Democrats admit they know nothing about economics
Written by Michael Vass
Yes, I made that headline. Not that this is anything new to my readers. I have been stating that the Democrat-led Congress had about as much financial knowhow as a wet noodle since Speaker Nancy Pelosi started hinting at a $50 billion stimulus package before the election.
Well the numbers balloned out of control immediately after President Obama was elected. And based in no small part on his mantra of change, Congressional Democrats passed the bloated social reform package that is the Obama Stimulus. I should add that at the time Democrats, notably the President, insisted that we had to approve this packed or the sky would fall and a depression far worse than that of the 1920’s would descend upon the nation.
This was a dire message indeed. Democrats blamed President Bush, Republicans, Wall Street, and everyone else they did not like for the woes of the economy. They promised that the stimulus package would revitalize the nation. That millions of jobs would be saved or created. That the recession would end before the year ended, if only we passed the Stimulus package.
And it was passed. 99% of all the votes came from Democrats; about the same proportion of legislators that actually read most (no one read all) of the proposed Stimulus Bill.
But as we know now, the Obama Stimulus really had nothing to do with jobs or the economy. It had lots of social reform and redistibution of wealth. It took lots of time to distribute the money (most of it being spent anything but immediately as we were promised), does virtually nothing for the economy, and has created a string of problems for some of the most needy of Americans. All of which I have discussed over the past 5 months or so.
Yet, just a month and a half after President Obama and Democrats alluded to the Stimulus as saving jobs and showing signs of turning around the economy, we now see them admitting it was all just polkispeak. Not that it is a straight-forward admission. It too is veiled in polispeak.
“The truth is, we and everyone else misread the economy.” - Vice President Biden
Misread? How is that possible. We were told the economy was about to collapse and doom was on the horizon. We were promised in no uncertain terms that the only hope for the economy was President Obama and the Stimulus package. And that the price would be the future indebtedness of our children and grand-children.
Since the Stimulus has been passed, even as the Obama Administration proffered the idea of success, the unemployment rate has risen dramatically. The economy has sagged. More people are in danger of losing homes and jobs than ever before. And the most optimistic reports from the Obama economic team now forecast this situation to continue to get worse for perhaps another year before any real improvement occurs.
Thus calls for another Stimulus package are starting to circulate. Much in the manner that Speaker Nancy Pelosi prepared the public for what became the collosal $787 billion waste. Just comments right now, stating that another stimulus is not an outright bad idea. Setting the stage to run polls and see if the President’s popularity can support yet another plan to spend money that the public does not have, nor will earn in the next decade.
Now I said this was an admission of failure. And I believe it is, though shrouded in polispeak. Because to say that another stimulus is needed means that the intital Democrat passed plan isn’t doing the job. If you fix a flat tire you don’t need to go back and fix it again.
Yet where are the inquisition styled questions that the major news media loved to level at Republicans and President Bush? Where are the cries that the public wealth has been raided as if barbarians had just ransacked the nation. Why is no one mentioning that our grand-children are about to be stripped of their potential future?
Democrats have failed the nation. They passed a Bill that they did not read, that was filled with loopholes that peanalized the most in need, that fails to do what it was supposed to be created for. Which has nothing to do with Republicans or past Presidential Administrations. This all happened under their control and their promises of redemtioon from an economic apocalypse they envisioned.
Do we need another stimulus plan? If Democrats and the Obama Administration had any clue about finances, the promises they made, or the actual state of the economy the answer would be an emphatic no. But this is a group of legislators that prefer to grandstand on blaming someone else for what they did. A group of Congressional lawmakers that achieved the least possible with the most press coverage of them assailing everyone else for their failures. This is a Democrat plurality in Government that is the equivalent of a dim bulb that someone forgot to turn on.
I suggest this. Instead of taking even more of our money for even more social change and Congressional pet projects that truely help few if any of the public that needs help; why not revamp the stimulus plan that was passed? Since the need is immediate, yet 85% or so of the money has not been spent yet, why not re-allocate where the money will be used.
In all honesty, if every American was given roughly $3000 to use as they needed the economy would truely have a boost. And it would still be a discount to the amount of money that has been allocated as a Stimulus so far. At least then, when we had to pay back the full loan amount (with interest that everyone forgets to talk about) we might have something to show for it.
But politicians are not know for their honesty, or concern for promises made. Even less so when they are in a legislative control situation. 2010 and 2012 cannot come fast enough.
