Jim Hightower: Democrats pass a do-nothing trickle-down Republican "jobs" bill ....

[Better Believe It]

Stiffening the Backbones of Democrats
by Jim Hightower
March 10, 2010

"Our three most important priorities in this Congress," says Rep. Bob Ethridge, a North Carolina Democrat, are "jobs, jobs, jobs." Obama himself has titillated the hopes of working families by proposing a $266 billion national emergency program to put America to work.

Strong stuff - let's get it on!

Sure enough, after a lengthy romancing of their Republican colleagues (who are devout believers in an abstinence-only job-creation policy), the Democrats finally made their move last week. With the support of five GOP senators, the "jobs, jobs, jobs" bill passed in both houses of Congress.

But ....

What a letdown. To win those five Republican senators, Democratic leaders shriveled their job investment program from a robust $266 billion to a frustratingly puny $15 billion. Even such phony Casanovas as Sen. Chuck Schumer had to confess that the "package is not a panacea; it's not going to solve everything."

In fact, the Democrats' response is even weaker than it appears. Rather than directly creating jobs that pay workers, the $15 billion is going into tax breaks for businesses. The convoluted hope is that the money will "encourage" the recipients to hire a few people who're suffering from long-term joblessness. This trickle-down approach is even more pathetic than trying to fight a house fire with a squirt gun, for it doesn't even put the squirt gun in the hands of the people caught in the fire

What the Democrats have done is to pass a do-nothing Republican bill, a reality that was blurted out by Sen. Orrin Hatch, one of the five GOPsters to vote for it: "This is a conservative approach to help put our economy back on track through tax relief, not government spending."

We expect pious Republicans to consider millions of struggling American workers to be less worthy than a few greedheaded bankers, but not the Party of Roosevelt. Yet one Democratic leader said of this feeble bill, "Better something than nothing."

Maybe they're fooling themselves - but not us, and certainly not the jobless. This bill is nothing. And if Democrats don't stiffen their spines, they'll be nothing, too.

Please read the full article at:

http://www.creators.com/opinion/jim-hightower/stiffening-the-backbones-of-democrats.html

[xchrom]

1. We just can't escape being trickled on. Nt

[John Q. Citizen]

2. The Dems as a whole just don't get it.

[Better Believe It]

3. Oh I think they all understand. And that's what makes it even worse.

[G_j]

4. pitiful nt

[progressoid]

5. "This is a conservative approach ... through tax relief, not government spending."

:banghead:

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

6. The Democrats have become adept at throwing marshmallows to stop a speeding train. K&R

[Greyhound]

7. Hard to believe that the republiks completely self-destructed only a year ago.

Now thanks DemCorp®, not only are they viable again, but they're going to beat their estranged spouse like a drum.

[Better Believe It]

8. Passing the Private Insurance Industry and Big Pharma Protection Act = A Republican Congress

and White House elected in 2012.