The Real Reason The GOP is Against Food Stamps, Unemployment Benefits, and a $10.25 minimum wage:

[TrollBuster9090]

Last edited Thu Dec 19, 2013, 10:11 PM - Edit history (2)

They are against them because they all create jobs by stimulating the economy. Notice the top three ECONOMIC MULTIPLIER EFFECTS according to Moody's. Note also that the top five have been attempted by Democrats, and all have either been blocked or refused by Republicans, including their 2012 attempt to block the payroll tax holiday



Sure, doing the Scrooge routine, and beating up on the poor plays well with their base. But that's not the real reason they're obsessed with government austerity. The GOP strategy is very simple: From 2001 through 2006 the GOP controlled all branches of the Federal Government (Congress, Presidency, and the SCOTUS), and practically wrecked the country with horrible policies. The People decided to give the OTHER party a chance to govern, and if things improve while the other party is in power, they're finished. So...just make sure they DON'T improve. If they can make sure things don't get better under the Democrats, voters will think "alright, there's no real difference between the effectiveness of these two parties (both wreck the economy, favor the rich, and plunge us into stupid wars), so we may as well vote based on 'CULTURAL' issues." (An area where the GOP has always had an advantage.) Screw economics and foreign policy. They both suck at that. I'll vote for the guy who can eat the most apple pie.

Thus, the strategy is to simply SABOTAGE anything that might improve things for the country, even when it's a policy you support. Hence, the sabotage of Obamacare, which was originally authored by the Heritage Foundation, sponsored by the GOP in 1993 as an alternative to Hilarycare, and IMPLEMENTED by the GOP's last Presidential candidate in Massachusetts. Hence, blocking the Payroll Tax Holiday in 2012. Since when are Republicans against TAX CUTS? The motive for preventing anything from getting better so long as Barack Obama is President, through the use of political sabotage is obvious to anyone with the brains god gave to a goose.

The attack on Obamacare is obvious, but why the attack on Food Stamps (which ALSO hurts farmers and food retailers), Unemployment Benefits, Intrastructure Spending (which ALSO hurts contractors and construction companies), and a raise in the Minimum Wage? Because all four of those policies stimulate economic growth.

These figures are from Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody's (and hardly a left winger), showing that the MULTIPLIER EFFECT (the bang for your buck at stimulating economic growth) is HIGHEST for Food Stamps, Unemployment Benefits and Infrastructure Spending; and LOWEST for Corporate Tax Cuts and Capital Gains Tax Cuts. So, is it any surprise that the GOP opposes the three measures that will stimulate the economy the most, while boosting the three that will fill their election war chest, while stimulating the economy the LEAST?

MULTIPLIER EFFECTS:

Extend Unemployment Insurance Benefits 1.64
Temporarily Increase Food Stamps 1.73
Increase Infrastructure Spending 1.59

Make Bush Tax Cuts Permanent 0.29
Dividend and Capital Gains Tax Cuts 0.37
Cut Corporate Tax Rate 0.30

That's right, increasing Food Stamps, or extending unemployment benefits would stimulate the Economy SIX TIMES MORE than cutting the corporate tax rate. If the goal is to sabotage the Economy, eliminating food stamps and unemployment benefits is a pretty good way to do it.

(Source)
https://www.economy.com/mark-zandi/documents/Small%20Business_7_24_08.pdf


And this recent study claims that increasing the minimum wage would result in the CREATION of 85,000 NEW JOBS.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/19/1010-minimum-wage_n_4474183.html

WHILE ONLY INCREASING THE COST OF A BIG-MAC BY 4 CENTS

[Tigress DEM]

1. Give poor people money or food stamps and all they can do is pay their bills or eat.

Poor people don't have the luxury of sitting on their cash or putting it in the Caymans. Even if they buy stupid stuff, they are still supporting the economy.

Their rent gets paid. Their bills get paid and the credit card companies don't get to wrack up 24% interest.

They have money to put gas in the car to go to work.

All stuff that supports the economy agreed.

[TrollBuster9090]

2. Exactly! Give money to a poor person (or even the working poor) and they SPEND IT in the LOCAL

in the LOCAL ECONOMY, which stimulates economic growth.

Give money to a rich person, in the form of a capital gains tax cut, and they either invest it in the emerging markets of the HSI (Chinese companies devoted to driving American companies out of business), or stash it in the Cayman Islands.

You don't have to have a PhD in Economics to understand WHY food stamps, unemployment benefits, and a raise in the minimum wage are far better for the U.S. Economy than are top-end tax cuts.

[Stuart G]

3. K and R thanks for posting nt

[TrollBuster9090]

4. Thank YOU! I sent an email to Ed Shultz to try to get him to talk about the Zandi numbers on his

show, but so far they haven't responded.

I'm hoping they'll start attacking this stuff on the grounds of economics, AS WELL as morality. It's a sad comment on the human race, but sometimes morality alone doesn't cut it.

[Scuba]

5. ...

[TrollBuster9090]

6. Awesome Graphic, Champ! Can I add it to the main body of the post? (Giving you credit of course)nt

[Scuba]

7. Credit Moody's, the bond-rating people. It's their chart.

[TrollBuster9090]

8. Thanks! I found a variation of it, and credited Zandi's figures to Moody's.

[Scuba]

9. When you look at that graphic you can draw a neat line where Democrats end and Republicans begin.

[TrollBuster9090]

10. Definitely, I noticed that too. Right at the tipping point for negative returns.

[Wilms]

11. ^