Unsound Bites

It’s been a long day. So at first I thought I must have misunderstood the meaning of today’s Republican prevention of action on unemployment. I didn’t. And that’s sad because it was stupid. Here’s the unsound bite:

The GOP is trapped. The payroll tax cut introduced a while back is up for renewal. In general the Republican caucus objects to its renewal. The Democrats want to re-up the cut in order to avoid what would, in effect, be a tax increase on the very people most likely to benefit from some extra cash in hand. In the spirit of austerity – yes I know it’s a dumb spirit, but Washington is awash with dumbness right now – the Democrats have sneakily suggested that the continuation of the payroll tax cut should be offset for budget purposes by a tax hike for very high income earners.

This is the kind of thing the voters continually say they support.

It is also the kind of thing that the Republicans continually object to. They, as we are all painfully aware, want no tax hike of any sort. Not even on the very top income earners who have recently been dubbed job creators to distinguish them from the rest of us who, apparently, don’t generate jobs. Even with all that cash we spend at the local store.

It can get confusing for those keeping score, because many of these job creators work in finance and are engaged in firing workers in order to create shareholder value in the companies that they have recently taken over. But that’s not today’s story.

Faced with with both a loss of face in the eyes of the voters, who would appreciate action in Washington, and insurrection in their own ranks by hard liners who want to protect these so-called job creators from socialist inspired tax hikes – the right has taken to calling taxes a forced expropriation of wealth, which is odd since this is a democracy and no guns are involved, but, hey, what do I know? – the rRepublican leadership has come up with a daring scheme to boost jobs.

It will go along with the continuation of the payroll tax cut, and thus support stimulus, but wants the budget offset to come, not from a tax hike on its job creator buddies, but from a reduction in the Federal government workforce.

That’s right.

We are going to boost jobs. By cutting jobs.

This is what I thought I must have misunderstood, but didn’t. I wish I had.

So far have we strayed from actual real life policy making, and so far into the realm of election theatrics, that the GOP is seriously espousing a job creation package that is paid for by job reductions.

To call that bizarre is to dignify it far too much. It is otherworldly. As in outer space.

The only way I can reconcile all this without making my brain explode is to assume that the Republicans really do mean it when they argue that government jobs are a sham. Only then does it all come together. Stimulating real jobs in the private sector by sacrificing non-jobs in the evil public sector is something all good Republicans can get behind. Dumb though it be.

Think of it as increasing the number of burger flippers by reducing the number of teachers. Or reducing the number of police and fire personnel in your local department so we can have more call center phone reps. Oh wait. Those call center jobs are in India or the Philippines. Do they count? At least they’re real jobs.

Anyway, as you can see the whole thing’s a mess, and simply part of the election run up. Nothing will get done easily. It’s going to be a long, tedious, and at times confusing year.

Full of unsound bites. I will report them when I find them.