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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIs anyone else sick of the MSM calling rich people "job creators"???
I've even heard some at MSNBC and NPR using the term and the ignorance of it is astounding. The term was invented by wingnuts to drum up sympathy for the rich so everyone buys into our highly regressive tax structure. Calling rich people job creators is just an endorsement of supply-side economic 'theory' which has been fully debunked over and over. The only thing that creates jobs is demand, and rich people don't create demand. The truly sad part is the one place where I have seen this fallacious notion seriously challenged is on Bloomberg. I'm sure it's been challenged elsewhere, but most of the time it just gets a free pass and supposedly serious journalists use the term as if it actually had merit. Has America really been dumbed down that much?
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-12-07/raise-taxes-on-rich-to-reward-true-job-creators-nick-hanauer.html
Warpy
(111,339 posts)and quickly realized my habit of keeping televised news OFF was a very good one.
Any "journalist" who doesn't break in and say "Job creator? Prove it" should be fired on the spot.
Fortunately, I think it's backfiring. You have to be a rare sort of stupid to think these men who are grabbing everything in sight have created one single job here and not in China.
Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)It seems most Republicans buy into this nonsense, and many Democrats don't seem to challenge the idea much. The truly sad part is a huge part of public policy is built on a lie. That's why there's no serious challege to recalling the Bush tax cuts and most legislation that actually has a shot at helping the economy must be accompanied by a heaping helping of more tax cuts for the rich. I do see some of this backfiring like you say, but until more people and especially those in the media start standing up and calling bullshit I don't see much change in how this affects policy makers.
ArcticFox
(1,249 posts)fasttense
(17,301 posts)HillWilliam
(3,310 posts)except the jobs are in China, India, Malaysia, Guatemala...
jody
(26,624 posts)their wealth does interest me since I assume they either spend it or invest it. Either way wealth flows back into the economy but not necessarily in ways that I approve.
Quantess
(27,630 posts)Is how I answer your two questions.
stillwaiting
(3,795 posts)It sounds like something he would come up with.
People are so easy to manipulate with the right sounding words. Especially right wingers.
alc
(1,151 posts)When it comes to existing products, demand creates jobs (usually overseas manufacturing).
When it comes to service industry (restaurant, hotel, etc) and entertainment, demand (and disposable income) creates jobs.
When it comes to new products and services, jobs are usually created with the help of the rich. Zuckerberg and Apple both took an existing product (social network & smartphone) and turned them into HUGE businesses and created A LOT of jobs doing it, not just directly but in all sorts of peripheral businesses. They needed investment from "the rich" to accomplish this. And it wasn't because millions of people were screaming "I want a social network but myspace sucks" or "I want a smartphone but RIM sucks". They created demand.
Not all of the rich invest in opportunities like these. It's stupid to give tax breaks to everyone based on what a small percentage do. But it's also stupid to say that jobs don't depend on investment from the rich. Manufacturing and service jobs won't be growing in the US at the pace we need. Turning startups into businesses that drive 10s or 100s of thousands of jobs more often than not involves rich people investing both in those companies or products that succeed and a lot of others that fail.
Yavin4
(35,445 posts)The term "job-creator" is not only inaccurate, but it's insulting. It connotes that rich people create jobs out of the goodness of their own hearts, when that's not the case.
Snotcicles
(9,089 posts)Economies are suppose to be a self perpetuating engine. They don't run long when you siphon out all of the fuel.
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)At least, at first. I'm thinking about people who have a great idea and start a company by borrowing on their credit cards.