Are Obama and the Democrats "Calling the Republicans Out" on Job Creation?

It's Monday and just a few days before Thanksgiving in the United States. The health care debate is on fire with the Senate, controlled by the Democrats, garnishing enough votes to debate health care. Both sides are digging in deep with the Democrats having the upper hand in controlling the outcome. Republicans claim that the proposed health care legislation will kill jobs and hinder job growth. Democrats counter that "health care for all" is critical to job creation.


So which side is right? Republicans stick to their mantra that government needs to lower taxes in order to create more jobs. The theory is that the government should adopt policy to reduce taxes, offer employer credits to give small business the boost it needs to hire more works.


The reason why I'm writing on this issue is because I thought long and hard about the two opposing positions on job creation. To me, as a student of economics who is seeing businesses close and workers lose their jobs, neither side, Democrat or Republican, is right. In fact, both sides are asking government to step in and do something. One side, the Democrats, want to raise taxes to pay for government sponsored work projects. The Republicans, in essence, are asking for money, too, in the form of a smaller accounts payable to the governmeent (IRS), to use this additional revenue to hire more people. The complaint Democrats make is that lowering taxes is nothing more than "supply side economics" where the employer may not create additional jobs, but pockets the extra profit from tax decreases.


Now, of course, there is precedence set when tax cuts have helped the economy and there is precendence when tax cuts have not. Looking at the Democrats socialist leaning perspective, I honestly can't find any evidence that spending more money creates long lasting jobs unless you look at big projects like the Hoover Dam. Most job projects created by the government are nothing more than temporary jobs.


My economics training and business experience tells me that if you want to create jobs, you have to do it the old fashioned way by doing battle in supply and demand arena. You have to outperform your competition who is on equal footing as your business. There cannot be any labor union advantages, supplier unfair favoritism or inferior products causing a competitor to beat others.


So, I am not on board with either political party and their theories to improve the U.S. economy. I think that it's all about the business owner and his or her talent and expertise to grow their business.


Thanks for reading this blog.