Back in December, when John Boehner was merely waiting to become Speaker of the House, he got a lot of press by asking, "Where are the jobs, Mr. Obama?" at virtually every interview. Jobs, said the Republicans - the Democrats haven't been Putting This Country Back to Work.
OK, Mr. Boehner, you're Speaker of the House now, your party has been in the majority for a little over a month. Where are the jobs?
The Republican House has spent most of its time whining about deficits (which their party helped create), and using that as an excuse to shred the safety net for the poor and unemployed. They've also opened an all-out attack on women's rights, redefining rape, defunding Planned Parenthood - and the WIC program! For shame! - and so on. I regularly read the news accounts of what Congress is working on. I see a lot of federal spending cuts that will eliminate federal jobs. I haven't seen one single bill considered that would actually help put anybody back to work.
I'm willing to admit I may have missed something. I don't read Congressional Quarterly. I appeal to my readers: what has the current Congress done that will help increase employment??
Where are the jobs, Mr. Boehner??
People with money haven't been creating jobs for at least two generations. Smart money looks for the cheapest labor, the fewest number of people to do the work, and the highest profit margin (return on investment). Why would any intelligent entrepreneur do otherwise?
ReplyDeleteRepublicans always talk about tax breaks for the rich and the corporations as "job creation" but I don't see it. American business has been exporting jobs, reducing obligations such as pensions and health care, union busting, and generally turning its back on the social contract which led to our post-War prosperity. Prosperity isn't something that capital really has much use for, because it doesn't necessarily translate into more money. The real money is in playing one market against the other--that's the biggest crap game there ever was, and it's being played these days on a global scale. Make goods cheap elsewhere, import them and sell them for enormous profits domestically. In the old days we used to import raw materials, manufacture sophisticated goods, and sell them to ourselves, or to the "Third World." But that's old hat. Americans grew fat and lazy and complacent. They've been taken to the cleaners. The Republicans were the front men who engineered it.
It was the perfect con. People are stupid. They'll fall for it every time.