“More jobs equal less debt, even our kids can understand that. Tell Congress to pass the American Jobs Act now.”
AFSCME, the union for federal, state and local government workers, has a new TV ad out and a six figure campaign to show the ad, along with a committment to make a sustained effort to promote The American Jobs Act.
Here's what the ad says:
It’s pretty simple: the more jobs we create now, the less federal debt they’ll have to carry later. Because jobs not only put food on the table, they put revenue in the treasury and money in the marketplace. More jobs equal less debt; even our kids can understand that. Tell Congress to pass the American Jobs Act — now. Not just for us, but for our children.
From AFSCME:
The American Jobs Act, President Obama’s plan to put unemployed Americans back to work and keep those who have jobs out of the unemployment lines, needs everyone’s support if it’s going to pass.
That’s why AFSCME is launching a television ad campaign to pressure members of Congress to pass the measure. The first ad, titled “More Jobs Equal Less Debt,” will begin airing Sept. 23 in Orlando, Fla., and also on national cable TV. That day in Orlando, the state Republican Party begins a three-day conference that will draw the GOP’s presidential candidates.
“We need jobs and we need them now,” says AFSCME Pres. Gerald W. McEntee. “This is one ad of what will prove to be a significant campaign to send a message to Congress. The time for petty political posturing is over, and Congress needs to pass this jobs bill and pass it right away. For far too long we have witnessed the working middle class suffer and corporate CEOs’ profit. It is time to put America back to work and make millionaires pay their fair share.”
The ad ends with this line: “More jobs equal less debt, even our kids can understand that. Tell Congress to pass the American Jobs Act now.”
We think Congress will understand that, too.
AFSCME
Greg Sargent reports that this is a six figure buy and there is more to come afterward:
I’m told that AFSCME is launching a significant six figure ad campaign on behalf of the American Jobs Act — the opening salvo in what AFSCME says will be a sustained effort to promote Obama’s bill.
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Seriously, the ad is an effort to coopt and disarm a major conservative talking point — that we need to deal with the deficit right now for the sake of future generations — and convert it into a case for immediate job creation. I’m told the ad will be followed by other spots in various markets across the country, and other efforts, such as field events, online actions, and leafleting.
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So the ad is an effort to spell out the folly of Washington’s priorities in Dick-and-Jane speak, in language that even a child — if not a Member of Congress — can understand.
WaPo, Greg Sargent, The Plum Line: Labor putting its muscle behind Obama’s jobs bill
Steve Benen opines that this turns the Republican argument on its head, and correctly so:
But let’s also note that AFSCME is also turning the right’s argument about fiscal responsibility on its ear. To hear Republicans tell it, austerity measures and brutal spending cuts are necessary to lower the deficit and ease the burden on future generations. This ad is making the case — accurately — that conservatives have this backwards.
Reality shows the one sure-fire way to improve the nation’s fiscal conditions is to also improve the nation’s economic conditions. As David Leonhardt explained several months ago, economic growth lowers the deficit.
We look back on the late 1990s as a rare time when the federal government ran budget surpluses. We tend to forget that those surpluses came as a surprise to almost everybody.
As late as 1998, the Congressional Budget Office was predicting a deficit for 1999. In fact, Washington ran its biggest surplus in five decades.
What happened? Above all, economic growth. And that may be a big part of the answer to our current problems.
Yes, the government became more fiscally conservative in the 1990s. Both President George H. W. Bush (who doesn’t get enough credit) and President Bill Clinton, working with Congress, raised taxes to attack the 1980s deficits.
But those tax increases were the second most important reason for the surpluses that followed. The most important was the fact that the economy grew more rapidly than expected. The faster growth pushed up incomes and caused more tax revenue to flow into the Treasury.
Washington Monthly, Steve Benen
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“More jobs equal less debt, even our kids can understand that. Tell Congress to pass the American Jobs Act now.”