Here is another variant on the line that the rich are job creators. In this case, Rick Santorum is not pushing the line that the wealthy need lower taxes but that monuments should be built to them. There is a lot of criticism over the way government spends its money, but statues and monuments for the wealthy is okay, according to Santorum. Or perhaps Santorum thinks private funds should be raised for these giant thank-you gifts. Why have all that private money go to help the poor and needy? They will just waste it on food and shelter, right?
“There is income inequality in America. There always has been and hopefully, and I do say that, there always will be,” said the former Pennsylvania Senator. “Why? Because people rise to different levels of success based on what they contribute to society and to the marketplace and that’s as it should be.”
Santorum explained himself this way, “We shouldn’t have a society that has a President who envies or creates class warfare or envy between one group of people and another,” said Santorum.
“We should celebrate like we do in the small towns all across American as you do here in Detroit. You celebrate success. You build statues and monuments. Buildings, you name after them. Why? Because in their greatness and innovation, yes, they created wealth, but they created wealth for everybody else. And that’s a good thing, not something to be condemned in America.”
This argument about the wealthy creating wealth or jobs, for that matter, is wrong. If cutting taxes for the wealthy was going to create jobs, where are all the jobs from the continuing Bush tax cuts? That is because no one with a few million to toss around is going to wake up in the morning and think: “Oh, I’m going to create some wealth and jobs today so I’ll open up a new business.”
Jobs are created by demand. That is why a healthy middle class is needed. Where there is demand, someone with money is going to start a business because that is an opportunity. Starting a business where there is no demand is akin to gambling. Smart businessmen are not going to do that. The real job creators are the middle class.
Building monuments to Steve Jobs, Warren Buffet and Bill Gates is fine, but how about the plumbers, carpenters, secretaries and clerks who are the ones that really make this country work? Contrary to Santorum’s statement, these people contribute vastly to society. Let’s not forget that for every Jobs, Buffet and Gates, there are Bernie Madoffs, Enron executives and Wall Street moguls with complex investing schemes who are doing far more to enrich their pockets than making a contribution to society.
Back in 1980, George H.W. Bush called Ronald Reagan’s plan to revive the economy “voodoo economics.” This is a messier version — santorum economics.
