Bush*'s tax cuts are still in effect and there is no hiring going on

[Winterblues]

How is keeping them in effect permanently going to create hiring? We have people on both sides of the aisle saying "you can't raise taxes during a recession". Clinton did exactly that and America experienced "The greatest economic expansion in history" Clinton gave a tax break to middle class and increased taxes for those making over four hundred thousand a year. Our economy took off and left the Bush 1 recession in the dust..

[sandnsea]

1. Unemployment in my county went from 14.3 to 10.4

In one year. We're moving in the right direction. We need more of Obama's transportation and energy programs to kick in.

[brentspeak]

2. The message should be rung loud and clear: Tax cuts for the rich don't create jobs

[raccoon]

3. K&R. nt

[Stinky The Clown]

4. How can that be??? Really. How can that possibly be?

The Democrats are in power now. :shrug:

[alc]

5. tax cuts and increases don't affect hiring as much as

uncertainty about upcoming cuts or increases, and uncertainty about other things. Most places I've worked (small to huge) look at the cost of a new higher 3+ years down the road. The first year matters, but there's extra cost for onboarding (HR, security, headhunter's cut, equipment, training,...), and less productivity because of the learning curve for the new hire. As a manager I have to eat those costs the first year but that's ok if the employee stays for a few years. That means I need to budget for that employee's cost over at least a few years.

If I don't know the multi-year costs, it's harder to justify a new hire. I don't want to have to fire anyone because taxes reduced our budget or health care increased employee cost beyond our budget.

If I think costs may go up significantly I need to offer a smaller salary so I have some in reserve in my budget for future years. And offering a small salary is likely to make that employee leave sooner so there's a risk that I won't recoup my upfront costs. So it's much better to wait until the results of the health insurance reform are better know. And until I know what's going on with Bush's tax cuts. And what's going on with the energy bill (if it costs more to operate our plants then company profits are down and my budget is likely to be cut). And if I were at a small company now I'd have to worry about going over the thresholds that trigger new health care regulations.

Temp workers and outsourcing are a much better option when future costs and taxes are in doubt. Even known high taxes and high benefit costs are better than unknowns when it comes to permanent employees.

[Winterblues]

6. Don't know what type of business you work in but

If it has anything at all to do with sales, you want people to have money. The best way for that is for middle class expenses to go down while expenses for those that would hardly notice to go up. Most businesses have pretty static expenses. They pretty much are the same, every month, rent, lights, heat, wages, fuel, etc. The main thing to improve bottom line is to either sell more goods or raise prices. Cutting expenses are a factor but a small one. New taxes are quite negligible and are more than made up for if you sell more product which would happen if regular people had more money. When all the money accumulates at the very top, there isn't a lot of room for advancement..Tax the shit out of the very wealthy and you will see business boom like never before.