Job creators are consumers, not investors, because without consumers, there is no reason to produce and thus no reason to hire. And consumers can't consume unless they get paid a living wage by employers and have some spare leisure time to use to consume.
It is no surprise that the glory days of American capitalism were the period 1950-1970 when there was a tacit understanding between labor and capital that it was good for everybody if workers got paid a living wage in exchange for not gumming up the works of capital. During those years, as JzB has so handily pointed out on his blog, productivity increases led directly to wage increases. Since then the wheels have come off for anybody who's not in the top 1% of taxpayers. Per-hour real wages for non-managers didn't budge between 1979 and 2007. Increases in productivity rather than raise wages have driven down the prices of some consumer goods, but since the employment to produce those goods is in China rather than the USA, that has done nothing for employment. And without employment you don't have a consumer, you have a problem, since as I have repeatedly pointed out people don't just die on demand.
So, what's the solution? Well, if we went back to the economic policies of Dwight D. Eisenhower, including his tax policies...
-- Badtux the Practical Penguin
This is an important point. Giving tax breaks to businesses and the wealthy allows them to make/have more money, but it does NOTHING about job creation. Demand creates jobs, not rich businesses or individual.
ReplyDeleteDemand is driven by the purchasing power of the majority of people, not the top few percent.
Of course, Ike wouldn't be acceptable to today's Democratic Party, to say nothing of the Repigs. Nixon would be too liberal for the Dems, too. I wonder if Eisenhower would even be allowed a position higher than Pfc. in today's Army.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember off-hand if it was 2004 or 2008 when you threatened to run for President, but I think you should consider it again. Not that you have the money to get elected -- even if all your readers bankrupted themselves supporting you -- but think of how refreshing it would be to a have voice of sanity, some common sense, dare I say it? an ADULT... in the race. JzB could be VP.
ReplyDeletePlus, of course, we'd have good music around the White House!
618 -- certainly not 2004, because this blog was created as a result of the 2004 election (its first post was in December 2004). In 2008, I believe the notion was that an avian-American (albeit a flightless one) has some slight eligibility problems that would cause problems. Besides, I'm *way* too busy for that :).
ReplyDeleteBukko -- reason Ike got promoted was because of WW2 and him being the only general diplomatic enough to handle the feuding personalities of three nationalities at the top of the British, French Exile, and U.S. Armies. Think about it. As commander of the European theatre he had to manage Charles de Gaulle (who was notoriously ornery), he had to manage Field Marshall Montgomery (who was a notoriously pompous ass), he had to manage Patton and Bradley, and of course he had to manage relationships with his commanding officer at the Pentagon too. I've seen no accounts of Ike being a particularly good general, so you're right, it's unlikely he would rise anywhere near as far in today's Army, but war (real war, war that threatens national survival, not fake wars to enrich defense contractors like the ones in Afghanistan and Iraq) sometimes requires promoting such mediocre officers when they have one talent that the country needs that requires them to have a corresponding rank to exercise it. And it's not a shock that he went on to become President either, given the nature of that one talent.
Jerry, there's one organization that can create jobs *without* demand. Think about it. The problem is, that organization is currently *destroying* jobs. Hmm... WASF?
- Badtux the Waddling Penguin
I wouldn't be much of a vice president. I don't have enough vices.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the "didn't budge" link gets the dreaded 404 error.
Cheers!
JzB
I suppose we could run you for President then, JzB. After all, you were in plastics, and that's important for the Presidency ;).
ReplyDeleteURL fixed (just removed the accidental quote on the end of the URL, sigh!).
- Badtux the Quotable Penguin
Death of the mall economy will finally collapse the American Dream and turn The Dollar Store into Nostrums.
ReplyDelete"Eligibilty problems"?!? Jeez, we had eight years of good-ole-boy-aw-shucks-gee-dumbya, and now we have two -- count 'em TWO -- BatBoy clones (Bachmann and Scott) plus MO-rons like Goodhair, O'Donnell, Mittens, and you-betcha-by-golly-hot-old Sarah.
ReplyDeleteWord verification: layin. While talkinmg about Bachmann, O'Donnell, and Palin. Just sayin. Too.
I suppose we could run you for President then, JzB. After all, you were in plastics, and that's important for the Presidency ;).
ReplyDeleteWell, plastics were not my forte - but I do know a little bit about Teflon . . .
Cheers!
JzB