With the latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showing that unemployment has increased to its highest level since the final aftershocks of the 1970s, it has become clear to all but the most dyed-in-the-wool Obama partisans and their media echo chamber (was that a redundancy?) that the “stimulus” has failed to created the new jobs promised when this was passed.
Remember when candidate Barack Obama invoked Dr. Martin Luther King to remind us of the “fierce urgency of now“? Well, once elected, that rhetoric (like much of his campaign) rhetoric has fallen by the wayside, replaced with policies designed to help the special interests who elected him and help the Democrats whose votes he needs to enact his statist agenda.
If Democrats really believed their “stimulus” would spur economic growth, they would have front-loaded it, that is, directed that the money go out immediately when it could most invigorate an ailing economy (as per the rhetoric surrounding the urgency of passage before even most elected representatives (or anyone else for that matter) had a chance to read it). Perhaps, defenders of the “stimulus” will claim that this budget boondoggle has failed to create any new jobs because only 5% of the money has been spent so far.
And the very failure to spend suggests that the purpose of this legislation was not to respond to immediate economic distress, but to the Democrats’ more pressing concern–retaining their majority–for “the bulk of the cash flow will not happen until mid-2010.” Just in time to rev up the economy before the mid-term elections.
(Even though the money has not gone out, at the time of its passage, the President warned us that without its passage, unemployment would increase. Well, it did pass and unemployment has increased to the levels we were told it would have reached had it not passed–and beyond.)
If this bill were about providing immediate help to an ailing economy, we wouldn’t have to wait so long to see the bulk of the cash.
Exactly my observation from a month ago [or so]… Wonder who else has picked up on this possibility…?
Between the porkulus, the government takeover of the auto industry, health care etc. it seems the best bet is to do the opposite of what Chairman Obama says we need to do.
On another site, I asked liberals if they thought it was a good idea to ram through “health care reform” without discussion or debate. Their answer was a resounding yes. They said we NEED it now and it should be rammed through. One told me that whatever they do HAS to be better than what we have now, which led me to conclude this individual had no frackin’ clue what we have now. It would appear that many don’t care what Chairman Obama does as long as he does it. Nor do they seem to care if freedom is violated in the process.
Don’t forget that that only Democratic Party-supporting auto dealers are being “allowed” to keep their Government Motors and Chrysler-Fiat franchises….and will be (con)tributing heavily to their local (Democratic) Congresspersons in the future to remain in favor.