As the saying goes, nothing in life is certain but death and taxes. However, thanks to the Bush-Era tax cuts (extended last year by Obama), the wealthiest among us are paying less in taxes now than in the past 60 years. As the GOP threatens to withhold funding for disaster areas like Joplin, MO due to the deficit, they ignore the elephant in the room: tax cuts for the rich have increased the debt more than any other single factor (see graph above). Let's also explore what this has done for job creation, below.
More Trickle Down?
That was the theory under Reagan - cut taxes for the rich, and the money will "trickle down" to everyone else. It didn't work then, and it's not working now. What has trickled down is misery, as this Youtube video from UCubed points out.
The AFL-CIO writes about the unhappy 10th Anniversary of the Bush tax cuts; including how it's actually stifled job creation. Aside from the continually high unemployment rate, we're now seeing that joblessness is contributing to the foreclosure problem.
Paul Krugman points out that Congress is still focusing on the wrong issue - the deficit, and one of the things the deficit hawks say we must focus on is the bond market. Wrong. The market is fine, but unemployment still haunts the land.
While the corporate media goes back and forth over whether there will be a double-dip recession, an article in The New Republic points to " the very real chance of a another Great Depression," largely due to sustained high unemployment.
Fight Back: Stop the Tax Cuts for the Rich
We cannot shred the social safety net when it's most needed. It's long past time to require the super wealthy to pay their fair share. Follow this link from Credo Action to tell Congress: Tax millionaires and billionaires!
"Walkerville" Tent City Grows in Wisconsin
Like the workers who built "Hooverville" tent cities in the Depression of the 1920s, protesters are dramatizing their opposition to Republicans' economic policies. Read the John Wojcik article from the People's World to learn more about it. Their action illustrates that since working people don't have legions of lobbyists working on their behalf, we need to take it to the streets. Robert Reich recently wrote about how "the silent jobless" are primarily women and people of color who need to gain political clout to have their demands met. And John Rummel's article about an empty train depot gives an example of how Detroit is fighting for jobs. There is no progress without struggle - more power to us all!
Please make sure to visit the People's World online for the best in worker's news!
In solidarity,
Scott Marshall
Labor Chair, CPUSA
Source: Open letter from CPUSA
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