Economists: GOP Jobs Package Doesn't Actually Create Jobs
The GOP jobs package, which currently includes 32 bills, represents Republicans' hallmark legislative accomplishment over the past two years. In the months ahead of the election, they will lean on it as proof of two things: that they are not the do-nothing obstructionists that Democrats paint them as, and that they are working hard to address the 8.2 percent unemployment rate.
But there's a problem with their jobs bills: They don't create jobs. At least, they won't any time soon.
In interviews conducted by The Huffington Post with five economists, most said the GOP jobs package would have no meaningful impact on job creation in the near term. Some said it was not likely to do much in the long term, either.
"A lot of these things are laughable in terms of a jobs plan that would produce noticeable improvements across the country in the availability of employment in the next four or five years," said Gary Burtless, a senior economist at Brookings. "Even in the long run, if they have any effect all, it would be extremely marginal, relative to the jobs deficit we currently have."
Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody's Analytics, agreed that the bills would have almost no effect on job creation in the short term, though he was slightly more optimistic about their long-term prospects.
"These kind of changes will matter over a period of three to five years," Zandi said. "It takes that long before businesses can digest changes and respond to them."
He noted, though, that legislation as narrowly targeted as the Republican package is unlikely to do much for real job creation.
At the heart of the GOP jobs package is a push for rolling back regulations -- and gutting environmental laws that regulate clean air and water -- to spur job growth. The House Republican Conference website makes the argument that deregulation will "remove onerous federal regulations that are redundant, harmful to small businesses, and impede private sector investment and job creation."
But economists told The Huffington Post that regulation has had a minimal impact on the unemployment rate. Their claim is backed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which shows that just under 16,000 jobs, or 0.4 percent, were lost because of "government regulations/intervention."
For all their complaints about Senate inaction, Boehner and Cantor regularly fail to point out that the Senate has, in fact, passed nearly a dozen of Republicans' so-called jobs bills in the last two years. Eleven have already become law, and another one has passed the Senate but hasn’t been signed into law yet.
Oh, darn...Another talking-point down the tubes... (Kind of like gas prices... Anybody noticed that it's down to $3.39 in some places? Don't hear much about it these days, do you?)
Republican talking points and the silliness around "job-creators" is laughable. The "job-creators" are the consumers. If they don't have money to spend to buy your products and services, then you can try to create all the jobs you want, but you have no one to sell to...except maybe China... (Or residents of the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and Switzerland.) Trickle-down hasn't, doesn't and won't.
Consumers are job creators? Really? We have 300 million consumers here in America and they aren't consuming or creating jobs, at least not enough to bring Obama's unemployment rate below 8%.
Consumers, innovators, capital sources, together help to create jobs. To think it is only one leg of a tripod is a case of denial. The Republicans just want to balance the tripod out a lttle more.
Think consumers/citizens don't have enough pull? Just look at the personal income taxes, over 50% of Americans don't pay income tax and many actually receive credits.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
Good one! Order me a case, that will create some jobs!
