Thom Hartmann: 'The Job Creators Are the People on Welfare'
Sometimes, it can be heartwarming to listen to the radio and hear the sound of the Seventies. That's not true for the Thom Hartmann radio show. On Friday, Hartmann parlayed some classic 1971 socialist economics about who should get credit for the economic recovery:
The job creators are the people on welfare. The job creators are the people who are on unemployment. They’re the people who are working. Because what creates jobs is when people take money out of their pocket and buy something. And when enough people buy enough things that creates demand in the economy and somebody’s got to make the stuff that’s being bought and in order to make that stuff they have to hire people who can make it for less than it costs to sell it so that they can make a profit on that. It’s a very very simple concept.
It's not so nice to hear a scratchy little record from John Maynard Keynes and the Pump-Primers. Hartmann chided a liberal caller on Friday who complained about partisanship and lack of compromise in the nation's capital. He questioned why should there be compromise when the "insane" GOP wants to take food out of the mouths of infants:
There are baseline things in this country you know that the Republicans want to take away. They want to take away food for women and infants, women and infant children who are in poverty. They want to take away basic funding for people in poverty. They want, I mean right across the board. They were only willing to extend unemployment benefits for a year even though they wanted to extend tax cuts for two years. I mean it’s just insane. I don’t think that compromise is where we need to go.
Currently, the Hartmann website also features a poll that equates “American exceptionalism” with capitalist meanness, featuring the somewhat mangled tale of James Verone:
Can the US be exceptional if James Verone robbed a bank for $1 to receive healthcare in prison after being denied healthcare?
– No! The US needs to join every other industrialized nation with "socialized medicine." (85 percent)
– Yes! Apparently Conservatives thinks [sic] it's exceptional for someone to have no other option but prison.
- Tim Graham's blog
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Comments
So, if I lose my job and go onto welfare,
Submitted by ThisnThat on Wed, 06/22/2011 - 7:20am.
....I can claim to have created a job? Sounds like obama Stimulus economics, with all those "saved" jobs.
One thing I am sure of though -- if I turn the radio off and don't listen to Thom Hartmann, I'm going to be a lot smarter.
__________
“Didn't win the Medal of Honor? Didn't even serve? Then lie about it. We'll support you." — 9th Circuit Court
Makes sense, if you drink a quart of rum real fast
Submitted by DontFeedTheTrolls on Wed, 06/22/2011 - 7:28am.
Using Hartmann's 'logic', if everyone was on welfare or unemployment, i.e. 100% of the population was unemployed and no one was paying employment tax, the economy would be booming like never before.
Exactly
Submitted by Galvanic on Wed, 06/22/2011 - 7:57am.
I've confronted liberals with that very same extrapolation of their logic , and it usually shuts them up. That's because most of them are no more than bumper sticker-deep on issues, so when they actually have to think about what they are advocating, they are at a loss for words.
Does this guy Hartmann actually read what he writes?
Submitted by acaiguana on Wed, 06/22/2011 - 7:32am.
Or does he just pound the keyboard and then look at it with awe wondering whatever - no comprehension as to what he says?
Inquiring minds would like to know.
Anyway, thanks to NB I am now exposed to this drivel.
ACA
...
Quoted from: 'Acaiguana notes from the Underground' (Soon to be at theaters near you)
He's writing for liberals. It
Submitted by ckc1227 on Wed, 06/22/2011 - 2:03pm.
He's writing for liberals. It doesn't have to make sense.
His following must. . .
Submitted by rickbren on Wed, 06/22/2011 - 7:34am.
. . . consist of a turnip, a blind donkey, and a worm.
Just the latter two...
Submitted by HockeyKid on Wed, 06/22/2011 - 7:47am.
he obviously uses the turnip to keep his ears from slamming together.
"Beauty is only skin deep, but liberal's to the bone." - me
Turnip Ear Spacer.
