May 23, 2012

Where Job Creation Comes From [hint: not from tax breaks to the super rich]

There are lots of myths in our society, some are good some are horrible. A good one is the idea of natural rights. That is, every person is born with certain unalienable rights, so the concept of a social contract is easier to imagine. I'm not questioning whether every human being should have fundamental rights, but how do you prove that everyone is born with equal rights? At any rate, the point of this essay is to discuss another harmful  myth, and that is, the notion that tax cuts for the rich is a good thing. This belief is an article of faith being constantly repeated by the conservatives, while leaders like president Obama and many in the Democratic Party are afraid to challenge it!

Class warfare is the term that scares many, like an actual war might be. Relax everybody, the war is over and the elites have won it. But, I was very surprised to hear that TED Talks censored a speech critical of this article of faith.

Watch this video by Nick Hanauer--a rich person who clearly makes sense about where job creation comes from. 




 

1 comment:

Ghassan Karam said...

Unfortunately this argument, on both sides is based on half truths. Deficit finance, as favoured by Keynes, does prescribe a tax cut in order to fight a recession on the grounds that the tax cut translates into additional disposable income that finds its way back to the national economy either as consumption or as investment. My guess is that does not work when the tax cut targets the super rich and thus generates a level of disposable income that is NOT returned to the economy in additional consumption or as investment.