GOP's Plan for Continued Unemployment

Since Republican hypocrisy is nothing new, we should not be surprised that they are working hard to defeat President Obama's bill to create jobs, and then offering their own "jobs bill" which promotes tax cuts for the wealthiest and cuts jobs for public employees.


We should know the routine by now. In 2010 they flooded the airwaves telling us that unemployment was our biggest problem and that if elected they would create jobs. As soon as they were elected, politicians like Kasich (Ohio) and Walker (Wisconsin) immediately pushed legislation (written by a Koch brothers organization) attacking public employees and eliminating jobs.


And then there are the Republican presidential candidates, none of whom has had an original idea since graduating from the eighth grade. For a while we thought Herman Cain had an idea, albeit a stupid one, when he came up with 9-9-9, but then we learned he stole the idea from a computer game. As a group they have adopted the basic reactionary, obstructionist position: "If the President proposes, we oppose."


In the House and the Senate they have opposed every effort to create jobs and have been trying to lay off federal employees in the name of deficit reduction (something they never cared about in the Bush years). 


When it was pointed out the Republicans didn't really have a jobs plan, they put forward a "plan" that is simply a rehash of all their pet projects. It immediately becomes clear that they are really not interested in creating jobs.


As David Johnson wrote on October 15, 2011:

This plan (of the Republicans) will “create jobs” by: 

·        cutting government spending dramatically, laying off tens or hundreds of thousands of teachers, firefights, safety inspectors, etc.;

·        cutting taxes dramatically on the rich and corporations thereby cutting and possibly eliminating the budget deficit;

·        letting corporations “repatriate” the money they have been holding in overseas tax shelters, thereby encouraging even more offshoring of jobs out of the country;

·        repealing the health care reform act, shifting costs onto individuals thereby lowering their ability to participate in the economy;

·        further deregulating Wall Street, thereby allowing them to suck even more money from the rest of the economy while creating even worse financial crises that destroy millions of jobs;

·        getting rid of all kinds of regulations that protect kingthe environment, safety, food, etc., thereby making our country a more attractive place to live, breath and eat;

·        getting rid of the ability to unionize, thereby lowering wages across the board, and sucking even more of the benefits of our economy off to the top 1%;

·        letting oil companies dominate our energy policy, thereby removing millions of current jobs in alternatives and millions more future jobs, while burdening our economy with energy inefficiency, allowing competitors increasing advantages;

·        speeding up even more NAFTA-style trade agreements, guaranteeing the loss of the rest of our jobs, factories, companies, industries and wealth.

So you see, this time is really is different. Really. This time it blatantly destroys millions of jobs, while further enriching the top 1% a the expense of the rest of us, because they understand the media will call it a “jobs plan” and help them blame the President for the job loss, which will help them win the next election.

·        cutting government spending dramatically, laying off tens or hundreds of thousands of teachers, firefights, safety inspectors, etc.;

·        cutting taxes dramatically on the rich and corporations thereby cutting and possibly eliminating the budget deficit;

·        letting corporations “repatriate” the money they have been holding in overseas tax shelters, thereby encouraging even more offshoring of jobs out of the country;

·        repealing the health care reform act, shifting costs onto individuals thereby lowering their ability to participate in the economy;

·        further deregulating Wall Street, thereby allowing them to suck even more money from the rest of the economy while creating even worse financial crises that destroy millions of jobs;

·        getting rid of all kinds of regulations that protect the environment, safety, food, etc., thereby making our country a more attractive place to live, breath and eat;

·        getting rid of the ability to unionize, thereby lowering wages across the board, and sucking even more of the benefits of our economy off to the top 1%;

·        letting oil companies dominate our energy policy, thereby removing millions of current jobs in alternatives and millions more future jobs, while burdening our economy with energy inefficiency, allowing competitors increasing advantages;

·        speeding up even more NAFTA-style trade agreements, guaranteeing the loss of the rest of our jobs, factories, companies, industries and wealth.

So you see, this time is really is different. Really. This time it blatantly destroys millions of jobs, while further enriching the top 1% a the expense of the rest of us, because they understand the media will call it a “jobs plan” and help them blame the President for the job loss, which will help them win the next election.  (David Johnson, Campaign for America's Future, 10/15/2011)