The latest fashion amongst the Republican front-runners – and let’s be honest, if these are the best that the party has to offer, the world is in serious trouble – is to refer to the very rich as “Job Creators”.
In a sense, this is actually accurate. In a sense. As the heads of major corporations, they are ultimately responsible for the jobs those companies create. But conversely, that means they’re also the ones responsible for the jobs lost to redundancies, offshoring, and all the other cost-cutting measures so beloved of the corporate mind.
In this, as in all other things, the power to create is also the power to destroy. Just ask the Old Testament God so beloved of the Republicans.
Not that you’ll hear Gingrich, Santorum, Romney or anyone else admitting to this. That would require honesty and integrity. (In fairness, it’s unlikely you’ll hear any Democrats referring to this, either. Both teams know better than to bite the hand that feeds.)
But the real nub of the Republican “Job Creator” fabulation is that increasing taxes on these people will stop them from creating jobs. Even when official treasury statistics show that unemployment in the USA is approximately double what it what when these tax cuts were first introduced. (See for yourself.)
This is an argument that I expect that Obama will bash whoever the Republicans finally decide on over the head with come the debates later this year…
…just as I confidently expect that the Republican response will be to complain that referring to the facts is cheating.