Submitted by Red Jeep on Wed, 06/22/2011 - 9:03am.
.
That's good HM
Submitted by Boudin on Wed, 06/22/2011 - 7:59am.
I might need that sometime
My pleasure.
Submitted by HockeyKid on Wed, 06/22/2011 - 9:45am.
Always glad to arm the troops.
"Beauty is only skin deep, but liberal's to the bone." - me
Let's let Mr. Hartmann return to anonymity.
Submitted by Red Jeep on Wed, 06/22/2011 - 8:46am.
Let's not encourage him.
So for Tommy Boy,
Submitted by HockeyKid on Wed, 06/22/2011 - 7:46am.
the product development cycle starts by giving money to people who want things, so they can demand that those things be made and put on the market.
Anyone who can't recognize the sheer ass-backwardness of that concept shouldn't be on the radio, listening to the radio, nor (heaven forbid!) voting.
"Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door"; stand on the corner demanding a new mousetrap and the world will tell you to build it yourself. Either that, or someone will offer to build you one for the right amount of cash, in which case you hire them and (SHAZAM!), now you're one of those greedy entrepreneurs taking advantage of the labor pool.
Hartmann teaches people to be stupid.
"Beauty is only skin deep, but liberal's to the bone." - me
Like the guy in the T Mobile ad says....
Submitted by motherbelt on Wed, 06/22/2011 - 7:48am.
It makes sense if you don't think about it.
Hey Tom,
Submitted by Boudin on Wed, 06/22/2011 - 7:58am.
Where do the Unemployed get those monies? Tom, eh, Tom?
I believe Pelosi made a similar argument . . .
Submitted by Galvanic on Wed, 06/22/2011 - 8:03am.
. . . back in 2010 or so, when the Congress was debating the extension of unemployment benefits. She said at that time the unemployment funding was the best kind of stimulus because the money goes directly back into the economy. Of course, the issue had less to do with where the money was going and more to do with Washington borrowing more money to do it.
Pelosi also claimed
Submitted by HockeyKid on Wed, 06/22/2011 - 9:49am.
that every dollar of unemployment compensation results in over two dollars coming back to the government. I want to see the calculus on that piece of extrapolation.
"Beauty is only skin deep, but liberal's to the bone." - me
Thanks, H-K -- I had forgotten that math gem
Submitted by Galvanic on Wed, 06/22/2011 - 10:44am.
It's that kind of 'progressive' thinking that underpins the Democratic belief that government creates jobs.
Oh, man....
Submitted by DumbCanuck on Wed, 06/22/2011 - 8:18am.
Somebody spiked the kool-aid again. SheesH!
"There... Are... Four... Lights!"
Hmmmm
Submitted by mel21221 on Wed, 06/22/2011 - 8:51am.
Stupid is as stupid does, I suppose.
He got this from Pelosi.
Submitted by SickofLibs on Wed, 06/22/2011 - 8:51am.
Right here.
Hartmann - Wow?
Submitted by Agnostic on Wed, 06/22/2011 - 9:13am.
Job creation can be done in many ways including consumer spending such as Hartmann pointed out. However, even if the Government was running at a surplus and there were not a slew of negative repercussions from borrowing this money to inefficiently send out to consumers - this is still the least likely method to create a significant number of jobs.
The people getting this money will spend the money but only on their needs and a handful of common wants (TVs, improvements, night out, etc...). The problem with this is it contributes to established markets and does not create new markets. A thousand extra TVs manufactured a week will only yield a handful of new jobs for expansion of existing lines of manufacturing and shipping if that is even necessary. New market creation creates untold numbers of jobs (depending on the market and it technical level) and more importantly for federal income it creates new taxable revenue streams.
Hartmann's thinking is at best linear thinking. Unfortunately the slope of the job creation line under his scenario isn't steep enough to keep up with unemployment, people working longer and the need to create new jobs for those entering the work force.
