Sunday, April 15, 2012

ROBERT REICH DEBUNKS 6 BIG GOP LIES ABOUT THE ECONOMY

BIG LIE #1
"TRICKLE DOWN" TAX CUTS
Ratio of corporate profits to wages is higher than it was before the great depression of the 1930's. They're sitting on over $2 trillion in cash.

BIG LIE #2
SHRINK GOVERNMENT TO CREATE JOBS
If you layoff school teachers, firefighters and police officers, and you have fewer people building the roads, the infrastructure, rebuilding schools doing all of the public's work, how can that create more jobs? Their answer: "government always gets in the way" no factual answer, just rhetoric.

BIG LIE #3
TAXES ON RICH HURT THE ECONOMY
In the 1960's the top income earners never paid below a marginal income tax of 70%, during the Eisenhower years it was 91%. Yet the economy grew faster. The lie that we must not tax the rich because it would deter them from working hard and investing in jobs, is nothing but a bold-faced lie, based on ideology and not facts.

BIG LIE #4
THE DEBT BOOGYMAN
If you get growth and jobs back the debt shrinks in proportion to the national economy, becoming more and more manageable. Another lie Long term debt is because of social security and Medicare, wrong, it's because of rising healthcare costs. Medicare is the most efficient system we have. The Medicare costs of administration are so tiny relative to private insurance, and what we really need if we want to get Medicare and medical costs down is Medicare for ALL!.


BIG LIE #5
SOCIAL SECURITY IS A PONZI SCHEME
Another lie, Social Security is solvent at least for the next 26 years, the reason the post system is in danger because of the raging inequality, as so much money has gone to the top, that the proportion of income subjected to social security taxes is not going to be enough. That's why the easiest and most direct response to post 26 years from now is the raise the cap on the proportion of income that supports social security.

BIG LIE #6
WE NEED TO TAX THE POOR
This lie is so backwards, we've got to reduce taxes on the middle and the lower middle, increase taxes on the top and have more tax brackets, go back to where were in the 60's at least.


The greatest enemy we have is mass cynicism, when people get to the point when they think nothing can be done...then THE OTHER SIDE WINS. That's what they want, they want government to be underfunded, to function so badly that people say, "oh, government can't work." They want government and politics to be so ineffective and paralyzed, that most Americans will say, "oh, I'm gonna give up, nothing can be done." Then they win.

It's easy when people are fearful and disorganized, feeling separate. They want us to fight amongst ourselves so we can be vulnerable to demagogues who will say it's because of government, it's because of immigrants, because of blacks, or because of a number of scapegoats offered again and again. When in actuality we are all struggled over a smaller and smaller share of a bigger AND BIGGER pie.

They are deflecting and diverting attention from the big story of all the income going to the top, going to the super rich and the big corporations and that is what has to be reversed and that's is why we have to take back America.

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