Raise Taxes on Rich to Reward True Job Creators: Nick Hanauer

[Valin]

Bloomberg:

Nick Hanauer
Nov 30, 2011

It is a tenet of American economic beliefs, and an article of faith for Republicans that is seldom contested by Democrats: If taxes are raised on the rich, job creation will stop.

Trouble is, sometimes the things that we know to be true are dead wrong. For the larger part of human history, for example, people were sure that the sun circles the Earth and that we are at the center of the universe. It doesn’t, and we aren’t. The conventional wisdom that the rich and businesses are our nation’s “job creators” is every bit as false.

I’m a very rich person. As an entrepreneur and venture capitalist, I’ve started or helped get off the ground dozens of companies in industries including manufacturing, retail, medical services, the Internet and software. I founded the Internet media company aQuantive Inc., which was acquired by Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) in 2007 for $6.4 billion. I was also the first non-family investor in Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN)

Even so, I’ve never been a “job creator.” I can start a business based on a great idea, and initially hire dozens or hundreds of people. But if no one can afford to buy what I have to sell, my business will soon fail and all those jobs will evaporate.

That’s why I can say with confidence that rich people don’t create jobs, nor do businesses, large or small. What does lead to more employment is the feedback loop between customers and businesses. And only consumers can set in motion a virtuous cycle that allows companies to survive and thrive and business owners to hire. An ordinary middle-class consumer is far more of a job creator than I ever have been or ever will be.

Now we come to the good part...and by good I mean your head may explode...you have been warned

(Snip)

It is mathematically impossible to invest enough in our economy and our country to sustain the middle class (our customers) without taxing the top 1 percent at reasonable levels again. Shifting the burden from the 99 percent to the 1 percent is the surest and best way to get our consumer-based economy rolling again.

Significant tax increases on the about $1.5 trillion in collective income of those of us in the top 1 percent could create hundreds of billions of dollars to invest in our economy, rather than letting it pile up in a few bank accounts like a huge clot in our nation’s economic circulatory system.

Consider, for example, that a puny 3 percent surtax on incomes above $1 million would be enough to maintain and expand the current payroll tax cut beyond December, preventing a $1,000 increase on the average worker’s taxes at the worst possible time for the economy. With a few more pennies on the dollar, we could invest in rebuilding schools and infrastructure. And even if we imposed a millionaires’ surtax and rolled back the Bush- era tax cuts for those at the top, the taxes on the richest Americans would still be historically low, and their incomes would still be astronomically high.

(Snip)

Just thought I'd SHARE what passes for economic thought on the left.
H/T Common Ground Politics

[NCJim]

YOU JUST CAN'T FIX STUPID

 

"The difference between genius and stupidity is

 

genius has its limits."~Albert Einstein

[Valin]

YOU JUST CAN'T FIX STUPID

 

"The difference between genius and stupidity is

 

genius has its limits."~Albert Einstein

 

 

OTOH...

 

[NCJim]

Stupid is like the pink battery bunny.... It keeps going and going and going

[Argyle58]

To an extent Hanauer is correct. He never created a job by definition. But, as an investor, he created the opportunity for those who were without capital, but rich in ideas, to create those jobs. That he created none on his own was his own expression of capitalism.....he invested money expecting a return.

 

I'm tired of these rich liberals who cry "Raise Taxes on The Rich"......because they are frauds. First of all, they don't want to raise taxes on the richest Americans, only the most productive, because the taxes that they want to raise are on earned income.

 

Hanauer, Buffet and all the Hollywood 1%'s have the option to pay their own full share of taxes, without the benefit of accountants, attorneys and estate managers. Simply file a simple tax form without deductions, and without planning ways to minimize their tax liabilities. They even have the opportunity to DONATE money to the federal government, outside of their tax liabilities.......it's even tax deductible.