Remember that important part of Republican dogma, that seems to have replaced John 3:16 as their favorite quote? I think it's Galt 6:66, and it goes something like, "Blessed are the rich, and if you let them keep more of their money, they create jobs."
I'll admit, that sounds good, and it makes sense on paper, but it's one of those Republican things that, somehow, just doesn't ever seem to work when you actually put it into practice. Y'know, like how conservative ideas are supposed to be the best and most prosperity-creating for everyone, and yet the South has been electing conservatives for decades, and their policies have caused the region to lag behind the rest of the country in every area? And the magical way the poverty map almost exactly follows the same pattern of redness as the electorial map, even though Republican policies are supposed to be the best for everyone?
Well, the "letting the rich keep more of their money will create jobs" canard is a lot like that, since the rich have had those tax breaks in place for almost a decade now and so far it hasn't created jobs. Quite the opposite. But then, that may just be my pesky looking-at-actual-results-rather-than-listening-to-rhetoric tendencies again (I think that's what they call "liberal bias.")
Anyway, I think their great and shining wealth-creation legend just took a hard, gold-teeth-rattling right cross to the jaw courtesy of this revelation...
U.S. companies hoarding almost $1 trillion cash
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. companies are hoarding almost $1 trillion in cash but are unlikely to spend on expanding their business and hiring new employees due to continuing uncertainty about the strength of the economy, Moody's Investors Service said on Tuesday.
This is what they do with that money they keep-more-of. They sit on it and move it around, trying to grow it via Wall Street rather than Main Street, trying to help themselves instead of anyone else. They're not creating jobs with it; they're hoarding it like some eccentric on an A&E show with a house full of 2-liter Coke bottles full of used kitty litter, waiting for the magical day when having a million of 'em will be the best idea ever.
They're sitting on this money because they're "waiting for greater certainty about the economy"... which is supposed to come about how? They're supposed to be the job creators. If they're not making jobs, how are they expecting the economy to improve? They want an increase in sales, but they're not doing anything to give people an income so they can spend money on their products. They want America to fatten their businesses, without investing in America. It's parasitic.
I've seen this movie. It was called Nosferatu. Just in time for Halloween. And (spoiler alert) the vampire dies at the end.
I admit, I'm far from any kind of economic genius, it's one of my weaker areas, but I do know that "you have to spend money to make money" is pretty basic stuff. They're not going to grow their businesses or improve the economy that the depend on by hoarding their capital.
Why should they get tax breaks and keep more of their money when they already have a ton of it that they're not using? The economy's not in a slump because there's not enough to invest: they've got it, and they're sitting on it. When will they decide they have enough to finally start using it to create jobs? Is that level of security ever reachable for them, if "enough to cover a year's worth of capital spending and dividends and still have $121 billion left over" isn't doing it?
And how is this supposed to help America's economy:
Around one quarter of the cash is held overseas and is unlikely to be repatriated to the United States, Moody's said.
Meanwhile only 20 companies hold a large portion of corporate cash balances, with $346 billion on their balance sheets, or 37 percent of the total, Moody's said.
Sounds like corporate America has gotten a dysfunctional mindset, and something needs to snap them out of it. They've become more desperate about retaining wealth than growing it. Maybe all those tax breaks have just been enabling this hoarder mentality, and an intervention in the form of raising taxes on the rich will actually cause them to break the stagnation and try to do the things that make money again... like expanding their business and creating jobs. Y'know, the things that got them rich in the first place.
And if the Republicans want to keep claiming the opposite, that letting the rich keep more of their money creates jobs, I think it's fair that they produce a track record that proves it. I'm just not sure where they'll find one... at least, not on a reality show...