Reducto Ad Absurdium

The Tax Cut…

This even roils Republicans.

Why?

It makes no sense.

Their argument: By making tax cuts to the very rich, we are investing in a form of trickle down that will see the money flow into new jobs.

Well, ask the rich. Most will see they have plenty and don’t need it.

The fact is that this program really doesn’t kick in until you’re in the 500,000 plus category of income, and then you get $19,000 back and up depending on your final income level…

Their argument: Look at how many jobs we’ve created!

Well, the truth is that this is the worst performance of any economy coming out of a recession. Several months ago, the NYTimes said in its editorial that the jobs were all taken by immigrant workers. What does that tell you? What the statistics don’t; that all of the jobs created were at the very lowest levels.

I did an editorial in the NYTimes in 93 when the Times was talking about how the jobs exported would be replaced. I wrote that that logic was dead wrong! Why? Service jobs do not have a “multiplier effect” in the economy the way manufacturing jobs do. Also, that the better paying service jobs are typically closely allied with manufacturing. Eliminate manufacturing, you eliminate those service jobs. I should know. At the time, I was CEO of a marketing consulting group out of New York; we lost 45 client companies because their companies were either merged out of existence or they were forced into early retirement…And we were not alone in our experience. Those who sold us on “off-shoring,” we’re simply loading the decks to promote their own interests and to build up their golden parachutes.

The other argument foisted upon us is this: That unemployment is low. What they don’t tell you is that unemployment just drops those who haven’t landed a job by the time their benefits run out. So, there is no way to gauge the real level of unemployment we are seeing in today’s economy…

But what is really painful in all of this is the fact that the tax breaks which are supposed to overall save the country real money, are taking it off the hides of the poor and the infirm.
The cuts making these tax-giveaways possible is coming from Medicaid, education and other social programs that protect the social fabric of this country. By cutting these benefits now, we are opening a Pandora’s box that will haunt us for decades to come…

Les Aaron


See more on this and related arguments: www.lesaaron.blogspot.com