Focus on jobs, not just the deficit

The Republicans have a plan to boost the U.S. economy, lower taxes to encourage investment and increase production while cutting government spending. This plan is called supply-side economics. Will it work? The simple answer is no.

As a producer, you make only what you can sell. If sales do not increase then there is no reason to hire workers to increase production, so if your taxes are reduced, you just pocket the extra monies. The problem is there cannot be an increase in demand if there is high unemployment because fewer people can afford to purchase your goods. Therefore, the real problem is how to put people back to work.

Many of the industries which provided employment with good wages are gone forever to Third World countries with much lower labor costs. The only way to generate a sizable number of new jobs is to develop new industries with new technologies. This was proposed by President Obama, but forces in Congress, including all Republicans and some Democrats, are so strongly focused on the deficit instead of job creation that such plans will never receive approval.

Another plan proposed by the president was to have a WPA-type plan to hire 150,000 construction workers to rebuild the decaying infrastructure of the country, the roads and bridges. Again, this plan never got off the ground.

Our senators and representatives have only one goal, being re-elected, which results in playing politics instead of doing what is right to get our economy moving. Congress deserves its 18 percent approval rating. Cutting taxes and reducing spending as proposed by Republicans will result in increased unemployment and consequently less demand for products. A deeper recession may result. What is needed is increased taxes on the wealthy to decrease the deficit and increased government investment to create jobs.

Robert Frankel

Schaumburg