It's the jobs, stupid. Rachel asks why the "super congress" can divert all attention to the debt.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/ns/msnbc_tv-rachel_maddow_show/#44114857



Is the charge of the so-called super committee on debt a chance for Congress to absolve themselves of responsibility for doing anything else, like a jobs program?

Well, the Democrats in Congress (at least some) aren't willing to sit on the sidelines.

With guest Rep Jan Schakowski, D-Illinois


Runs 11:20

On edit: Schakowski points out that all six of the R's on the "super commttee" have signed the "Norquist Pledge" to not raise taxes.

much difference betwwen the two. Conservatives see the
Deficit as the issue. Conservatives are not big into
Safety Nets. Conservatives protect the Rich.

in both parties have decided to just move along
leaving a large swath of workers (aound 45 and up)
behind. Neither side is interested in tackling
the jobs issue. They mouth the "education" line.
Educaation we know is a long term solution. This
will help our children. In the meantime, there is
no appetite for the theory: When Business is paralyzed
and does not move, then the Govt. steps in with
with Repairing Schools, Bridges Highways, Building
things that will assist Business in the future.
Excellent Trasnportation Systems and Infrasture
contribute to businesses success. The theory is
have all these ready to go when the economy turns
around for Business. The Governmet pulls back from
Job Creation as soon as Business is ready to go
for it. Small Government People cannot have
big dreams I guess. This is how we began to get
a middle class in the past. We no longer have
dreamers, eat your peas, suck in your waist and
each man for himself and dog eat dog.

it was designed to come up with spending cuts and possibly tax increases.
all 6 republicans will vote against any jobs program unless it's a jobs program in name only and really a tax break for corporations.

that doesn't mean, though, that congress can't take up a jobs initiative separately. not all congressional work flows through the super committee.

especially about any effort to actually help people.

...and make the changes necessary for the country to be competitive in a world market. They might start by looking at where we stand in terms of labor costs, energy costs, taxes and regulation and comparing that to the deal that other countries are offering businesses. I expect they will find that we are not business friendly in any of those areas. From there, they need to identify steps to take that will fix that.

Government funded infrastructure spending is not going to incentivize manufacturing companies to build plants here. It will just make it easier to move products that arrived in containers from China to stores like Walmart around the country. The same thing with tax cuts - they do produce jobs, but unfortunately, the jobs haven't been and won't be created here. Unless we offer a better deal to businesses, the jobs will continue to be found in China, Korea, India, etc.

This will not be a popular view here, but in my opinion, it is the only approach that will work in the long run. Competition is here to stay and the sooner we recognize that and start dealing with it, the better off we will be.

anything that provides an incentive to create jobs in america, republicans kill.
anything that makes it advantageous hire domestically instead of outsources, republicans kill.

and yet we do business with countries that have all sorts of protectionist measures to help themselves.

china is a great example. their exchange rate controls are a simple and direct form of protectionism -- they are artificially lowering the price of chinese goods and artificially raising the price of non-chinese goods. so of course we buy chinese and can't sell anything close to a comparable amount there.

free trade works, at least in theory, if BOTH sides have free trade. but if only one side has free trade, the other side can get away with murder.

basis.

I find it very highly illegal that all 12 useless Rethuglicans signed an illegal pledge to a non-government entity (who probably is dodging taxes as we speak) to not to raise taxes when raising revenues is the very thing that is needed to fix the problem.

The only solutions? Remove all Republicans from Congress, and replace them with true-blue progressive Democrats.

And throw the fucking Norquist in prison for life.

Thus endeth the farce of the "Super Congress" and will be written in the history book as yet another Republican bad idea.

for all the money we actually pay them would be an anathema to why they believe they are in office.

and frankly, given the unbelievable "success" they have shown regarding anything in the past, do you really want to trust a bunch of trust fund congress morons with trying to create jobs?

Even if we gave them instructions on how to create jobs, they would send us back a yak that farts out the national anthem instead.