Extending Bush Tax Cuts WON’T Create Jobs, Says Leading Economist

As Congress debates whether to extend Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans at least one prominent U.S. economist has already cast his negative vote.

“Not all budgetary dollars are created equal,” said Alan Blinder, professor and co-director of Princeton University’s Center for Economic Policy Studies, in a conference Wednesday morning. “Some have a lot of bang for the buck, and some have very little. The GDP increase per dollar of budgetary cost is in the range of 1.6, 1.7 for things like food stamps and unemployment benefits, and in the range of .35 for extending the Bush tax cuts. We could get some substantial job creation by simply reprogramming the $75 billion that would be saved over the next two years by not extending the upper-bracket Bush tax cuts and spending it instead on unemployment benefits, food stamps, and the like.”

Blinder’s economic advice supports the tax policy of President Obama and the Democrats, who would like to maintain tax cuts for 95 percent of Americans, while letting the cuts for those with incomes above $250,000 expire. Letting the tax cuts lapse is projected to trim approximately $675 billion from the deficit over 10 years, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.

Full Story: Extending Bush Tax Cuts WON’T Create Jobs, Says Leading Economist.

OPS: No Shit! Do you really need an economist to tell you this or can you just take a look at how many jobs the Bush Tax Cuts for Millionaires and Billionaires created SINCE THEY WERE FIRST PASSED?  By the Time Obama took over we were loosing almost 800,000 jobs PER MONTH largely and in part due to the Bush insanity.