The bipartisan Jobs Bill emerging in the Senate "won't create many jobs"

[Better Believe It]

Bipartisan jobs bill short on making jobs
By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, Associated Press Writer
February 11, 2010

WASHINGTON – There's a problem with the bipartisan jobs bill emerging in the Senate: It won't create many jobs.

The bill includes tax cuts to please Republicans and its passage would hand President Barack Obama a badly needed political victory. But even the Obama administration acknowledges the legislation's centerpiece — a tax cut for businesses that hire unemployed workers — would work only on the margins.

Tax experts and business leaders said companies are unlikely to hire workers just to receive a tax break. Before businesses start hiring, they need increased demand for their products, more work for their employees and more revenue to pay those workers.

"We're skeptical that it's going to be a big job creator," said Bill Rys, tax counsel for the National Federation of Independent Business. "There's certainly nothing wrong with giving a tax break to a business that's hired a new worker, especially in these tough times. But in terms of being an incentive to hire a lot of workers, we're skeptical."

The bipartisan Senate plan would exempt businesses from paying a 6.2 percent Social Security tax on the wages of new employees, as long as the workers have been unemployed at least 60 days. The tax break would run through the end of the year.

The Senate proposal, which is more narrow than the one analyzed by CBO, is estimated to cost about $10 billion. That would add 80,000 to 180,000 jobs over the course of a year. The U.S. economy, meanwhile, has lost 8.4 million jobs since the start of the recession.

At a hearing last week, House Democrats peppered Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner with questions about whether a tax break for hiring workers would increase employment. Geithner defended the idea but acknowledged that businesses won't start hiring until demand for their products and services increases.

"I think this will provide a little bit more of a boost, a little more spark to make sure as we grow, we're creating more jobs than we otherwise would," he told the House Ways and Means Committee.

Read the full article at:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100211/ap_on_bi_ge/us_what_jobs

[endless october]

1. bring back manufacturing.

if that means breaking up walmart and tariffing imports, so be it.

the current model has not worked.

[Better Believe It]

2. We still need a massive federal job creation plan

It's unfortunate one wasn't proposed during the first year of the Obama administration.

The "stimulus" plan written by three Senate Republicans last year was totally inadequate.

[laughingliberal]

4. Yep. And much the same problem as we see here

Heavy on tax cuts, short on stimulus spending.

[Mari333]

5. amen to that

[Craftsman]

3. At this point any jobs bill is more designed to safe jobs then create them

Save the jobs of senators and congressmen so they can go back to their voters and say look we are doing something.

[Romulox]

6. I demand Free Trade with South Korea! That will create jobs.

And it will probably bring democracy to China, too...(somehow :shrug: )

[Better Believe It]

7. That'll work!