What Would Steve Do? Jobs, That Is
Posted: Thursday, October 20, 2011
by Richard Walrath
Articles and Answers.com
By Richard E Walrath and Patricia L Johnson
Steve Jobs came back to his company just in time to save it. Apple was floundering around like a fish out of water. The company lacked focus, a sense of purpose, but what it needed most was someone who could see what needed to be done. Steve Jobs put people to work doing what he saw needed to be done. That's what this country needs today--get busy on all the things that need to be done.
By this time, most people, hopefully, know that GDP is made up of consumer spending (70%). That leaves just 30% for the rest of the components--business investment, government spending, and trade (exports less imports). We import more than we export, so that actually reduces GDP.
Business firms instead of investing are sitting on over $2 trillion dollars waiting for the economy to become more certain. The rich have everything they could possibly want or need, and haven't been spending the way they were. The answer, clearly, is more jobs. If more people were working, incomes would be higher, people would be spending more and GDP would be growing.
Banks are sitting on hoards of money as a result of bailouts and aren't lending to small businesses.
Cutting the deficit by reducing government spending also reduces GDP, which makes the situation worse.
We hear over and over again from the Republicans that "we have a spending problem." No, we don't. Where we have a deficit is in the revenues. There are dozens of companies that pay their executives more in salaries than the companies pay in taxes.
The chart below represents revenues for fiscal year 2011. Individual income taxes comprise the largest percentage, while social insurance [employment taxes] is second. Trailing in third place is corporate taxes.
While social insurance taxes [employment – FICA and SECA] have jumped from 10% of revenues in the 1950’s to between 35 and 45 percent in recent years, corporate and excise taxes have dropped significantly. In the 1950’s corporate taxes represented 30 percent of federal receipts, while excise taxes were 19 percent.
Investment spending is the immediate answer which can be achieved by companies and banks spending the funds they are currently hoarding. The long term solution, of course, is reviewing the tax loopholes that allowed taxes from corporations to drop from 30 percent of revenues in the 1950’s to a mere 8.3 percent of revenues in 2011.
© Richard E Walrath and Patricia L Johnson
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)We can't get back the lives that have been lost in Afghanistan
and Iraq. But we can get back the money wasted on these wars
and the tax-cuts that went, mostly, to the rich. Republicans
have just filibustered a .5% tax increase on people making over
$1 million, starting with the first dollar over the first million!
How greedy can they get? How did your senator vote?
Good Morning Richard,
Have to disagree with you about retrieving the money. How are we going to get back trillions of dollars lost in tax revenues, or war costs for the past ten years? Oh, I know – maybe all these foreign countries will start paying us to stay on our side of the pond.
The GOP will have another opportunity to vote in November when a .7 percent surtax on AGI over a million dollars is added to the second part of President Obama’s Jobs bill. It makes no sense for them to vote no on the jobs bill. The intent of the surtax is to defray the cost, and avoid adding to the yearly deficits.
The GOP has moaned and groaned about the deficit and no jobs since before the 2008 election, it’s what put them in control of the House. So they were given a bill that created jobs without adding to the deficit and you still can’t get a yes vote out of the party of “no".
There is hope though... Eric Cantor was scheduled to give a speech at the University of Pennsylvania on Friday and he cancelled. Protestors showed up at the University and Cantor’s office was advised, by the university, that the first 300 people would be admitted to the lecture hall, regardless of their affiliation. Paul Ryan ran into the same thing a couple weeks ago.
Hopefully, sooner or later the GOP will get the message this country needs jobs, not rhetoric.
As far as how my senator voted - without looking, I think I can safely say the democrat voted yes, and the Republican voted no.
P.
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