MN-02: For Kline, Jobs Are Somebody Else’s Problem

The Lie becomes the Truth only when someone comes to Believe It.

John Kline’s recent press release on Jobs focuses on Failure and Washington :
“Day after day, majority leadership tells the American people its policies will create jobs and spur economic recovery. Yet month after month, the jobs report tells us a very different story. Congressional Democrats and White House officials continue to hang their hats on a ‘stimulus’ package that has expanded government instead of employment. Washington has been absent when it comes to promoting policies that will spur strong and lasting private sector job creation.

Say it loud enough and long enough and people will believe it.

Unless they happened to read The Wall Street Journal article that stated : “Thirty-eight of the 54 surveyed economists, not all of whom answered every question, said the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act boosted growth and mitigated job losses”. Or read the Congressional Budget Office report : “Taking into account the slightly faster implementation of certain tax cuts and the slightly slower pace of outlays, CBO now estimates that in the third quarter of calendar year 2009, ARRA’s policies raised real GDP by between 1.2 percent and 3.2 percent, lowered the unemployment rate by between 0.3 and 0.9 percentage points, and increased the number of people employed by between 600,000 and 1.6 million compared with what those values would have been otherwise.”

Ok, but if Kline continues to rant that the stimulus has failed will his audience believe it ?
Well, considering that the stimulus had a number of aspects including tax cuts, the answer is YES based on FrumForum survey which asked “Are Taxes Higher, Lower or The Same As When Obama Was Inaugurated?" and 67% of the respondents said “Higher” while 4% said taxes were “Lower”.
Yet, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation : “last year's $787 billion stimulus bill, enacted with no Republican support, reduced federal taxes by almost $100 billion in 2009 and another $222 billion this year. The Tax Policy Center, a private research group, estimates that close to 90% of all taxpayers got a tax cut last year and almost 100% of those in the $50,000 income range. For those making between $40,000 and $50,000, the average tax cut was $472; for those making between $50,000 and $75,000, the tax cut averaged $522. No taxpayer anywhere in the country had his or her taxes increased as a consequence of Obama's policies."

Hmmm … Lies accepted as Facts … will Mr. Kline reach-out and educate … or continue to blame Washington ?

Yet, it may not be Washington that is the problem but instead the current Congressman who sits in Washington.

Why did Mr. Kline oppose the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act ?

Where’s his press release letting employer’s know of the potential benefits … should it be Mr. Kline or the IRS responsibility to reach out to Second District businesses ?
FYI : So that employer’s don’t have to wait, here is the IRS bulletin which states : Employers who hire unemployed workers this year (after Feb. 3, 2010 and before Jan. 1, 2011) may qualify for a 6.2-percent payroll tax incentive, in effect exempting them from their share of Social Security taxes on wages paid to these workers after March 18, 2010. This reduced tax withholding will have no effect on the employee’s future Social Security benefits, and employers would still need to withhold the employee’s 6.2-percent share of Social Security taxes, as well as income taxes. The employer and employee’s shares of Medicare taxes would also still apply to these wages.
In addition, for each worker retained for at least a year, businesses may claim an additional general business tax credit, up to $1,000 per worker, when they file their 2011 income tax returns.
As a sidenote, to help pay for this legislation is changes to close loopholes in offshore bank accounts … offshore tax abuses rob the U.S. Treasury of an estimated $100 billion each year, reward tax dodgers using offshore secrecy laws to hide money from Uncle Sam, and offload the tax burden onto the backs of middle income families who play by the rules … this has been in the works since it was first introduced by Senators Coleman (R-MN) and Obama (D-IL). Yep, that was back in the days when Republicans would work with Mr. Obama.

It’s long past time for Mr. Kline to stop being leading proponent of the NO faction of the Republican Party (NO means Neo-Con Ostructionist), and outline how he plans to help generate jobs for the Second District.
Let's stop the Lies and partisan negativity ... Let's speak up for JOBS and America instead of bashing it.
Mr. Kline, you are part of Washington and the Second District needs somebody interested in creating solutions.