Scenario 1: Business is booming for a clothing manufacturer and retailer. The company, owned by wealthy people, decides to expand to another state by taking over space in a mall. They hire the staff for the new store and hire additional people to make more clothes at the factory.

Scenario 2: Business is declining for a clothing manufacturer and retailer, The company, owned by wealthy people, decides to close several stores. They fire the employees at those stores and cut the number of employees in the factory. 

Question: In both of these scenarios, who are the Job Creators?

Republicans would have you believe that “Job Creator” is a synonym for wealthy people. However, as the contrast between these two scenarios proves, the wealthy people who own this clothing company are merely players. They do not actively create jobs. They passively react to the business conditions created by their customers.

The true  Job Creators are the consumers. Or, to put it another way, Mr Millionaire and Mr. Billionaire do not create the jobs. You and I do. If we decide to spend our money on new clothes, we help the employees of the clothing companies keep their jobs. If enough of us buy those clothes we force the owners to hire more people to meet the expanded demand. If we decide that we have enough clothes then sales people and factory workers get fired.

The 2016 election is unique in many ways but on the issue of how to improve the economy, it is essentially no different from any other election going back to the 1930s. Donald Trump, the Republican, wants to cut corporate and personal income taxes. This sounds like it benefits everyone but for most people the bigger tax bill comes from social security, property, sales and gasoline taxes which will not change. Thus,income tax cuts primarily benefit the wealthy under the assumption that the wealthy are the Job Creators and the more money they get, the more jobs they will create.

Hillary Clinton, the Democrat prefers to put more money in the hands of middle class consumers. Her program therefore, aims to cut major middle class expenses like tuition and health care, provide paid family leave and pay for it by increasing taxes on the wealthy. Her view is that consumers are the true Job Creators and the more money they have, the more they will spend and the more jobs will be created.

Who is right? As my two scenarios show, I side with the Democrats. However,  I’m willing to modify my views if someone can make a convincing case for the wealthy being the Job Creators. Good luck!