Ineptitude and Greed

Would you hire the leader of the majority party in the House of Representatives to teach a class on government? Forget it. Republican leader, Eric Cantor, does not even know how a bill becomes law. He actually proposed a bill that would give the Senate a deadline to agree to a House bill. Mr. Cantor’s proposed bill actually states that the House bill would automatically become law if the Senate does not meet that deadline. The remarkable thing is that the news media did not even bother to report this absurdity. I guess the corporate sponsors of television networks do not want the public to know what a bad joke Mr. Cantor is.

Would you make Michele Bachmann chairperson of a committee on civil rights? Forget it. She is really the reincarnation of Joseph McCarthy in drag. Ms. Bachmann has actually stated that she thinks members of congress should be investigated for un-American activities. Regardless of this fact, I would not put it past the Republicans to give Ms. Bachmann such an appointment, particularly in light of the other committee assignments they have made.

Similarly, electing Republicans to solve our economic problems is like hiring Newt Gingrich to be your marriage counselor. Republicans are great at trampling on collective bargaining rights and the reproductive rights of women, but they either know nothing about economics or they are being handsomely rewarded for acting as though they know nothing about economics. They say that our greatest economic problem is the deficit, but balancing the budget will do nothing to create employment. What they are proposing is counter productive at best. The largest part of the deficit is caused by unemployment that deprives the federal government of the taxes working people pay. Furthermore, what the Republicans are proposing to deal with the deficit is absurd on its face. Their draconian cuts, such as doing away with Planned Parenthood, depriving the long-term unemployed of benefits, cutting the food stamp program, etc., will cut a mere thirty billion from the budget, and it does this by foisting the burden off onto the people who can least afford to bear that burden. Hell, the Democrats can cut the deficit by a lot more than that if the Republicans will let them. How about eliminating the subsidies to major oil companies? How about eliminating the subsidies given to companies for exporting jobs? How about eliminating the tax loopholes that gave huge refunds to companies such as General Electric on taxes those companies did not even pay? How about doing away with the outrageous tax cuts George W. Bush gave to the wealthiest individuals in the nation?

The excuse the Republicans give for not eliminating the Bush tax cuts for the rich, the subsides to corporations reporting record profits, and the tax loopholes for corporations reporting record profits is that those individuals and corporations provide jobs. This is like saying that if you hand a plumber a thousand dollars, wish him a cheery good morning, and walk away he will fix your leaking pipes. You would be fool to count on him doing it. Tax deductions tied to hiring more people are likely to create jobs, whereas tax cuts for multi-national corporations merely increase the profits of companies that are already handing out millions of dollars in bonuses to their top executives. Our economy is demand driven. Increasing the profits of corporations so that they can increase the already bloated bonuses they are paying their top executives does nothing to increase demand. Increasing the number of jobs paying living wages, however, does increase the demand for goods and services. This increase in demand then increases the number of jobs, and the deficit problem is solved because of the increase in the number of people paying taxes. Investing in education, infrastructure, and the creation of new industries will create jobs, and the cost of doing those things can be offset by an equitable tax system and the elimination of subsidies to companies who do not need those subsidies.

The Democratic Party has to make the choice clear to the American public. The Republican budget proposal will cost seven hundred thousand jobs during a deep recession. Furthermore, it will barely make a dent in the deficit. Because of the riders the Republicans have attached to their budget proposal, it will also trample on the rights of workers, women, and the middle class. President Obama and Harry Reid must stand firm on those issues. They must let the public know that they have an alternative that will preserve those rights, create jobs, and eventually solve the problem of the deficits. This is not the time to be timid. The ineptitude and greed of the Republican Party must be revealed. If the Republicans want to shut down the government in order to serve their rich masters at the expense of everyone else, they should be forced to do so at the expense of their political careers and at the peril of their party.