Stan Geiger

Republican Suicide

I stand in awe of the Republican Party's continued adherence to Reaganomics. A Democratic president sits exposed as hell. Republicans have an excellent opportunity to capture all power in Washington---the House, the Senate and the Oval Office---yet they cling to 1980's tax policy.

Polls are showing it. Democrats aren't exactly burning it up, but Republicans are getting pounded.

Taxes have to go up on the rich. Taxing the rich won't cure our ills, not by a damn sight. We have progressed beyond that point. Changes have to take place that will affect the lives of average people. You can't expect to get support for cuts to average people if you are not first willing to increase the burdens of Oprah, Letterman and Leno, Gates and Buffet, hundreds of corporate and university "executives," and Bob Stoops.

We've had Reaganomics in place for 30 years. It has produced nothing. Oh, the billionaires' club keeps growing. If you happen to number yourself in that club of 400 or so, you're quite happy with the situation, I'm sure. But what about the other 300 million?

We live in a country that has 9.2 percent unemployment (officially). A recent study reported that only 53 percent of people that have gotten a college degree in the past 4 years have a full-time job. There is a trillion dollars in outstanding student debt. People can't afford to go to college anymore. If student loans were turned off today, every campus in the country would have tumbleweeds blowing through it. I recently heard a report that said 30 percent of homeowners in this country are underwater. Wages are flat-lined. Uncle Sam is $14 trillion in debt---and it gets worse when states and cities are included.

Point to something---anything---in the above that you would consider positive about our current standing.

The argument has changed a bit over the years. In the '80s, it was the carrot. It was about "trickle down." A rising tide floats all boats. If rich people got to keep more of their money, they would, out of the kindness of their hearts, route that money down to the rest of us. You don't hear the term "trickle down" anymore.

Today, Republicans have gone to the stick. They speak of "job creators," and say if taxes go up on "job creators" we will all suffer.

What "job creators?"

To be sure, job creation in this country has been nearly nonexistent since the onset of the Great Recession. But, in fact, job creation has been anemic since the turn of the century---the so-called "Bush tax cuts" notwithstanding.

Tax policy neither creates nor "uncreates" jobs. Assume I owned a small business, grossing a hundred million a year. Let's figure I had a hundred employees. After all was said and done, I put a million bucks in my pocket annually. Along comes Uncle Sam, and he says he's going to cut my personal tax bill by 50 grand a year. Do I hire? No, I do not. My business is running quite well, thank you, with a hundred employees. Why would I hire a couple of more just because Uncle Sam handed me a gift?

Republicans had better drop their blind allegiance to Reaganomics, lest they find themselves on the endangered species list. Ten percent of the population can't win elections.

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