Tax Breaks, or Unemplyment Benefits?

The latest data shows employment increased by less than 40,000 new hires in November. Over the last 12 months, the number of people working has increased by less than one million. Just to account for the growth of our population, we need about 120,000 new hires every month, and to make any dent in the 15 million citizens currently out of work, hiring must be at a rate of 300,000 a month for at least a year (that would only rehire 10% of those out of work, and absorb those joining the workforce upon graduation from high school and college), so we need many years of job growth at 300,000 a month, not less than 40,000. In addition, 50% of those graduating from college do not get jobs requiring a college education (most jobs don't), and those that fail to get a job using the skills they learned in college end up with jobs paying (on average) 40% less than those who get jobs requiring a college education. For many people who have heard politicians and Bill Gates say that we don't have enough college graduates and we need to bring in low wage workers from India and China, the job market is a huge disappointment, leaving them with tens of thousands of dollars in debt, years spent in college when they could have been working their way up the job ladder, and, upon graduation, no job. Firms today are increasing profits, not by hiring workers and making more product, but by laying off workers and getting those left to work harder, often for reduced pay or benefits. If you are a Republican, or bailed out banker, you have so much money you need a tax break. If you are worker, you need job.

At this time, with unemployment at almost 10%, with 15 million out of work, with five or six job applicants for every open job, Republicans first priority is more tax cuts for the rich, in fact, every Republican signed a letter to the President saying that they will block every bill before the senate until every millionaire, every billionaire, gets an Obama tax break (the Bush tax breaks expire this month, new tax breaks will be the Obama tax program for the wealthy and Republicans insist that the Obama tax cuts not be paid for, that they be added to the deficit.

http://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/pressreleases?id=1948

Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, "“We’re here at a time where a lot of issues are on the table and they’re not unrelated. You hear talk about extending tax cuts to the wealthiest people in America. And those tax cuts we are told, should not be paid for. $700 billion in tax cuts to the top 2 percent in our country and our Republican colleagues say we should do that and we should not pay for it, we should add that $700 billion to the deficit. But when it comes to unemployment insurance and just the renewal we want to have, it costs $18 billion — $700 billion vs. $18 billion — they’re saying that has to be paid for. Have to pay for unemployment insurance, we don’t have to pay for tax cuts for the rich. Tax cuts for the rich do not create jobs. They haven’t throughout the Bush Administration. Unemployment insurance creates jobs; does not add to the deficit. And the Republicans insist that that be paid for. "

Republicans want to preserve tax breaks of over $100 million each (average) for the top 25 hedge fund managers, and cut off (say) $250 a week in unemployment benefits to long term unemployed workers who had no part in creating this recession. It is not that workers are lazy or don't want to work, it is that there are no jobs, and the hedge fund managers that congress wants tax breaks for, had a hand in creating this mess.

The Bush tax cuts were never paid for, they contributed hundreds of billions of dollars to the deficit, and not one single Republican demanded that they be paid for. Not one single Republican insisted that any part of the $3 trillion invasion of Iraq be paid for, Republicans now insist that there be $700 billion in new tax breaks, large breaks for the rich, and they insist that they be added to the deficit without any compensating taxes being collected, or cuts be made. But for the $18 billion needed to continue unemployment benefits, they demand that cuts be made in programs benefiting the middle class who did not benefit from the trillions in deficit spending during the Bush years.

Republicans always insist that tax cuts not be paid for, that they be added to the general deficit that all taxpayers are responsible for, because they know if they, or Obama, identifies how the tax cuts will be paid for, those paying will revolt and the bill will never get passed, the reason for that is simple: those getting the breaks will not be those who lose the benefits or pay higher fees to replace the money. Just as every action has an equal and opposite reaction, every tax cut leads to increased deficit, higher taxes on someone else, or cutting the benefits that someone else gets. Republicans want to make sure that the "fool in the room" is not warned who will be paying. Note: Warren Buffet has said, that if you do not know who the fool is, then it is you.