Letter: Public hiring does play a key role; rich not job creators

I am writing to clarify the points I made in a June 21 letter. I did not support hiring of public employees for the sake of hiring public employees, nor did I say that hiring public employees would create all the demand needed to save the economy.

I stated that if there is a demand for public services (e.g., if we still educate our children, plow our roads, put out fires, patrol traffic, etc.), we should fill those public positions.

It was an argument against UNDERstaffing these positions. I pointed out that public employees are consumers (and capitalist economies require consumers).

Despite the often repeated rhetoric, rich people and rich corporations are not “job creators.”

It is frustrating to have to make this point given that we have decades of statistics on taxes and employment that make this point very clearly. To paraphrase the millionaire and entrepreneur Nick Hanauer:

“Rich people don’t create jobs, nor do businesses. An ordinary consumer is more of a job creator than a capitalist like me. Anyone who runs a business knows that hiring more workers is a course of last resort for capitalists. It’s what we do if and only if rising consumer demand requires it.

“When the biggest tax exemptions and the lowest tax rates benefit the rich in the name of job creation, all that happens is the rich get richer. If it was true that lower taxes for the rich and more wealth for the wealthy led to job creation, today we would be drowning in jobs.” (from his TED Talk, www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQi6xJ3-7l4)

Tags: opinion, letters, politics