As a one-time recovering Republican and now a small "r" republican/independent my two cents here, for what it's worth, is as follows: the Republicans would have us believe that reducing taxes for businesses is the magic pill that will get the economy back on track and get small businesses to hire workers and therefore reduce the unemployment rate. The facts are that the federal tax rate is at one of its lowest historical rates. Another thing that Republicans would have us believe is that by eliminating the Minimum Wage Laws, more businesses will hire workers. Yes! That's true! Look at all the illegal immigrants that Republicans hire!
The Republicans are for "free trade". And if they had their way, most American jobs would be outsourced to places such as China in the name of "free trade" and the only jobs left here in America would be at Walmart and McDonalds for less than minimum wage because the Republicans would eliminate the minimum wage. Indeed if the Republicans had their way, they'd take all the money in the federal budget that goes to "welfare" for individual Americans and give it to businesses that ship American jobs overseas.
Nothing hypocritical about it. Just because I didn't include the Democrats in my little diatribe doesn't mean that I don't blame them. I blame them for stuff all the time and anyone that's read my writings and comments knows that. But the Republican party continues to play the One Note Tax Samba as if that's the key to economic prosperity. And at this point, that one note is nothing but an annoying drone. Taxes have very little to do with America's current economic plight. If taxes were the key, then what explains all the good American economies during the times throughout America's history when tax rates were much higher? You can only lower tax rates so much before society suffers the negative consequences. And when that occurs, Republicans will start complaining too. And then who's the hypocrite?
We've got two political parties here in America that are equally bereft of new ideas and leadership. It's the same-old same-old whether it be the Republicans or Democrats in power. By the way: The federal income tax rate on America's largest corporations is 35%. But the reality is that many corporations don't even pay taxes because they're effectively subsidized by the American taxpayer. Also corporations are subject to very liberal tax laws such as accelerated depreciation, stock options, tax credits, and offshore tax sheltering to name a few. In other words, the fat cats are going around crying the blues over how much they have to pay in taxes, yet the Corporate Blues Brothers, in many cases, are not even paying taxes because of all the shelters and loop holes in the tax system. Do you think that corporations would put their money where their mouth is if the government lowered their tax rates to say 10 percent and at the same time eliminated all forms of deductions and tax shelters?
I'm often telling Democrats, "progressives", liberals, et al, that most of those in the Tea Party were ticked off at Bush years ago as well as being ticked off at the Blue Blood/Country Club Republicans. The Tea Party sentiments just didn't happen as a result of Obama's election. Those sentiments were long in the making. And I think that the underlying force which drives the legitimate Tea Party members is that they know they've been getting hosed by the Federal Govt. for years and virtually no politician gives a crap. It's business as usual in Washington.
I'm all for a fair and equitable tax system and I'd like nothing better than to see the IRS tax codes reduced to about 50 pages and all of the loop holes for corporations eliminated. But I'd much rather hear Republicans talk about what they're going to do about enforcing the immigration laws and keeping jobs here in America instead of outsourcing them. If and when the American economy picks up, have no doubt that the illegal immigrant floodgates will open wide and the result will be lower wages and American citizens competing with illegal immigrants for low-paying jobs. And the Republicans won't do a damn thing about it, because the majority of Republican politicians are in the back pocket of corporate interests. And as we all know, American corporations like nothing better than an endless supply of cheap labor that keeps on getting cheaper and cheaper. All in the name of "free trade"!
When one takes an in-depth look at the current unemployment statistics, one can only come to the conclusion that millions of American workers will remain unemployed permanently. And those that are lucky enough to find a job will wind up working in jobs that don't pay them anywhere near what they were getting paid prior to the time that this American economic debacle occurred. As a result, their standard of living and quality of life will decline dramatically. That translates into a lot of angry Americans and a consequent complete and total mistrust of government and the business community.
Curiously, the only industries in America that have been maintaining unemployment rates well below the national average are the banking, finance, insurance, and securities industries along with the health, education, and government sector. Every other industry is FUBAR! What hope is there for an economy that merely consists of a bunch of pencil-pushing/white-collar/"financial experts", bankers, insurance workers, health-care workers, "educators", and government workers? The American people should be outraged over the fact that the unemployment rate for most industries is double that of the bunch that caused America's current economic woes.
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