In a change of tactics, the President has decided to go to the people and ask for support for his jobs bill instead of again attempting to negotiate with Congressional Republicans only to produce a watered down bill that zero Republicans will support, including those that helped negotiate the deal.
Similar to the Health Care reform act, polls suggest the jobs bill has broad support for it's components but only moderate support for the bill as a whole. Unfortunately for Americans who want jobs, Congressional Republicans have their own goals which first and foremost include opposing the President and winning seats, followed by no tax increases for millionaires and obsessing over national debt in a austerity driven manor.
According to a new report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), national debt is a factor in determining future economic growth. It happens to be the least important of all factors measured but it did change expected growth by around 2%. Other more important factors include Exchange Rate Competitiveness (9%), Foreign Direct Investment (15%), Political Institutions (25%), and Trade Openness (43%).
But the biggest of all factors in determining future economic growth was Income Distribution. The study shows that the lower the Income Inequality Gap, the higher the economic growth. So while Congressional Republicans have put all of their eggs in the basket of the smallest indicator of future economic growth they are steadfastly against the number one indicator and have actually proposed and supported the very policies that have lead to one of the highest income inequality gaps in our nations history and subsequently one of the worst economies.
That won't stop them from trying to convince the American public that it is the President's policies, which have mainly been the policies of Congressional Republicans past and present, that are to blame for our current economic conditions.
The good news is the other economic growth indicators are somewhat in our favor since Foreign Investment has never been a problem for the US and the most recent Trade Openness Index already ranks us a number 2 in the world. Given the toxic environment in Washington DC and the lack of faith in the people running the government we could probably make some strides in our Political Institutions, but we are far from an Arab Spring like revolution in this country.
In the end the free market tells us that numbers don't lie and biggest bang for our buck is a governmental system that promotes a smaller Income Inequality Gap. Republicans, however, would have you believe this is Communist plot to bring down America.
Congressional Republicans should follow their own free market rhetoric and run the country like a business since no corporation would turn down the biggest possible Return on Investment simply because it runs counter to what they though they knew was true. Corporations are number based entities and if the numbers show a clear ROI winner they don't turn up their noses, they charge full steam ahead.
If only the success of the country was more important to Congressional Republicans than the success of the party.
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