Building our way out

During the last campaign we have to suffer through the nonsensical and ridiculous Sarah Palin induced drill baby drill mantra.
The new mantra should be build baby build.
Despite republican rhetoric and the silliness of political campaigns, Presidents cannot really create jobs in the private market. The problem is that no politician wants to admit that they can’t do something. It would show weakness.
On the other hand the Republican one trick pony show of tax cuts was dismissed as non sensical by former economic advisor to President Reagan, Bruce Barlett.
At present America suffers from several problems. A major problem is a collective demand fro goods and servicdes. High unemployment leads to decreased revenues for the government as well as decreased demand for goods and services. The big question is how do we put people to work. Tax cuts and spending cuts will not get us out of the economic malaise. In a recent Times Magazine article Rana Foroohar speask about several myths that Americans seem to want to hold onto and continue to fuel poltical debates. One is the notion that entrepreneurship is the foundation of the American economy. The fact is that entrepeneurship has been producign less and less jobs for the last 30 years. The myth that the private sector can save us is another myth. At present corporate America has 3 million jobs that are presently unfulfilled. Secondly they are sitting on billions in cash. The silly notion proclaimed by Republicans such as John Boehner that corporations are not hiring because they are unsure about regulations or tax cuts is foolishness. When one looks at the fact that companies who are heavily engaged in global markets actually create very little jobs relatively speaking in the United States of America.
So what needs to happen. No one denies that the infrastructure of America is falling apart. Instead of nonsensical discussions about tax cuts and capital gains tax, there should be a huge discussion about creating a strategy that will fix our infrastructure which will lead to the hirng of millions of americans. Many people, normally republican, hold on to the line that it was World War II that saved us from a deeper depression during the time of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. What many people fail to remember, normally Republicans, is that the spending on the war was coupled with domestic spending. If war was the way we climb out of economic crisis, we have two wars going on right now. If one looks at history during the great depression, many Republicans were against the New Deal, not because they were afriad it would work but but they claimed it would compete with business. However when domestic spending was increased GDP increased as well. When domestic spending during the great depression decreased, GDP decreased as well. If you take the 3 million jobs that remain unfilled and convince corporations sitting on cash to begin hiring, begin to create a jobs program that rebuild our roads and bridges and other infrastructure you will have a tremendous effect on unemployment in the nation. This hiring will also increase tax revenue because all of the workers will be paying taxes. This in turn will create greater demand for goods and services within our nation. We cannot grow ourselves out of this economic crisis by tax cuts. We begin to grow out of it by putting people to work. We grow out of it by making sure people have incomes that enable them to go out and participate in the American economy.
Unfortunately, the Republicans will speak as a one trick pony and the President will be sidetracked by the Republicans to deal with the deficit. Many economists however, tell you that now is not the time to focus on deficit spending. At the end of the day the debate in 2012 will be about the one trick pony party of tax cuts and spending cuts versus creating what we know will work. Unfortunately, the democrats will run scared. Harry Reid is virtually spineless. The Black Congressional Caucus is virtually voiceless, Nancy Pelosi is marginalized. Given that scenario, President Obama has virtually no political base to work with. As a result compromise by both the White House and the Democrats tend to be made on republican territory. Let me digress for a moment. The one thing that angers me most about the Anthony Weiner scandal is that he was in general the only democrat who showed some backbone against the republicans and their extreme proposals. I understand why the leadership wants Weiner out because the more he spoke out the weaker the rest of the democrats look.
What is needed is a liberal/progressive form of the Tea Party that would serve to force Democrats to act on the things they say they believe in. The republicans are not tone deaf. They are listening to their constituency. Their constituency however is not the majority of Americans.The Republicans believe that the people who deserve to increase their spending power is the top 1% of America
At some point we need to deal with common sense politics and economics. If we build America we will equip Americans with the income that is needed and a new infrastructure to compete in a increasingly global economy. With an employed America, we can begin to grow our way out of the deficit.
We can’t cut our way out we must build our way out.