Eight Big Lies many believe as they go to the polls.

[JohnWxy]

http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2010104222/false-things-public-knows-they-go-vote

Here are eight of the biggest myths that are out there:

1) President Obama tripled the deficit.
Reality: Bush's last budget had a $1.416 trillion deficit. Obama's first budget reduced that to $1.29 trillion.

2) President Obama raised taxes, which hurt the economy.
Reality: Obama cut taxes. 40% of the "stimulus" was wasted on tax cuts which only create debt, which is why it was so much less effective than it could have been.

3) President Obama bailed out the banks.
Reality: While many people conflate the "stimulus" with the bank bailouts, the bank bailouts were requested by President Bush and his Treasury Secretary, former Goldman Sachs CEO Henry Paulson. (Paulson also wanted the bailouts to be "non-reviewable by any court or any agency.") The bailouts passed and began before the 2008 election of President Obama.

4) The stimulus didn't work.
Reality: The stimulus worked, but was not enough. In fact, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the stimulus raised employment by between 1.4 million and 3.3 million jobs.

5) Businesses will hire if they get tax cuts.
Reality: A business hires the right number of employees to meet demand. Having extra cash does not cause a business to hire, but a business that has a demand for what it does will find the money to hire. Businesses want customers, not tax cuts.

6) Health care reform costs $1 trillion.

Reality: The health care reform reduces government deficits by $138 billion.

7) http://ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2010104222/top-10-crazy-things-conservatives-say-social-security-edition">Social Security is a Ponzi scheme, is "going broke," people live longer, fewer workers per retiree, etc.
Reality: Social Security has run a surplus since it began, has a trust fund in the trillions, is completely sound for at least 25 more years and cannot legally borrow so cannot contribute to the deficit (compare that to the military budget!) Life expectancy is only longer because fewer babies die; people who reach 65 live about the same number of years as they used to.

8) Government spending takes money out of the economy.
Reality: Government is We, the People and the money it spends is on We, the People. Many people do not know that it is government that builds the roads, airports, ports, courts, schools and other things that are the soil in which business thrives. Many people think that all government spending is on "welfare" and "foreign aid" when that is only a small part of the government's budget.

[county worker]

1. Here's the thing about business and tax cuts.

I am talking here about real small businesses with pass through tax returns, that is the net income is reported on the owner's personal tax return.

If taxes are high, to avoid taxes the owner with the help of tax planning tries to get net income as close to zero as they can. To do that they have to have the same dollar amount of expenses as they do income. One way to increase expenses is to higher people or make pension plan contributions or have health care for employees.

When taxes are low you could accept more taxable income because a larger amount remains after taxes and goes into your pocket. In that case you would lay people off or cut benefits an pocket the difference.

The amount of tax a business pays can be planned for and avoided. I used to work for CPA firms and we would always do tax planning for small business people. We would have their business year end be on June 30th so we would have 6 months to play around with the expenses (retirement plan contributions, owners salary, families salary, depreciation etc.)

[elocs]

2. #5) Businesses have no obligation to create jobs.

The bottom line obligation for a business is to make a profit for the owners or shareholders. If they are able to do this while cutting the number of jobs, then that is good for the bottom line. It's wrong to attribute an altruistic attitude to businesses when it comes to job creation.

#7) When I look back on the lives of my ancestors in the 1600s and 1700s it is amazing to see how many of them were living into their 70s and even 80s. Yes, a lot of the longevity statistics comparing today to years ago are skewed by the infant mortality rate. Chances are back then if you survived childhood you had the chance of a long life.

Also, is it believed that baby boomers will live forever and collect SS all of that time? I'm a boomer (58) and I'm guessing that in 30 years from now that the baby boomers will be dying off.

[JohnWxy]

3. Did you think the author was saying businesses have an obligation to create jobs??

"A business hires the right number of employees to meet demand. Having extra cash does not cause a business to hire, but a business that has a demand for what it does will find the money to hire."

the author certainly is not attibuting any altruistic attitude is implicit in, or required for, running a business.

Regarding operating a business, you left out one rather large consideration.

Most businesses are run with the hope and plan to grow. Most investors (unless they just want a confortable dividend check from a utility) are also looking for companies with plans to grow. NOw, if the only way you can think of to increase income is to cut costs and you have no ideas for increasing your business .. I for one would be interested in finding another business to invest in. I'm interested in companies with growth potential. I think the underlying assumption (or maybe suspicion is a better word) is that a company that isn't thinking about growing will end up being beaten out by it's competitors who do want to grow their businesses - if necessary at the expense of their competitors.

[elocs]

4. No, I saying that the perceived notion by many concerning busnesses and jobs

is that it is somehow the job of business to create jobs. It is not.