Dave Spence has a jobs plan [View all]

[hfojvt]

or so he says on TV. So I thought I would check it out. What is this jobs plan?

http://www.spenceforgovernor.com/jobs-plan/

Well, one big part of his plan seems to be

1. Hiring or appointing a bunch of Chamber of Commerce type people - to come up with a plan.

"He will also address a major shortcoming by recruiting a team of top Missouri executives and managers (people with no financial interest in state business) to evaluate the Department of Economic Development and make recommendations for better management practices and restructuring."

I guess you could call that a plan, of sorts. Kind of like a pig-in-a-poke plan. vote for Spence and he will create a commission of fat cats who six months later will tell you what you voted for.

But you already know what you will be voting for - a Government of the Fat Cats, by the Fat Cats, and for the Fat Cats.

2. Asking small business owners what should be part of the plan

"Spence is committed to personally calling small business owners and executives to identify their problems and find solutions."

So, here, once again, there is no plan. Only a plan to come up with a plan. By asking small business owners (and executives). I sorta wonder how "small" a business is which has an executive. Spence mentions that there are 133,215 business in Missouri, 94% having fewer than 50 employees. Suppose he calls all of them and spends two minutes talking to them. A mere two minutes with 124,282 business owners would be 248,546 minutes or 4,142 hours, or 518 work days (with no breaks).

So obviously, he cannot personally talk to ALL of them. So which ones will he talk to? This is just a guess, but I would say - the biggest ones, the richest ones will probably get the lion's share of his time, which is only smaller than the Rotarian's share of his time (rim shot). The Fat Cats.

3. In order to create jobs, Spence wants to make sure the Fat Cats retain power - even if they lose the elections. He proposes making it a law that only a super-majority can increase taxes on the Fat Cats.

"making it more difficult to ever raise your taxes. Spence will work to require at least two-thirds support from the legislature to put any tax measure on the ballot."

In other words, even if "we the people" win 65% of the elections, that will not be enough to out-vote the Fat Cats, because you need 67% in order to raise taxes on them. So if they pass a piece of crap like Brownback just did in Kansas - to cut taxes for the rich and raise them on the poor, it would take a 2/3 majority to undo that.

4. Like Brownback, Spence has a plan to make taxes "fairer" and to create jobs. Which is how Brownback described his own monstrously evil plan. And like Brownback, Spence apparently has no intention of telling you what it is - until AFTER you have voted. Again, his plan is to "come up with a plan"

"Upon election, he will immediately appoint an independent panel of experts to look at our outdated tax system and make recommendations for reforms ..."

Yeah, sure, an independent panel of experts. Right. Care to name that panel now? Is there any chance at all that Spence considers Arthur Laffer to be an "independent expert" just like Brownback, who paid Laffer $75,000 of Kansas taxpayer money to come up with a monstrously evil plan to increase taxes on the poor and cut them massively for the rich. Any chance of that? Or would we just get random "experts" from Heritage, Cato and Americans for the Prosperous?

So, there seems to be Spence's jobs plan - to hire some Fat Cats to come up with a plan to benefit Fat Cats.

Although, to be fair, Spence does specify some things before the election, like this step which is sure to create thousands of jobs (maybe in Fantasy Land)

"Some of his ideas include: mandating drug tests for unemployment recipients and revoking benefits for those who fail..."

He files that under "using common sense". Common sense might realize that in order to GET most jobs, a person must pass a drug test. And some employers, like the Water Department, where I am on the board, will test their employees at random, about every other year. Yet Spence seems to feel that many people, having lost their job, had their income cut by 2/3 or so, will rush right out with their (extra?) money and buy some drugs.

This is common sense?

Doesn't look like it to me. What does make sense - don't vote for Spence.