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"While it's probably not fair to state that the consumption tax would be a net POSITIVE for jobs in the USA, it's not likely to hurt them."

Its more than fair to state that a consumption tax would have a net positive impact on US jobs - in fact, its an understatement.

1. Reducing the prices of exports (while maintaining comparable profit margins) by 20 - 30% would significantly impact the demand for our goods in foreign markets.
2. US produced goods would stay about the same in price on an after-tax basis, but imports would increase significantly. Once again, the demand for US produced products in our own country would be substantially greater than it is now.

In addition to price shifts which would significantly increase the demand for US produced goods, shifting to a consumption tax would save several hundred billion $$ per year in compliance costs. Talk about a boost to productivity! There isn't any policy initiative that the federal government could adopt which would have the economic stimulus impact of converting to a consumption tax.

Another advantage of using Fundamental Tax Reform (FTR) to address our jobs/economic problem is that, unlike tariffs, we would not be enciting the wrath of the WTO and inviting retaliation by our trading partners. We could simply point out that we are taxing imports the same way we are taxing our own products purchased for consumption here.

IOW, we would be correcting an imbalance that currently exists in which our tax system handicaps our own producers vs their international counterparts. We would be levelling the playing field. Once people understand that, FTR is a no-brainer.

2. US produced goods would stay about the same in price on an after-tax basis, but imports would increase significantly. Once again, the demand for US produced products in our own country would be substantially greater than it is now.

I don't follow your logic here.

I stated that there would not necessarily be a positive impact on US jobs, just to be conservative about it.

I agree with your thought that it would be a BIG BOON to US job-holders--but I don't want to over-promise. I'm not running for office, you know....