A Rare Post In Which I Agree With Democrats

It doesn't happen often, but even Democrats get it right once in a very great while:

Rep. Mike Thompson, California Democrat, questioned whether a $5,000 payroll tax credit for every net new employee is strong enough to have an impact on the country's 10 percent unemployment rate.

“I don’t know anybody in business who hires an employee because they're going to get a tax break," Mr. Thompson said at a House Ways and Means Committee hearing with Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner. "People hire employees because they have work to do."

Rep. Lloyd Doggett, Texas Democrat, cited "general consensus among tax experts is that the credit is a stinker because it simply encourages people to do what they would have done anyway.”

They're right. An employer is not going to add an enormous cost to his bottom line for salaries and benefits in the form of a new employee for just a $5,000 tax credit. That $5,000 won't go very far, but the employee costs will continue.

Employers add personnel because they need them to do the work, and right now few employers are willing to take the chance of adding people in such uncertain times. In fact, job losses continue at a terrifying pace.

This is a "make me feel like I'm doing something good"-type bill, full of happy feelings but really accomplishing nothing other than rewarding people for behavior they would have engaged in anyway.