This installment from The Winning Words Project covers how to lead the narrative on the issue voters have said is the most important thing for the candidates to talk about ...
Job Creation
Glassdoor took a survey that revealed two really important pieces of information: 67 percent of respondents think the presidential candidates should make reducing unemployment and getting Americans back to work their priority, and 45 percent are completely wrong in recommending that taxpayers "provide incentives for large corporations to hire Americans."
It is the middle class who drive demand and therefore create jobs in this country!
Raise Taxes on Rich to Reward True Job Creators
by Nick Hanauer for Bloomberg Businessweek
It is a tenet of American economic beliefs, and an article of faith for Republicans that is seldom contested by Democrats: If taxes are raised on the rich, job creation will stop.
Trouble is, sometimes the things that we know to be true are dead wrong. For the larger part of human history, for example, people were sure that the sun circles the Earth and that we are at the center of the universe. It doesn’t, and we aren’t. The conventional wisdom that the rich and businesses are our nation’s “job creators” is every bit as false.
I’m a very rich person. As an entrepreneur and venture capitalist, I’ve started or helped get off the ground dozens of companies in industries including manufacturing, retail, medical services, the Internet and software. I founded the Internet media company aQuantive Inc., which was acquired by Microsoft Corp. in 2007 for $6.4 billion. I was also the first non-family investor in Amazon.com Inc.
Even so, I’ve never been a “job creator.” I can start a business based on a great idea, and initially hire dozens or hundreds of people. But if no one can afford to buy what I have to sell, my business will soon fail and all those jobs will evaporate.
For decades, the Republican party has sold America on the lie that corporations and the wealthy men who own and run them, need to keep more of
their money in their pockets because they're the ones who use it to create jobs. Democrats have become complicit in not only buying into this lie (remember, "
Repeat, Repeat, Repeat" makes it "true" in the mind of the listener, even when it's not, and Democrats are not immune to this scientific phenomenon), but in promoting it, and worse yet, legislating in support of it.
If we are to save this country from continuing economic collapses and bail outs for "too big to fail" cash hoarders, we must make our voices heard collectively, as did the Occupy movement, and tell the president and our legislators ...
Not anymore!
Follow us over the fold ...
On average, 16 million new vehicles are sold in this country every year. How many of those do you suppose the richest 400 men in America are buying? How many vehicles are the 13,480 individuals or families making over $10 million a year purchasing? Let's be generous and say they're all buying, on average, 5 cars per year; that would come to 69,400 vehicle purchases a year for the super wealthy in this country, leaving 15,930,600 being purchased by the middle class.
When the middle class lose their buying power, what happens to the number of vehicles being sold every year? When car, truck and SUV sales are down, what happens to jobs in the auto industry?
So which solution to keeping the auto industry afloat would you rather see?
A: Middle class taxpayers are forced to save car manufacturers and dealerships through government loans.
B: Middle class taxpayers have enough income to afford to buy more cars.
15,930,600 > 69,400
If 67 percent of taxpayers want the candidates to start talking about job creation, then we have to be sure we're telling the truth about who the real job creators in this country are: us!
Corporations may have the dollars, but we have the numbers. We control this economy. We are the ones who can build it back to the promise our Founding Fathers envisioned for us. We must stop allowing our legislators to cow-tow to the "Rich & Famous" who are bilking middle class job creators for billions of dollars a year in government give-aways already.
Not only do they not need any more, they need fewer in order for this country to be restored to fiscal soundness. Just ask deeply conservative Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK), who spelled it out quite clearly in his report titled, "Subsidies of The Rich and Famous," (pdf) dated November, 2011.
The government safety net has been cast far and wide, with almost half of all American households now receiving some form of government assistance. But most taxpayers will be asking why when they learn who is receiving what.
From tax write-offs for gambling losses, vacation homes, and luxury yachts to subsidies for their ranches and estates, the government is subsidizing the lifestyles of the rich and famous. Multimillionaires are even receiving government checks for not working. This welfare for the well-off – costing billions of dollars a year – is being paid for with the taxes of the less fortunate, many who are working two jobs just to make ends meet, and IOUs to be paid off by future generations.
This is not an accidental loophole in the law. To the contrary, this reverse Robin Hood style of wealth redistribution is an intentional effort to get all Americans bought into a system where everyone appears to benefit. ...
We should never demonize those who are successful. [aside: that is not what Occupy or the 99% are doing. G-d love the rich; more power to 'em. But ...] Nor should we pamper them with unnecessary welfare to create an appearance everyone is benefiting from federal programs. ...
The government’s social safety net, which has long existed to catch those who are down and help them get back up, is now being used as a hammock by some millionaires, some who are paying less taxes than average middle class families. Comprehensive information on the full range of government benefits enjoyed by millionaires has never been collected previously. This report provides the first such compilation. What it reveals is sheer Washington stupidity with government policies pampering the wealthy costing taxpayers billions of dollars every year. ...
"On average, each year, this report found that millionaires enjoy benefits from tax giveaways and federal grant programs totaling $30 billion."
The middle class have
sacrificed our wealth to give it over to the rich so they can allegedly trickle it down on us for decades. And what have they really been doing with our wealth?
Hoarding it from us.
Corporations have skimmed 100 percent of the profits off the backs of our labor, hoarding all the profits for themselves and not giving the 99 percent the
one tool that would
actually create jobs —
the income that would drive demand for products and services.
It's time to put a stop to this madness.
So we urge you from now on, every time you get a chance and every time you see or hear anyone talking about job creation, remind them emphatically exactly who the job creators are in this country: the middle class. And call and write and tweet the president and your representatives in Congress and tell them that this is how we expect them to start talking about job creation in this country!