Creating Jobs. That is what we want - leave Health Reform alone (if for no other reason than it will create a lot of new jobs by itself), leave partisan politics behind, just create some jobs.
Woah, there! We have the same people that are screaming for smaller government asking government to step in and create jobs? Do they not even see the hypocrisy??
Anyway, when you are asking government to create jobs, you are asking for a New Deal - expanded government workforces, national parks, infrastructure and such things as government can actually do.
A recent article in Inc magazine hi-lighted Norway as a place where
business is booming - and taxes are high. It is worth a read.
The Tea Party nutjobs are screaming about Freedom and suggesting things that will ensure we don't have any left. They fear the government taking our freedoms - despite those being protected by the Constitution. I am with Thomas Jefferson - we fear the Aristocracy of Corporations - they will take our freedoms a lot faster than government will.
Here are some of my thoughts brought on by that article and the State of the Union address and responses to it, on creating jobs.
The first thing we need to do is re-capitalize the middle class. For decades, our tax policy and fiscal regulations have been taking money from the middle class and shoveling it upward to the top wealth holders. I say wealth holders because they HOLD the money, investing in fiscal entities that produce nothing but more profit for them. They do not reinvest in the economy - at least not in any significant way. If the wealthy created jobs, they would not keep 90% of the wealth of the nation in their hands. If they created jobs, that money would recirculate - being paid to workers, office managers, sales people, marketing directors. They Do Not create jobs. Oh, they profit from the labor of others to be sure, but they don't create much of anything.
I think that I should be able to keep the earnings from my labor. I am very much in favor of reducing taxes on Earned Income and increasing taxes on Unearned Income - dividends from stocks, interest from savings and CDs and such. Exempt the first $20k of Unearned income per year so as not to hurt small investors. Tax the heck out of business profits - encouraging businesses to pay workers better, reinvest in the business, offer better benefits - lower prices to the public even.
Norway has a booming entrepreneur class and I think it is mostly because of their socialized health care. People with the spirit to be their own boss do not fear loosing their health coverage by leaving their employer. Right now in the United States, we are pretty much slaves to corporations that offer our health coverage. We can't change jobs and be without health care for 90 days or more - not being sure we will be accepted because of pre-existing conditions. We are, a large number of employees, stuck at our jobs because of Health Care costs and Insurance coverage. So, people who would otherwise start their own business - just don't.
If we could get affordable coverage comparable to the benefits offered by corporate employment, then there would be more businesses started. If we actually got paid well - we would be able to buy more, invest more and save more. Of course, there is also the possibility that many would just raise their debt load accordingly.
Free us from the phantom menace of "what if I get sick" and you will see the entrepreneurial spirit soar and lift the Nation out of the unemployment slump - and back into profitability. Pay us well and we will be able to spend more. The middle class are the ones who recirculate their money into the economy - the rich Hold it.
