WHY THE POOR MUST VOTE REPUBLICAN
By David Grossack
The Democratic Party, has long postured as a party that is the friend of the underclass, the
underpaid, the unemployed and those supposedly disadvantaged by race or ethnicity. Their
solutions to the problems of their less fortunate constituents has generally been based on
extracting monies from the productive sector of society and transferring it to the less productive
sectors of society.
What they have done is to „institutionalize‟ poverty and dependency rather than make welfare
and other programs of this nature very temporary measures to prevent dependency from
becoming a multi-generational lifestyle that it seems to be in so many neighborhoods.
The American taxpayer has been infinitely generous. Of course, we have no choice when tax
time comes around.
But our federal government is on the brink of insolvency. . The Republican party is
predisposed towards solutions that can completely alter the landscape of poverty, dependency
and government transfer payments.
Democrats have blathered and whined about „tax cuts for the rich.‟ This is demagoguery, not
economics.
The less fortunate should not feel slighted when the rich get tax cuts. When the wealthy get a
tax cut, they don‟t put the savings under the mattress, or at least most won‟t. Some will bank it.
The banks will lend it to businesses in the community who will create more jobs to benefit those
who need jobs. The banks will lend it to those who build houses, those who need to borrow for
college and those who need cars for those who need transportation to work.
Others will invest in companies directly. Their investments will fuel research and development,
plant expansion, the building of more retail outlets and ultimately more jobs and more consumer
spending. Economists variously refer top this as “the multiplier effect “or” the ripple effect. „
This is what will provide the economic environment for bringing people out of poverty.
Taxes on large estates and larger incomes are poison for the economy. The money that is
siphoned off by government is spent on bureaucracy, rarely on helping people. Money invested
in the private sector builds a stronger and healthier economy that helps those among the poor that
really want to improve themselves and look for a job.
The Democratic majority in Congress is doing incalculable damage to the economy by taking
no action towards the repeal of a disastrous idea which became legislation, known as Sarbanes
Oxley. Sarbanes Oxley is literally wreaking havoc on hundreds of small, publicly traded
companies that cannot afford the incredibly expensive accounting and reporting requirements
this bill mandates.
The legislation, sadly, was a bi-partisan effort at placating public alarm over the accounting
scandals which were exposed in large companies in the aftermath of the Enron debacle. But
Sarbanes Oxley was drastic overkill. New committees had to be formed to monitor relations
between their companies and their auditors. Corporate executives who had little or nothing to do
with accounting and finance have to sign pledges making them criminally responsible if their
accounting and finance people make errors. Layers and labyrinths of new reports, new
committees, new reporting responsibilities and disclosure rules have forced approximately $1
trillion out of public companies and into the hands of accountants, consultants and tax and
securities lawyers since Sarbanes Oxley was enacted, according to one estimate.
Many companies are now longer public as a result. Their shareholders are left holding the bag.
Worse, companies have begun to leave the United States and do their stock offerings and
exchange listings in London, Luxembourg and other locations. This has an incredible impact on
the American economy, affecting all of us. When services are offshore, and opportunities are
offshored, we all lose. Simply put, Sarbanes Oxley inhibits companies from raising money here.
That means less building, less research, less expansion, fewer jobs, fewer training programs, less
chances for the poor to climb out of poverty.
New York Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been among those concerned. As a former
head of a financial news service and as mayor of America‟s financial capitol, Bloomberg should
know.
Vice President Cheney has also raised the issue.
Advocates for the poor need to know why the economy often doesn‟t work well, and why the
poor don‟t have meaningful access to the economy. The answers always include taxation and
overregulation, although there are certainly other reasons.
We can trust the Republican Party to be willing to tackle these issues while the Democrats just
pander to the victims.