years was one million jobs.
William J. Clinton raised taxes on the rich modestly while lowering them for the other 95% of the country. By the end of his FIRST TERM IN OFFICE he created 12 million jobs. By the end of eight years, he had created 23 million.
Q.E.D. Lowering taxes on the wealthy will not create jobs, because the rich do not create jobs. The middle class creates jobs by spending, by opening businesses and by taking advantage of lower taxes on themselves.
Finally, let's look at how spending affects job creation, particularly in times of crisis (emphasis added):
Calls for greater government assistance increased as the U.S. economy continued to decline. Hoover rejected direct federal relief payments to individuals, as he believed that a dole would be addictive, and reduce the incentive to work. He was also a firm believer in balanced budgets, and was unwilling to run a budget deficit to fund welfare programs.[45] However, Hoover did pursue many policies in an attempt to pull the country out of depression. In 1929, Hoover authorized the Mexican Repatriation program to combat rampant unemployment, reduce the burden on municipal aid services, and remove people seen as usurpers of American jobs. The program was largely a forced migration of approximately 500,000 Mexicans and Mexican Americans to Mexico, and continued until 1937. In June 1930, over the objection of many economists, Congress approved and Hoover signed into law the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act. The legislation raised tariffs on thousands of imported items. The intent of the Act was to encourage the purchase of American-made products by increasing the cost of imported goods, while raising revenue for the federal government and protecting farmers. However, economic depression now spread through much of the world, and other nations increased tariffs on American-made goods in retaliation, reducing international trade, and worsening the Depression.[46]
Now, it's true that Hoover tried to increase spending. A little. But not nearly enough to count as a stimulus.
Mr. Speaker, what you are trying to do is to create a Democratic Herbert Hoover in the person of President Barack Obama. Grow up, sir, this is no time to play politics with American lives.
Where are the motherfucking jobs, Mr. Speaker?
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