What IS the GOP's REAL strategy for creating jobs?

Republicans made huge gains in the 2010 mid-term elections winning the majority in the House, narrowing the Democrat’s majority in the Senate and winning a large number of gubernatorial seats. In short, it was a GOP rout. The GOP made these huge gains based on one simple theme: JOB CREATION and cutting government spending. The concept of getting control of the federal deficit appears to be disingenuous considering the fact that Republicans refused to vote on ANY legislation in the lame duck session of the last Congress BEFORE the Bush tax cuts from 2001 and 2003 were extended. Never mind that the extension of those tax cuts immediately ADDED $400 billion to the 2011 national deficit. (Hmm … is this a case of adding to the deficit BEFORE eliminating the deficit?) Since taking office, the GOP strategy for creating jobs has been equally confusing. In the recently released GOP budget originated in the House, the GOP plan with deep spending cuts would not only slow down the overall economic recovery, it will, according to many economists, cause the LOSS of 700,000 jobs in 2012 alone. That is worth repeating; the GOP budget, according to economists, will lead to the LOSS of 700,000 jobs in 2012. (Just in time for the 2012 Presidential election. What timing!) Speaker Boehner and Senate Minority Leader McConnell, PLEASE tell us how this makes sense.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is literally keeping a minute-to-minute account of job creating legislation originating out of the House on a website it created: whenarethejobs.com. As of this writing, John Boehner has been the Speaker of the House for 56 days, 20 hours and counting and there has yet be ONE single piece of legislation out of the Republican controlled House that is solely aimed at CREATING JOBS. When asked a couple of weeks ago about the proposed GOP budget that could cause 58,000 federal employees to lose their jobs, Speaker Boehner’s cavalier response was “So be it.” (See “So be it”) This from the Republican Speaker of the House? This from the congressional leader of the party that campaigned on JOB CREATION? Speaker Boehner, are you asking the American people to buy into the premise that ELIMINATING jobs is the best way to CREATE jobs?

Many economists are describing the cuts in the GOP’s budget as draconian. Liz Halloran of NPR chronicles a discussion of leading economists in her story on the NPR website (The GOP Budget Cuts: Job Killer Or Necessary Steps). Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman wrote in the New York Times wrote that children will suffer the most if the GOP’s budget passes because of the cuts in public education funding (Leaving Children Behind by Paul Krugman). In light of the GOP’s obsession with tax cuts, it is CRUEL that children, the elderly, the country’s infrastructure are asked to make up the difference. Is there anyone who believes the GOP would have gained control of the House, narrowed their majority in the Senate and won state houses had they campaigned on ELIMINATING jobs?

With the efforts to bust public employee unions in Wisconsin and now in the state of Ohio, where Ohio state Senate Republicans, after rigging the vote and manipulating the process, approved a bill that would severely limit the collective bargaining rights of public employees in that state, there appears to be a concerted effort by the Republican Party to WEAKEN labor instead of GROWING labor. Public opinion polls consistently support protecting collective bargaining rights. Exactly WHO are Republicans listening to? If the GOP indeed wants to create jobs, what will be the QUALITY of the jobs they want to create?