The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Here It Comes Again: Senate Democrats Posture Against ‘Shipping Jobs Overseas’

Posted on | September 27, 2010 | 7 Comments

During the PA12 special election, the Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee ran TV and radio ads that accused Republican Tim Burns of favoring “tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas.”

There was no legitimate factual basis for such an accusation — where is this policy? when did Burns ever propose such a thing? — but this rhetoric is fabulously effective with the kind of “Don’t Know Much About Economics” voters who are the target audience of these Democrat class-warfare attacks.

For nearly three decades, Democrats and their Big Labor allies have labored tirelessly to convince working-class voters that the decline of the industrial Rust Belt is the result of GOP policy. In fact, as anyone who studies economic history knows, the Rust Belt decline seems to have begun in 1973, when the Arab Oil Embargo caused a spike in fuel prices that put U.S. automakers at a competitive disadvantage to the Japanese and Germans, who had long specialized in producing small fuel-efficient cars.

Many other factors have been implicated in the Rust Belt collapse, including cartel practices and protectionist policies in other countries, but Democrats and Big Labor have never cared about a realistic appraisal of the economic situation. Instead, ever since they raised the battle cry of “Reaganomics” in the early 1980s, the forces of organized liberalism have striven to convince Americans that the structural changes in the U.S. economy are entirely the result — indeed, the conscious goal — of Republican Party policy.

Hence, “shipping jobs overseas” has entered the political discourse and (perhaps because the overpaid dimwits at GOP-HQ don’t understand how damaging this accusation can be with blue-collar voters) the Democrats are never called to account for the bogusness of their rhetoric. Now, however, Senate Democrats are actually trying to turn their dishonest rhetoric into disastrous policy:

Senate Democrats this week will push legislation they say will create jobs and discourage companies from shipping jobs overseas.
The bill, introduced last week by Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, would give companies a break on payroll taxes for new U.S. jobs that replace positions that had been based overseas. It would also rein in tax incentives for moving jobs outside the United States. . . .

God bless whoever it was at CNN that decided to ask some honest economists about the wisdom of the Democrats’ election-year propaganda stunt:

“I don’t think this package is going to be successful,” said Anne Mathias, a tax analyst at Concept Capital’s Washington Research Group. “Politically it makes sense, but economically I’m not sure it will work.” . . .
Experts said the amount of money companies could save as a result of the tax holiday may not be enough to offset the benefit hiring workers in cheaper labor markets.
In addition, analysts said many questions remain about how the provision would work if the bill is passed.
“How do you identify the jobs that have come home?” asked Roberton Williams, senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center. “How does the firm prove that a job has moved from overseas to home? How do they prove that the job wouldn’t have been created here anyway?” . . .
The bill would also change current tax laws that allow companies to defer paying U.S. tax on income earned overseas until the profits are brought back to the United States.
Supporters of the bill say deferral gives multinationals an incentive to move production overseas and puts domestic companies at a disadvantage.
But critics, like the Chamber of Commerce, say ending deferral would subject American companies to “double taxation” on the earnings of their foreign subsidies.
“Limiting deferral would hinder the global competitiveness of these American companies, impede U.S. economic growth, and ultimately result in the loss of jobs,” Bruce Josten, an executive vice president at the Chamber, wrote in a letter to Senators last week.

Hey, Republicans: How about standing up and speaking out about the idiocy of attacking “Corporate America” at a time when so many companies are struggling to avoid bankruptcy?

How about pointing out that this legislation would damage the value of stocks in the pension funds, 401(k)s and IRAs of honest, hard-working Americans?

How about telling Americans that Democrats are merely exploiting ignorance and engaging in empty demagoguery, scapegoating “Big Business” for economic problems that the Democrats and labor unions have helped caused?

How about just telling people the truth? You might be surprised how politically effective that can be.

VOTE DEMOCRAT!
If You’re as Stupid as They Think You Are,
You Deserve to Get Fucked Over

Category: Democrats, Economics, Senate, Taxes

Comments

7 Responses to “Here It Comes Again: Senate Democrats Posture Against ‘Shipping Jobs Overseas’”

  1. Obama and the Democrats Want to Send More Jobs Overseas | The Lonely Conservative
    September 27th, 2010 @ 6:18 pm

    […] The Other McCain explains how Democrats and Big Labor have done more to outsource jobs than any free market […]

  2. Stogie
    September 27th, 2010 @ 9:03 pm

    It’s high taxes, oppressive government regulations, greedy unions and litigation that forces companies to relocate some of their production overseas.

    In other words, Democrat policies are to blame.

  3. Steny Hoyer Drives VodkaPundit To Do What A VodkaPundit Does : The Other McCain
    September 27th, 2010 @ 11:32 pm

    […] actually promote prosperity.The falseness of Hoyer’s rhetoric is strangely similar to that “shipping jobs overseas” rhetoric that Democrats are pushing this election season. I guarantee you this: If Democrats somehow manage […]

  4. sybilll
    September 28th, 2010 @ 12:08 am

    OK, your moment of redemption, in my eyes.

  5. Did Boehner Have A Boner And Bone Her? « The Camp Of The Saints
    September 28th, 2010 @ 9:58 am

    […] it: Bolshe blogger Mike Stark.  A highlight from Mr. York’s report [tip of the fedora to Stacy McCain]: Onlookers were startled last Thursday when a man with a video camera approached House Minority […]