All hail the job creators
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All hail the job creators
Let's be honest, America. The corporate "job creators" don't need additional tax cuts to do their job-creating magic. All they need to do is click their heels three times -- and then spend a little of the billions in cash that they're either paying to themselves or stuffing under their mattress:
In the third quarter of this year, “corporate earnings were $1.75 trillion, up 18.6% from a year ago.” Corporations are currently making more as a percentage of the economy than they ever have since such records were kept. But at the same time, wages as a percentage of the economy are at an all-time low,...
Corporations made a record $824 billion in profits last year as well, while the stock market has had one of its best performances since 1900 while Obama has been in office.
Meanwhile, workers are getting the short end of the stick. As CNN Money explained, “a separate government reading shows that total wages have now fallen to a record low of 43.5% of GDP. Until 1975, wages almost always accounted for at least half of GDP, and had been as high as 49% as recently as early 2001.”
A couple of things. Thing one -- it's not surprising that that wages were such a higher percentage of GDP in 1975, since that was right at the moment when the organized labor movement began to dramatically lose clout. How this happened -- a fascinating and also vitally important story -- is chronicled in an outstanding book that I recently completed reading called "Stayin' Alive: The 1970s and the Last Days of the Working Class," by Jefferson Cowie. I won't digress right now into a long discussion of whether the death of organized labor was inevitable, necessary or lamentable, but no one can dispute that blue-collar Americans were better off when unions were strong.
Thing two -- as appalling as most of the so-called "fiscal cliff" debate is, it does seem like this could be a rare moment to re-write the tax code. Few would argue that -- like it or not -- our tax code is written to incentivize and reward certain activities, like owning a home or making charitable donations. This time around, it would be nice to see tax changes that punish over-the-top executive pay and reward companies that actually create jobs in the United States. I'm no tax attorney, but I'm sure smart people can figure out how to do that.
Punishing investment is a smart way to incentivize companies to create jobs.
$824 billion in profits isn't that much, considering that just a handful of American companies collected trillions of dollars in tax refunds. Or so I heard.— Mr. Smith- Careful Will you don't want to whip up the Randians who believe they're entitled to as much as they can stuff into their grubby mitts. (no pun intended)— No Ids
- once again you liberals using facts and stats to prove a point about unabashed greed of the job creators!!
i'll wait for faux news to come up with a rebuttal devoid of facts and figures to scare me into voting repubelican.
is sarah palin the darling of the dopey right? you betcha!— the lopez! - "In the third quarter of this year, 'corporate earnings were $1.75 trillion, up 18.6% from a year ago.' Corporations are currently making more as a percentage of the economy than they ever have since such records were kept."
Will, stop wasting your time trying to point out facts. We aall know Obama is a socialist. He forgot to do it in his first term but he's gonna take away our guns too.— wokmaster 
"Or so I heard."
Lol— wokmaster- That was a clumsily written comment by me, Smithy. For whatever reason, I was thinking that a hundered billion makes a trillion. One point for you. Couple more and we might break even with your election prediction. 8-)— wokmaster
- So you must have been shocked to learn that our country's growing debt problem is ten times worse than you thought a month ago. I'm sure you are not alone among Americans in not knowing how big a trillion dollars is.
— Mr. Smith - Numbers aren't a strong suit of Democrats since they only see things as infinite.
— LouDiamondPhillipsheadScrewdriver - Mr Smith, I said it was a mistake - not a misapprehension. A trillion is a hard number to fathom in the physical sense but I have always been aware that a thousand billions equals a trillion. See, I'm taking responsibility for an incorrect statement, unlike your lame excuse for why you said Romney would be the next President. Let me paraphrase: I knew Obama would win but was outspoken about predicting the opposite because I wished it were so.— wokmaster
- So Will, by raising taxes on these 'entities' then we can either induce them into creating jobs OR pay more benefits to those without work. Workers getting the short end of the stick is another earth shaking revelation; has there ever really been a time when workers did not think they were getting the short end? Even when unions were stronger?? The tax code has been a joke for a long long time. Honestly, would anyone disagree with that statement?— elbrewador
- Workers, as Will pointed out, were better off pre-1975. Before Reagan. Yes, companies made money, but so did their employees.— mike l
- Yes, as everyone knows, the economy will do so much better if we'd only send more money & give more power to Washington. Especially with a "Community Organizer" organizing things. He & his cast of boot lickers know better what to do with our money - can choose more wisely on our behalf - than every single one of us. All 330 million. The audacity of arrogance.— teardownthisfishwrap
- Companies exist to earn money and to out-compete their competition. They can either do it by expanding their top line, or, if they cant, by increasing productivity among their current employees and limiting spending. Growth on the top is better.— tr88
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