Born of political compromise, the agreement to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy is supported by President Barack Obama, even though he admits the tax breaks won’t help the unemployment situation.

 

“The issue here is not whether I think that the tax cuts for the wealthy are a good or smart thing to do. I’ve said repeatedly that I think they’re not a smart thing to do, particularly because we’ve got to borrow money, essentially, to pay for them,” Obama told NPR. “The problem is, is that this is the single issue that the Republicans are willing to scotch the entire deal for.”

 

The Center for American Progress reaffirms the position of of those on the left that the tax cuts for the rich are not the way to create new jobs. The think tank points out that during the first three years of the Bush tax cuts, America’s job total actually went down, from 132 million jobs in 2001 to 131.4 million in 2004. Job growth did improve during Bush’s second term, but overall the rate was “anemic” compared to that under President Bill Clinton.

 

The problem is that when wealthy people are given more money, their main priority is usually to use it to make even more money, even if this entails investing in other countries or in simply taking part in paper transactions that do not create jobs anywhere.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Obama: Bush Tax Cuts For The Rich Won’t Create ‘One Single Job’ (Think Progress)

Three Good Reasons to Let the High-End Bush Tax Cuts Disappear This Year (by Michael Linden and Michael Ettlinger, Center for American Progress)