The Great GOP Wealth Redistribution

Over the last two years since President Obama has taken office, the federal government has added 200,000 new federal jobs. And if some of those jobs are lost in this, so be it. We're broke. It's time for us to get serious about how we're spending the nation's money.
-House Speaker John Boehner

All told, we find that Boehner’s 200,000 number is way off. We rate it False.
-Politifact


At this point, it should be abundantly clear that Republicans are about as interested in jobs as they are in the truth. Likewise, the math suggests that they aren't really all that interested in the deficit, either. After all, in demanding that the tax cuts for the richest 2% of Americans be extended, they've committed to adding $36 billion to the deficit. Yet, now that those tax cuts have been extended, Republicans insist on paying for them after the fact. So they propose taking things away from you. It's a massive redistribution of wealth, from the middle class to the wealthy. And, in the mainstream media, almost no one is pointing this out.

Remember during the healthcare debate, when Republicans posed as defenders of Medicare? Yeah, they aren't doing that anymore. In the name of appeasing the Almighty Deficit, while preserving the Sacred Tax Cuts, Republicans now demand cuts to entitlements -- meaning Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

The term you're looking for right now is "bait and switch."

If all those "town hall mob" types are silent now that their money is really under attack, others are not. In the Grand Republican attempt to rob from the middle class to give to the rich, some people are fighting back. You can go ahead and thank them later for it.


[Wisconsin State Journal:]

In one of the largest protests in recent memory, thousands of angry union supporters gathered at the state Capitol on Tuesday to oppose a bill by Gov. Scott Walker that would greatly weaken organized labor in Wisconsin.

More than 12,000 protesters gathered in two separate rallies outside the Capitol, many of them carrying signs and chanting "Recall Walker" or "Kill this bill." Thousands more crowded inside the rotunda and watched TV monitors broadcasting a public hearing on the governor's proposal.

Capitol Police officers, Department of Natural Resources wardens, UW police and state troopers provided beefed-up security, but the crowd remained peaceful -- if loud.


In case you missed it, Republican Governor Scott Walker proposed what is essentially the destruction of public employee unions in the state, in order to balance the budget (a constitutional requirement), without raising taxes -- especially on the wealthy. So Walker's decided to take money out of the pockets of state employees and offer it to wealthy business owners. Those business owners will then relocate to Wisconsin and, by "creating jobs," give all that money back to workers. If no part of that makes any damned sense to you at all, then congratulations, your brain works.

And this isn't a new scheme in Wisconsin. For years, our business tax rates have been out of whack with our personal tax rates -- giving huge breaks to businesses in hopes that they'll relocate here. As a result, a GM plant in Janesville shut down -- just one in a long string of plant closures and businesses moving out of state. Turns out that taxation isn't the be-all and end-all of business location decisions. They also look at the supply chain and infrastructure and even the quality of the potential workers -- good schools help there.

But, if shifting the tax burden away from the wealthy to the middle class hasn't actually worked to create jobs, you'd never know it from listening to Republicans. Their wealthy donors -- their true constituency -- demand deeper and deeper tax cuts and the Republican Party, corrupt to their core, are more than happy to give it to them, while cooking up slick pitches to sell you on screwing yourself over. After all, that money has to come from someplace, so -- of course -- it'll come from you.

It'll be taken in the form of cuts to entitlements, which you paid into and deserve to see returned to you. It'll be taken in the form of cuts to services and education, in decreased regulation as cuts are made to oversight boards to fund the tax cuts for the rich. It'll be taken in the form of lower wages, as union-busting drives the prevailing wage down and unemployment rises because public sector workers have been laid off, increasing competition in the labor market and driving down demand for new workers. It'll come in the form of poorer education for your children, decreased job stability, and increased poverty.

When it comes to a decision about whether to screw you or give the rich another handout, be prepared to drop your pants. Because that decision has already been made. If John Boehner's statement doesn't prove to you, absolutely and without question, that Republicans don't give a rat's ass about jobs -- or you -- then you're just committed to your own chumpery. It's become a religion to you and there's nothing I can do to save you from yourself or from those Republican shamans you worship.

But don't be surprised if people try to save themselves.

-Wisco