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In recent years, or more precisely, since Barack Obama became President, Republicans have had a continuing romance with the term “job creators” as in “we need to get government off the back of the job creators and give them the freedom to grow the economy.”  As the GOPpers use it, the term “job creators” refers to business and is the shibboleth that encompasses every pro-business policy that can be crammed onto their wish list: Lower taxes, less regulation, more constraints on organized labor. Like most talking points that politicians are given to using, it obscures the complexity and nuance of the macro-economic issues it references to such a degree as to be rendered meaningless.

Let us hypothesize for a moment: I will grant you your “job creator” tag and stipulate that without the heavy-handed intervention of that inconvenient social institution, The Government, businesses will lead the way in economic growth and spur employment. What if, however, businesses eliminate jobs? It would be ridiculous to continue to call them “job creators”;  Wouldn"t they more properly be referred to as “job destroyers”?  Here’s a unique idea: Why not just call businesses, “businesses”?

I bring this up because of the recent announcement by Radioshack that it is closing 1,100 stores. The corporation did not release the number of jobs that would be eliminated; I assume, given the 1,100 store number, that several thousand employees will be dismissed. Radioshack is hemorrhaging cash and slashing payroll is one way to staunch the out-flow of funds. It is definitely not “job creation.”

Other retailers, notably Sears and JC Penny, are also closing stores and laying off workers. The reasons are varied; certainly, the glacial pace of economic recovery and lack of consumer demand plays a part. Competition from online retailers has meant fewer shoppers in stores. Obviously, the loss of jobs in one sector can be balanced somewhat by gains in others. Amazon and other online retailers have provided an impetus to growth in logistics- package delivery, warehousing, distribution, etc.

And that is the point: Describing business as “job creators” tells us nothing about the economy and what policies might be effective. In the real world, some businesses grow and hire more employees. Others grow, but use technology and other efficiencies to employ proportionately fewer people. Still others contract and shed workers.

So, how about we discuss the effects of demand on employment? I’d like to begin by pointing out that the consumer, the person spending money to purchase a good or a service, is really the “job creator.”

I’ll see you in Macro-Economics 101.