Friday, May 18, 2012

Quotation for Today: Do Republicans Worship a False Economic Deity?

The meme for this election season is political candidates, mainly Republicans, extolling themselves as "job creators."  The quotation for today provides insight into who are the true job creators, and as you might have guessed, they are not the people who are praised and deified by Republican politicians.
"We've had it backward for the last 30 years. Rich businesspeople like me don't create jobs. Rather they are a consequence of an eco-systemic feedback loop animated by middle-class consumers, and when they thrive, businesses grow and hire, and owners profit. That's why taxing the rich to pay for investments that benefit all is a great deal for both the middle class and the rich."
Nick Hanauer


Nick Hanauer, according to the National Journal, is a venture capitalist from Seattle who is 'screaming to anyone who will listen that he, and other wealthy innovators like him, doesn't create jobs.' 


Mr. Hanauer explains that it is the middle class -- via demand for goods and services -- who creates jobs, not the Republicans' "job creators." Please note that many economists, exemplified by Paul Krugman, James K. Galbraith and Christina Romer, et al., have often written and spoken about this steadfast economic principle.


Nick Hanauer's comments debunk the Republicans' claims about who are the "job creators." During this election season, you will see many advertisements for Republican candidates, including for GOP presidential wannabes, that will attempt to canonize these candidates as job creators. These advertisements are just more Republican propaganda of the weapons-of-mass-destruction kind.


Mr. Hanauer's comments are from a speech he made as part of the TED program and the article, which includes the cited comments, is about the refusal of TED to post Mr. Hanauer's talk on their web site.


To read the complete article, from which Nick Hanauer's comments were excerpted, follow the link enclosed in the citation for the National Journal article.


Tankersley, Jim. "The Inequality Speech That TED Won't Show You." National Journal 16 May, 2012: online edition. 


(This story was also highlighted in an article  by Lauren Kelley on AlterNet.) 


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