The Diane Rehm Show

fanforNPR wrote
"Without raising revenue through increasing tax rates for high income earners (and I am one of them) and closing loopholes for certain corporations, the jobs will not come back."

fan, like I mentioned before, if want to pay more taxes,go for it. I am sure the Treasury will appreciate.

" By investing in infrastructure and education, we can have more and better jobs, as well as increased tax revenues."

For goodness sakes, that what the Recovery Act of 2009 was all about. Shovel Ready jobs. Monday's WJC stated that the 2.4 million jobs it created cost us taxpayer $278,000 per head to create. We could of given $100,000 to each of those 2.4 unemployed and still had, what 425 billion left. Some of those people in your state of NC would probably still have jobs. Instead we the taxpayer are saddle for 856 billion with nothing to show for it.

accountant wrote:
"d30598 is correct in that the job killers for small businesses are state and local governments, not the federal government.

As an accountant for small businesses for 35 years I can attest to the fact that the fedeeral government is the least of a small business's worries with regard to taxes. High tax rates are not the problem, the problem is government interference in the workplace."

But remember in certain types of small business, you have to deal with EPA, OSHA,etc that regulate far than they are suppose to. In addition if there is a union involved for example,a small manufacturer making gadgets for a large car company in the North part of the country. There will be additional regulations imposed by the union.
As I have stated before, a Carl Jr that want is to opened in California takes two years while in Texas it is only 45 days. California is 50th in creating jobs.

Bravo Diane! You had a great show today. I think your ardent questioning of many of the assertions made was spot-on and I was especially impressed with how you cut through the spin and talking points that were being repeated ad naseum by James Sherk. It was also a master stroke to include Lawrence Mishel on the panel. He is not only well-informed and quick on his feet, but he also exudes a passion for the facts and presents them in cogent, compelling terms. He is an excellent counterbalance to the usual right/center-right ideologies that you usually find with 'expert guests' in the media. I have been critical of your panel selections in the past and would like say thank you for approaching this important topic in a well-balanced way.

Suppose that this show had occurred with a polygraph attached to James and Lawrence - and a bell that would sound when either said something he didn't really believe. Do you think we'd been able to hear much of anything James said over the din, once he started a comment?

Modern US "free-market" conservatism is little more than a "witches' brew" of mendacious, hyper-greedy elites (and their acolytes) leading fearful, superstitious, gullible, ignorant minions around by the nose - trying to devolve our country into a Western, "Christian" equivalent of the exploitative situation the "House of Saud" has going for it.

Exactly. Cheap labor, technological efficiencies and cheaper corporate taxes overseas are the reasons for our lack of job recovery when corporations are setting record profit levels. Why does it seem all these economists miss those points?

IT IS A "global economy". Rich corporations have jobs. But they are mobile too and are great tax shoppers. It IS bad to raises on these guys. Why? Cause they take their jobs, profits, AND TAXES overseas. Just look at Haliburton, GE, Arthur Anderson, Royal Caribean, and almost all the ex-Texas drilling companies are now paying taxes on their corporate profits overseas where the corporate tax rates are lower.

It is astonishing how many conservative economists miss this point. That and cheap labor overseas are the TWO BIGGEST FACTORS in our current post-real estate (and .com) bubbles by heads and shoulders...