Exactly agnostic, people on
Submitted by Reaver on Wed, 06/22/2011 - 9:24am.
Exactly agnostic, people on welfare are not buying new houses, people on unemployment are not buying new cars. Their buying things like gas and groceries and even then they are making cutbacks from what they used to buy.
new cars and houses
Submitted by Agnostic on Wed, 06/22/2011 - 9:32am.
Even these are part of linear thinking though they do greatly increase the slope on the job creation line above what Unemployment Compensation allows. The number one way to create new markets within the US is something that all liberals hate and even some conservatives cringe from and that is by creating a greater wealth gap.
I would love to write about how borrowing money to create jobs by giving it to people who can't invest is negative net sum but I'm afraid I would put anyone to sleep that even started to read it. However, it should be apparent that an 'investment' in people who can't invest while paying interest is not going end well.
Using Hartmann's logic, teenagers are the best wealth creators
Submitted by lsudolemite on Wed, 06/22/2011 - 10:05am.
on the planet Earth. They simply take (excuse me, I mean "invest") their parents' money in disposable income spending, since most of their day-to-day needs are already taken care of. Therefore, what we really need is government subsidies of teenagers' allowances. Call it Keynesianism by proxy.
Come on people, admit it, it's a brilliant idea.
lsudolemite,
Submitted by Agnostic on Wed, 06/22/2011 - 10:43am.
as brilliant an idea as anything that has come out of Congress since about 2005
So, Thommy Boy...
Submitted by johnsonl on Wed, 06/22/2011 - 9:24am.
...where does the money come from to pay the people on welfare?
1) Obamao's "stash"
2) State Lottery
3) Taxes from people who work
Take your time, buddy. Of course, since you're a liberal, we'll grade this on a curve.
Hey
Submitted by HockeyKid on Wed, 06/22/2011 - 9:52am.
it's Washington--Tommy Boy thinks they can print all the money they want.
"Beauty is only skin deep, but liberal's to the bone." - me
It's way too early in the morning for me to
Submitted by lsudolemite on Wed, 06/22/2011 - 10:00am.
wrap my mind around such a colossal amount of stupid.
Hartmann is certainly reliable in one sense.
Submitted by Boil It Down on Wed, 06/22/2011 - 10:15am.
You can pretty much count on Hartmann to be 180 degrees off course most of the time. Using him as a measurement, you can turn around what he says to get on the right path. -bidn-
Weekend at Bernie's
Submitted by Roger the Shrubber on Wed, 06/22/2011 - 10:30am.
You guys have not lived until you listen to Thom's (with an "H"? Seriously?) Friday "Lunch with Bernie" segment with the brilliant Bernie Sanders. Quite the train wreck...
Thank God for XM/Sirius radio. It gives me an opportunity to hear what the mental giants of Liberal talk radio are whining about each day. And, in poor Thommy's case, he hasn't quite gotten over that whole "Bushy McHitler caused every calamity on earth" thing. Hell, he still cannot get over what a bad president Reagan was.
I can at least get through a segment of Thommy and his equally-super-serial callers. When I pu t on Randi Rhoades, I last for about 30 seconds, she is such a blast...
Welfare "Jobs"
Submitted by iveseenitall on Wed, 06/22/2011 - 10:45am.
The only "jobs" those on welfare create are for guys like Thom who b.s. all day long about those on welfare. No more welfare, no more "job" for Thom and his pals. Then again, "liberals" will always find some truth to turn on its head and b.s. about. Sad people indeed.
Never,Never trust a "liberal" (progressive)
OK, Hartmann
Submitted by CobraMan on Wed, 06/22/2011 - 11:13am.
Ok, Hartmann, which unemployed welfare recipient created YOUR job?
The only jobs ever created by the unemployed, that I can think of, is bill collectors.
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
Ain't nothin' worse than a
Submitted by Diesel on Wed, 06/22/2011 - 11:35am.
Ain't nothin' worse than a fried, old hippie