Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

turbinetree

(26,980 posts)
Fri May 30, 2025, 12:51 PM May 2025

'Never met a poor person that created jobs': GOP senator mocks tax cut question

By Travis Gettys
Published May 30, 2025 1:23 PM ET

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) dismissed a student's question about the Republican tax cut bill by mocking poor people.

The Wisconsin Republican spoke Thursday at the Medical College of Wisconsin, where he defended the extension of president Donald Trump's tax cuts when one of the students asked why the GOP bill focused on spending cuts instead of raising revenue to balance the budget.

"I'm a young person, and in your talk you talked a lot about how the deficit represents a transfer of wealth from young to old, and I'm sensitive to that," said student Joseph Hennessy. "Of course, you can't spend money that you don't have. But, of course, there are two ways to reduce the deficit. One is to cut spending and the other is to increase revenue. So I'm wondering why you're only focused on one half of that equation, cutting spending, and not opposing these massive tax cuts that disproportionately go to the wealthiest Americans who really don't need that tax cut and why we're looking at cutting things like Medicaid and funding for critical scientific research on the back of that."

https://www.rawstory.com/ron-johnson-tax-cuts-mock/

Hey Ronny..............where did you get your money..........if history is any indicator your money came from your wife and her family...........and PACUR...............so again your a dickhead..............there are a lot of people that are "poor" dickhead that created jobs...........they are called self employed..........like I was when I was delivering newspapers..............you really are a POS and yes you will vote to screw Wisconsinites out of Medicaid and Medicare and SNAP.......no doubt in my my mind............

21 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
'Never met a poor person that created jobs': GOP senator mocks tax cut question (Original Post) turbinetree May 2025 OP
What a Christian thing to say. /sarcasm yardwork May 2025 #1
Wealthy people don't go into business to create jobs Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin May 2025 #2
Or, On A More Positive Side... ProfessorGAC May 2025 #10
They have been bribed so long they forget that they work for ALL the American people. Irish_Dem May 2025 #3
........ Mad_Machine76 May 2025 #4
Plenty of poor people create jobs bucolic_frolic May 2025 #5
Bizarre statement by a capitalist evangelist Prairie Gates May 2025 #6
Workers create WEALTH that billionaires pay less tax on than the workers do on their paltry wages. CousinIT May 2025 #7
This message was self-deleted by its author Ponietz May 2025 #8
Yeah, well I never liberalhistorian May 2025 #9
I never met a rich person arrested for stealing food from garbage cans. Ping Tung May 2025 #11
Poor people are consumers misanthrope May 2025 #12
And I never saw a rich man use his tax cuts.... lastlib May 2025 #13
Such a moron. What about these people? Wiz Imp May 2025 #14
The billionaire class are all parasites. Basso8vb May 2025 #15
Billionaires on WallStreet Welfare thought crime May 2025 #19
Russian asset says WHAT??? GoCubsGo May 2025 #16
Never met a guy who married the boss' daughter who wasn't a total grifter. milestogo May 2025 #17
Right, people like Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey NEVER gave anyone a job DFW May 2025 #18
I guess he's never heard of a self-made millionaire who started out with nothing synni May 2025 #20
Highly intelligent statement by that student. Paladin May 2025 #21

Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin

(132,821 posts)
2. Wealthy people don't go into business to create jobs
Fri May 30, 2025, 12:54 PM
May 2025

They do it to make money. They'd prefer that you work for them for free if it were possible.

ProfessorGAC

(75,852 posts)
10. Or, On A More Positive Side...
Fri May 30, 2025, 01:35 PM
May 2025

...they create jobs to grow the company which in turn makes them more money.
There were industrialists in our past that raised pay above market to both attract the best workers & to make customers of their workforce.
That's even happened in the last 30 years, so it's not just Henry Ford & an aging Carnegie.

