Big Fish Ink

… and even former Bush speechwriter David Frum knows it.

“This is not a moment for government to be cutting back. … Right now we’re watching state governments try to balance all of their budgets at the same time in the middle of this crisis. We’ve seen half a million public sector jobs disappear. Now, if these were good times, I would applaud that. We need to see a thinner public sector — especially at the state and local level. But we’re seeing what happens when you do that as an anti-recession measure and you make the recession worse. And even though we’re in a technical recovery, incomes and employment — all of that remains lagging for people — I think that we’ve rediscovered in this crisis something that I think we all knew. Which is, there’s a reason why the people of the 1930s built some kind of minimum guarantee — unemployment insurance, health care coverage and things like that. And it’s not because they wanted to be nice. It’s because in a crisis when people lose their jobs, if there is no social safety net they loose 100 percent of their purchasing power.”
— David Frum, as quoted by Robert Reich in “The Triumph of Dogma, and a Sad Goodbye to David Frum,” L.A. Progressive, Nov. 14, 2011.

Regulations, taxes aren’t killing small business, owners say
By Kevin G. Hall | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Politicians and business groups often blame excessive regulation and fear of higher taxes for tepid hiring in the economy. However, little evidence of that emerged when McClatchy canvassed a random sample of small business owners across the nation.

Read the rest here.

The GOP and Their Job Creators Personify Einstein’s Definition Of Insanity
By Rmuse
Politicususa.com
September 10, 2011

… On Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell cited Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity and whether he knew it or not, the Kentucky Republican described the GOP’s behavior over the last ten years. McConnell was speaking about the White House plans to jump start job creation and as usual, he proffered the same lame diatribe Republicans have parroted for over two years. Ironically, his speech was titled, “We can’t afford to make the same mistake twice.” Indeed.

McConnell said that Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity is, “to do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result,” and although McConnell was referring to President Obama’s job creation and stimulus spending plan, he inadvertently described the Republicans’ narrative of cut corporate taxes, eliminate regulations, and cut spending and the deficit. […]

There are several reasons to take issue with Mitch McConnell’s statements, but first it is important to revisit Einstein’s definition of insanity. McConnell mentioned doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results as being insane. Republicans are still arguing that Obama has regulated and taxed “job creators” to the point they are not hiring new employees. During Bush’s presidency, Republican majorities began their tax cuts and deregulation agenda in 2001, and for the next eight years, barely a million jobs were created and the nation’s debt skyrocketed. Republicans deregulated the financial industry and caused a world-wide economic meltdown that still affects every country on Earth, and the wealthy’s tax cuts are adding to America’s deficit. Republicans began preaching a return to Bush-Republican economic policies as soon as President Obama took office because they claimed tax cuts and deregulation were necessary to give job creators the tools they need to help the economy. According to Einstein’s definition, McConnell and Republicans are the epitome of insanity for attempting to repeat their failed economic policies they know will not create jobs. McConnell is insane.

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“The idea that the lower the tax rates are, the better everything will be has been debunked now for 30 years both in positive terms when I was president, and in negative terms by quadrupling the debt once and then doubling it again. So … how many times do we have to see this movie before we know how it ends?”
— President Bill Clinton, May, 2011.