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Welcome to the World of Pulitzer Prize Winning Political Cartoonist Michael P. Ramirez |
Better Deal 08-04-17 See Michael's latest cartoons HERE
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A new label on an old Democrat product
Democrats’ ‘Better Deal’ Proposals Would Make Americans Worse Off
Alden Abbott / @AldenAbbott1 / August 03, 2017 DAILY SIGNAL On July 24, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi unveiled proposals by House Democrats to create “a better deal” for American families and workers. Unfortunately, the press releases accompanying the launch of the “Better Deal” initiative outline general policies that would undermine economic opportunities for Americans and harm American consumers. In other words, this initiative flunks basic truth in labeling standards. More accurately, it constitutes “a worse deal” for Americans. Let’s see why. First, the initiative calls for “rais[ing] the wages and incomes of American workers and creat[ing] millions of good-paying jobs.” To this end, it calls for government “investment” in job creation projects, “fighting back” against corporations that outsource American jobs, and “ensur[ing] a living wage” for all Americans—a proposal that suggests a higher government-set minimum wage. But all of these suggestions would harm, not help, the American workforce. As Heritage Foundation research shows, government spending does not encourage private businesses to expand or entrepreneurs to start new firms—for instance, the 2009 fiscal stimulus did not boost employment. Moreover, higher minimum wages merely price less-skilled entry-level workers out of the workforce, reducing the portion of Americans who work. “Fighting back” against corporations that outsource does not create an incentive for them to expand employment. Rather, as Heritage scholar David Kreutzer put it, “the best wage [and employment] policy is a pro-growth economic environment. A vibrant economy increases wages and jobs at the same time.” Key to a pro-jobs, pro-growth economic policy is a reduction in government burdens imposed on the private sector, through a variety of reforms highlighted by The Heritage Foundation’s “Solutions 2016” report. These include preventing inefficient fiscal stimuluses, repealing regulations that drive up prices, eliminating unnecessary occupational licensing rules that bar capable people from the job market, repealing laws (including Obamacare and the harmful provisions of the Dodd-Frank banking law) that give rise to economically harmful regulations, and repealing the job-killing Davis-Bacon Act that requires federal construction contractors to pay union rates. Tax reform to lower individual and business tax rates and simplify the tax code, also outlined by The Heritage Foundation, would further reduce disincentives to hiring. read more |
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