From Jim Hightower

The "ROBS Act"

Monday, April 2, 2012
 

Posted by Jim Hightower

Hallelujah, Washington has finally heard the people's cries for jobs! In an urgent bipartisan push, Democrats and Republicans have passed the J.O.B.S. Act. At last, jobs for all, right?
Well… not right away. Certainly not for all. Maybe none.

You see, the new law itself doesn't create a single job for the tens-of-millions of unemployed and underemployed workers in our land of the rich. In fact, the accent on the J.O.B.S. acronym should be on "B.S." Will it surprise you to learn that the word "jobs" isn't even included in the title? Instead, J.O.B.S. stands for "Jump-start Our Business Start-ups."

Yes, while it was rushed to passage without any public hearings in the name of hard-hit American workers, all of the benefits go to corporate and financial hucksters who begged Congress to roll back financial disclosure and anti-fraud rules that were designed to protect investors, consumers, and taxpayers. It's just another "tinkle-down" economic scam written by and for Wall Street fraudsters. The law makes it easier for them to raise cash for their new business schemes by deceiving investors about the risk of loses, the true financial condition of the enterprise, and the amount of capital being raked off by executives.

"Free us from those pesky old regulations," say the hucksters," and we'll attract speculators for corporate start-ups that (if they succeed and don't set-up operations offshore) could possibly, someday, create a few low-wage American jobs. But don't hold us to that job thing."

Sure enough, Washington's Wall Street-hugging politicos did not. Instead, they merrily passed a bill upping the likelihood of more financial swindles without even getting a promise from the swindlers that America will get some good jobs in return. The JOBS act should be called the ROBS Act.

"Senate Approves Bill to Aid Start-Ups," The New York Times, March 23, 2012.
"Kill the JOBS Act!" www.slate.com, March 19, 2012.
"Fiscal Affairs: CFA Institute Against the "JOBS" Bill," www.huffingtonpost.com, March 20, 2012.
"The "JOBS" bill today," www.angrybearblog.com, March 22, 2012.
"JOBS Act clears hurdle, faces others," www.politico.com, March 21, 2012.
"Senate to Add Protections to "Jobs' Bill," www.wsj.com, March 22, 2012.