Cutting Social Security. image by Jared Rodriguez / t r u t h o u t; Adapted by BOSSoNe0013, SqueakyMarmot

That gem comes from Sage Eastman, spokesperson for Dave Camp, R-MI-SuperCongress, according to the New York Times in an article discussing the extension of the Social Security tax cut for an additional year.

“Clearly it puts money in people’s pockets, and that’s good,” …. “But it doesn’t have impact on growing the economy and creating jobs, and that’s what our tax policy reform ought to be focused on.”

It must be spokesperson day. Here is Brad Dayspring, talking for Eric Cantor:

“All tax relief is not created equal,” ….“If the goal is job creation, Leader Cantor has long believed that there are better ways to grow the economy and create jobs than temporary payroll tax relief.”

I’m sure Eric will enlighten us later on the actual jobs program of the Republicans. I bet it involves tax cuts for the rich; that seems to be an article of economic faith, like ignorance of basic economic theory and Adam Smith riding on a dinosaur provided by the invisible hand of the marketplace.

Is there anything more weird than the sight of Republicans trying to explain why they want to hike taxes? Perhaps it’s the sight of Republicans promising to protect Social Security, except for some those “strengthening” through judicious pruning of benefits. The funny thing is that tax cuts for workers may well provide less stimulus than other programs. Working people will spend the money, or they will use it to repair their balance sheets, by paying down unsecured debt (credit cards, car payments). Both of these will be helpful in fixing the economy.

But tax cuts for the wealthy are a positive danger to the rest of us. The cuts won’t be spent; they won’t be used to pay down debt. They will simply be stacked up alongside the rest of the piles of money, stock, bonds, real estate, and other financial assets already controlled by the rich and used to speculate at our expense. We ‘d be better off if they gave the money to Bernie Madoff: at least he spent piles of it on everything from yachts to high-end cars.

In other news, Cantor, showing his fanny, as my mother used to say, will block disaster aid to states damaged by Irene unless it is offset by other cuts in the budget.