I have serious issues with the idea that private equity market gains create jobs in the United States. I have no idea whatsoever how Mitt Romney's private equity market experience is supposed to bolster his claim that he knows how to create jobs. Nor do I see any compelling reason to believe that lowering the marginal tax rates of the wealthy gives them an incentive to create jobs- nor further that raising their marginal tax rates removes an incentive that they would otherwise have to create jobs in the United States.
more below the squiggly line.
Like many Americans, I am skeptical of Mitt Romneys ability to create jobs. His work at Bain created wealth for himself and his pals, but did not create jobs for other people. As I was thinking about this and the need to raise taxes on the wealthy, a thought struck me. Now, the concept of the thought is undoubtedly not original. Nevertheless, I have never heard it expressed in the way that I am about to express it. The extremists in the Republican Party believe that taxes should not be raised on the wealthy because they believe that it would disincentivize the wealthy to hire people. However, raising taxes on the wealthy does not remove their incentive to hire people. Changing the percent at which an individual is taxed has little to nothing to do with hiring. Keeping their income tax rates low does not incentivize them to hire; raising them does not remove that incentive. Raising the rate for people at a certain income level means that they will be taxed at a higher percentage if they make more money, not if they hire more people. Lowering their rate does not give them an incentivize to hire more people. It gives them more of an incentive to make money. But people, like Mitt Romney, often make money without hiring people (productivity is very high), certainly not necessarily hiring people in the U.S. . The incentive to make more money is what would be altered, to a relatively small degree. There is no incentive in the tax code (marginal rates - I am only referring to here) to hire people. It just plain does not exist. It is simply a flawed assumption that creating American jobs is a natural, organic outgrowth of making money. And we can see, historically, just how flawed it is in cases like Bain, among others. Republicans who assume otherwise are ill-informed, dishonest, and not thinking clearly. Furthermore, supply side economics is magical thinking, voodoo economics, does not produce job growth, and those supply side tax cuts clearly do not pay for themselves.
www.RomneyEconomics.com