O Stimulus, Where Art Thou?

Er, uh, how’s that stimulus working out for you?

Unemployment rates, age 16 years and older, 2009
January 7.6%
February 8.1%
March 8.5%
April 8.9%
May 9.4%
June 9.5% (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics)


“Nonfarm payroll employment continued to decline in June (-467,000),
and the unemployment rate was little changed at 9.5 percent, the Bureau
of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today.
Job losses were widespread across the major industry sectors, with
large declines occurring in manufacturing, professional and business
services, and construction.” – from BLS News Release, “The Employment Situation,” July 2, 2009

Obama’s own economic advisors predicted an unemployment rate of under 8% by now, with passage of the stimulus, and well under 9% without the stimulus. What we have is 9.5% with the stimulus.[1]

The stimulus has had enough time to show some impact if indeed it is going to have any success. But the economic facts limit its benefit to minimal levels while the debt incurred is very high, although it is just another part of the historically high deficits and public debt that will burden generations to come. It’s a bad bargain.

The government’s efforts to help the unemployment situation, combined with other proposed legislation actually will do serious damage. The unemployment problem is now projected to get worse through 2009 and not improve until some time in 2010. If we get cap and trade, that will put a damper on hope for improvement in employment any time soon, and if we get healthcare “reform” on top of that, financial disaster may turn into catastrophe.

The Heritage Foundation January 15, 2009 article by Brian M. Reidl, “10 Questions About the Economic Stimulus Bill,” points out serious concerns and weaknesses in the Stimulus bill, including this:

“We're told that government spending will add new spending power to the economy. But Congress doesn't have a vault of money waiting to be distributed: Every dollar lawmakers "inject" into the economy must first be taxed or borrowed out of the economy. If government borrows the money from American investors, investment spending drops accordingly. If it's borrowed from foreigners, net exports drop accordingly. How does borrowing $800 billion from one group of people and giving that $800 billion to another group of people make us wealthier?” [2]

Other concerns involve faulty economic models, historical examples of failures of similar approaches, etc.

If the government is truly serious about improving the unemployment situation they could do so quickly, not by more moves to “help” the economy, but by removing some hindrances. First, repeal what’s left of the stimulus. Second, cut corporate tax rates. Third, cut capital gains tax rates. Fourth, stop trying to regulate anyone’s pay or trying to tell business people how to run their businesses. The government does not know how to run them. These things would have a virtually immediate positive effect on employment and economic growth.

Remember when Al Gore called Bush’s proposed tax cuts a “risky tax scheme?” The tax cuts have demonstrated their value. What Obama has done and has proposed is truly risky. It’s very dangerous and we urgently need some corrections.

[1] http://blog.heritage.org/2009/07/02/unemployment-spike-defies-%E2%80%98stimulus%E2%80%99-claims/#more-9921
[2] At http://www.heritage.org/Press/Commentary/ed011509a.cfm

Congress Reaches New Lows in Legislative Substance and Form

Substance
Ah, where to begin? The Waxman-Markey cap and trade bill is a new low in just about every way it could be. It’s high-taxing, job-killing, industry-destroying atrocity that will not achieve its stated objectives and yet will cost trillions of dollars.

As many people have pointed out, the “climate change” issue is a phony one anyway, and other countries are beginning to pull back on their efforts to deal with it. Australia, for example.

But not only does the bill take a convoluted, fraud-inviting and unfair route to dealing with carbon emissions, it also contains numerous very intrusive, unconstitutional and destructive measures, many unrelated to the climate question, or so micro-managing as to constitute not a climate help but simply a costly, freedom-destroying annoyance. For instance, the bill mandates that government experts have to sign off on a house’s environmental efficiency and necessary upgrades must be made before a house can be sold. This is blatantly unconstitutional, but who reads the Constitution any more? Certainly not our leftist government. And the federal code for houses is just one little item tacked on somewhere in that famous 300-page amendment. Has anyone ever heard of the Tenth Amendment?