Irish_Dem

(79,786 posts)
3. They have been bribed so long they forget that they work for ALL the American people.
Fri May 30, 2025, 12:55 PM
May 2025

They have no humanity left whatsoever.

bucolic_frolic

(54,038 posts)
5. Plenty of poor people create jobs
Fri May 30, 2025, 12:57 PM
May 2025

Your local roofer, landscaper, lawn crew ... motivated, and needing helpers. Furthermore it's small business that creates jobs, that grow. Billionaires don't create jobs, they invest, ok sometimes in VC and startups, but passively. Big business have no need of new employees in quantity. They hire expertise, experience. RoJo is an idiot. You always know when he starts making noise there's a slam a few days down the road.

Prairie Gates

(7,191 posts)
6. Bizarre statement by a capitalist evangelist
Fri May 30, 2025, 12:58 PM
May 2025

Not only is it manifestly and empirically untrue (people create jobs all the time while struggling in new businesses), but it cuts against the very basic belief of capitalist entrepreneurship and upward mobility. If only the rich create jobs, then the whole goofball story of entrepreneurship that they've been selling us for 50 years is a lie.

What has gotten into these people? I don't expect them to give our objections to their bullshit ideology a fair hearing, but I expect them to keep their own stories straight from week to week!

CousinIT

(12,236 posts)
7. Workers create WEALTH that billionaires pay less tax on than the workers do on their paltry wages.
Fri May 30, 2025, 01:01 PM
May 2025

The workers end up paying what the billionaires don't and / or suffer cut government services because of it.

IOW, trickle-down is BULLSHIT.

And the student is right. WE CAN NOT SIMPLY CUT OUR WAY OUT OF DEBT.

WE HAVE A REVENUE PROBLEM AND WE CAN'T SOLVE IT UNTIL AND UNLESS WE ARE WILLING TO TAX THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE ALL THE MONEY: THE BILLIONAIRES AND BIG CORPORATIONS.

Response to turbinetree (Original post)

liberalhistorian

(20,900 posts)
9. Yeah, well I never
Fri May 30, 2025, 01:30 PM
May 2025

saw a business that didn't succeed thanks to the hard work of poorer people, who are rarely given any credit!

lastlib

(27,542 posts)
13. And I never saw a rich man use his tax cuts....
Fri May 30, 2025, 01:59 PM
May 2025

....to build flood protection around New Orleans, either.

(I could think of a thousand things to substitute for flood protection...)

Wiz Imp

(8,960 posts)
14. Such a moron. What about these people?
Fri May 30, 2025, 02:00 PM
May 2025
https://www.entrepreneur.com/leadership/7-billionaire-entrepreneurs-who-started-off-dirt-poor/313299

So right there are 7 poor people who created thousands of jobs.

In this very short video, Robert Reich explains very well why Johnson is full of shit.

Basso8vb

(1,230 posts)
15. The billionaire class are all parasites.
Fri May 30, 2025, 02:01 PM
May 2025

I've never seen a billionaire create any wealth.

WE create all the fucking wealth they steal.

thought crime

(1,193 posts)
19. Billionaires on WallStreet Welfare
Fri May 30, 2025, 02:13 PM
May 2025

Very few billionaires create wealth directly from profits. They get it from the stock market.

GoCubsGo

(34,665 posts)
16. Russian asset says WHAT???
Fri May 30, 2025, 02:06 PM
May 2025

How many jobs has this motherfucker created? I mean, besides any recruitment he did for his Sweet Daddy Vlad.

DFW

(59,730 posts)
18. Right, people like Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey NEVER gave anyone a job
Fri May 30, 2025, 02:10 PM
May 2025

RoJo doesn’t understand that a poverty of ideas and poverty of character are still severe forms of poverty.

synni

(673 posts)
20. I guess he's never heard of a self-made millionaire who started out with nothing
Fri May 30, 2025, 02:49 PM
May 2025

But of course, who would ever expect a Republican to be well-informed?

Paladin

(32,282 posts)
21. Highly intelligent statement by that student.
Fri May 30, 2025, 02:54 PM
May 2025

Ten times smarter than anything that shithead Ron Johnson had to say.

Latest Discussions»General Discussion»'Never met a poor person ...