they hurt, badly, and are responsible for the largest bite out of paychecks for millions of workers, much bigger than withholding... reich has suggested dropping them for two years, I think, putting billions into workers' pockets, and into the checkbooks of their employers as well...both pay into the social security system, in equal amounts, which is why many small and moderate sized businesses dislike SS...
of course, if we have extra money in our pockets, we are likely to spend
it...duh?...and since most of us don't spend money in foreign countries,
at least not very often, and not very directly, such spending would feed
into the national economy...thereby creating sales, which, theoretically at least, create jobs...
if I recall, Reich 's further suggestion was to replace the billions taken out of the government coffers by this suspension by getting rid of the estate tax gift to the rich, which he suggested would put back in roughly the same amount the payroll deduction would take out...
the payroll tax is extremely regressive, and the system needs much more than a two year suspension of that tax... making it progressive and taxing all income without limits might help...
but for a liberal democrat, reich's proposal sounds pretty good, and given what passes for democratic party thought and action, he sounds even better...it's all relative, as the famous socialist may have said...
fs