Republican House Leader John Boehner (R-OH) read from the bill for an hour in the House of Representatives, saying the American people have a right to know what’s in the bill. And some strange and surprising things are in it (see video).

Form
How could all this legislative junk be approved? Well, probably not by normal means. It took some very sneaky and clever activity to do it.

There was no bill available for House members to read before they voted. That in itself is a breach of not only common sense, but the Constitution. I seem to recall a promise from the Democrats some time back that the text of proposed legislation, especially important items, would be posted on the internet for two weeks for public view. This one wasn’t even available for Congress members’ view. If there really is a House Ethics Committee, maybe they should check this out.

There was delivery of the aforementioned 300-page amendment around 3 AM. I’m sure most of the House members studied it carefully before voting.

I predict that the same types of tactics will be used when the healthcare “reform” (i.e., takeover) legislation is presented. But we’ll see.

Conclusion
The Waxman-Markey bill itself and the sneaky manner in which it was handled are so egregious that every Representative who voted for it should be voted out of office in 2010. It’s that bad. They should have known better. But Obama is happy and can now proceed with his plan in the Senate. Maybe they’ll be just embarrassed enough to reject the cap and trade bill. But don’t bet on it.

Is Obama Creating and Saving Jobs?

Obama’s stimulus is supposed to create and “save” jobs. All this bailout business started before Obama was elected. Obama was on board with it and added greatly to the spending. Senator Cornyn (R-TX) reports that the projected budget deficit for 2009 is almost as much as the Federal budget of 2001. Obama’s proposed spending is more than the combined spending of all previous administrations. And yet …

For January through March of 2009, over two million jobs had been lost in the U.S., including 663,000 in March. In April, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported job losses of 539,000 (later revised upward), and in May the figure was reported by sources as 532,000. So, it’s well over three million so far in 2009. Of course we don’t know how many jobs have been “saved,” if any.

This past week it was reported that the unemployment rate nationwide is 9.4%, the highest level in 25 years. Of course, the mainstream media sees this as a sign that unemployment is bottoming out since some people thought the rate would be even higher. Several states have unemployment rates in double figures. But there are still many more job losses yet to come, with events such as the auto plant closings, related supplier cutbacks, etc. When large companies close down facilities, many outside the companies are affected, of course: suppliers, dealers, municipalities, property owners, and so on and on. The bottom is evidently not quite in sight yet.

But don’t worry, our leaders are on the job. Their answer to all this is more and more spending, in amounts approaching the unimaginable. Trillions of dollars more than ever before! Fifty billion at GM alone for the government’s stake. Apparently Obama can simply pour billions in public funds into whatever company he wants, and claim ownership, rewarding the unions or other constituencies with shares, while stiffing stockholders and creditors, then criticizing them if they dare complain. We must “sacrifice” for the benefit of future generations, who will be born debt-ridden (provided they escape the abortionists). Meanwhile, the dollar will soon become worth much less than it is now as inflation takes over. We’ve only begun to see the “sacrifice” on the altar of Obama’s fascism.

The main growth sector in our economy will be government, which will balloon in size in order to try in vain to keep up with all the spending and pork projects.

While this is fiscal insanity, it must seem like the appropriate steps to Obama and his allies, because it is leading to more and more chaos which, of course, “only the government” is equipped to deal with. As long as possible, they will blame Bush, but actually Obama now owns this situation, and people are beginning to see that. If the government had stayed out of the entire financial and auto industry meltdowns and let the markets run their course, there would still have been much pain, but the self-correcting mechanisms of the market would be in place instead of government meddling and manipulation. And we would be to a much lesser degree on the road to socialism, fascism, and loss of liberty.

Republicans need to get over the idea that we need bipartisanship, and get to the business of defeating liberalism and socialism wherever it is found. The GOP does no good for itself by trying to “work with” Democrats when that requires rolling over and accepting what they are offering. Pray for conservative leaders. Contact your elected representatives about the out-of-control spending and government takeovers. There is still time to avert much of this political and economic catastrophe.