Jobs schmobs
by digby
Well here's a shock. We know that after a year of shrieking about deficits, if Democrats propose anything that might actually create jobs the Republicans will have a hissy fit They don't care about the suffering of the people and they only believe in Keynesian economics to the extent they can use it to keep anyone from raising taxes on the filthy rich.
And it turns out that even if President Obama proposes conservative programs they won't be the right kind of conservative:
Following a few dismal weeks on Wall Street and talk of a double-dip recession, President Obama will soon announce a new jobs plan that is expected to include an extension of payroll tax cuts, new revenue for transportation projects and an extension of emergency unemployment benefits for the 9.1 percent of Americans who still can't find a job. Obama's campaign advisor, David Axelrod, said on Sunday that there's nothing in the proposal "that reasonable people shouldn't be able to agree on" -- but many fired-up Republicans are already preparing to reject whatever the President puts on the table.
“This is the seventh or eighth or ninth time we’ve heard the president talk about producing a plan,” Republican strategist Karl Rove said on Fox News Sunday. “And each time that he’s gotten around to tossing an idea out on the table, it has included only more spending, more deficit, more debt and the American people are fed up with it.”
If people still think the Republicans aren't making the case that deficit reduction will result in more jobs, they need to listen a little bit more carefully.
The GOP is also coming out against extending the payroll tax cuts. Yes, I know that takes some special chutzpah considering that they have made the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy a sacred cause. But giving tax breaks to workers will cost
"It's always a net positive to let taxpayers keep more of what they earn," Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) told the AP, "but not all tax relief is created equal for the purposes of helping to get the economy moving again."
Rep. David Camp (R-Mich.), chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, said he also opposed the 12-month tax cut because it would cost the government about $120 billion next year if it were renewed.
I'd laugh if I I didn't think they will get away with it. After all, nobody's making a coherent case for anything so why should they even try to make sense? Axelrod called them hypocrites, which I'm sure was very painful for them to hear. But in the end, we're left with an argument between Democrats as to which tax cuts are preferable at the same time they are both saying the looming deficit is the greatest threat the world has ever known. And Democrats are complicating this even more by insisting that we also must "invest" for the future. I think they'll have to forgive the average person for not understand what the hell they are all going on about.
And as for the inevitable critics who say that i'm being cruel and unfeeling by saying that Republicans don't care about the pain of the average person, get a load of this:
Republicans are also pushing back on Obama's plan to extend emergency unemployment benefits. Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-Va.) said on Sunday that, while he would "consider" supporting the payroll tax cuts, he is less enthusiastic about unemployment insurance.
"I don't think that creates jobs," he said on CNN's "State of the Union." "It lessens the pain. The problem is we need to have things that create jobs, not just promote benefits for people that are not working."
The last thing you'd want to do is "lessen the pain" of the American people. Makes 'em weak. Maybe we could institute a prospective tax for these lazy malcontents, in which we bill them later for taxes they should have been paying when they were unemployed. It's the least they can do to repay the largesse bestowed upon them by the job producers who are being asked to pay taxes even though they feel oh so uncertain about the future.
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