PLEASE rec the following post to DU's front page:

[JDPriestly]

10. I agree. That is the point of the higher taxes -- to create government jobs.

Even if the money is immediately used to pay off debts, it will ultimately create government jobs -- and we need to rehire laid-off teachers, for example.

But California is a state and the strategies available to it are limited.

The US is not limited by the need to borrow money. It can simply hire the unemployed for minimum wage in special programs and pull the entire economy up through public works projects. The rich do not want to see a reduction in the value of their cash. They could care less about high unemployment. That is why they want austerity. They are fools. We can see in Greece that a country in which so many people are unemployed and feel hopeless is in big trouble. Do wealthy Americans really think that they can hide from the inevitable social turmoil -- possibly even disease -- in their gated communities?

I don't think they can.