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One reason we don’t think President Obama is going to do any better with the economy if he gets a second term is the hash he has made of the $860 billion stimulus. After a couple of years he admitted there weren’t any “shovel ready jobs.”
The stimulus has just been used as a political slush fund as far we can see. Much of it went to states to delay the inevitable cutbacks, to keep more teachers on the job until state cutbacks trickled down to schools, to waste money on solar companies that went bankrupt and battery companies that got bought out by Chinese billionaires.
Extending unemployment benefits accounted for $35.8 billion, according to a comprehensive list compiled by the New York Times. Education and job training aid to states accounted for $53.6 billion and tax cuts for those same purposes were $13.9 billion. Expanding food stamps and other similar types of aid was $20.9 billion. Additional Medicaid subsidies for states was $87.1 billion.
Tax credits, child care aid, NASA, Amtrak, high-speed railroads, public transit, the National Institutes of Health, helping low-income people buy digital TVs, cash for clunkers, COBRA health insurance, expanded Pell Grants for college students and $250 cash to recipients of Social Security, Supplemental Social Security, retired railroad workers and veterans.
And let’s not forget the importance of supporting those news outlets that worship Obama. At the end of August it was discovered the U.S. Labor Department spent $495,000 of stimulus money to pay for ads on cable TV programs to advertise the department’s “green jobs” initiative.
John Kline, R-Minn, chairman of the House Committee on Education and Workforce, wrote the labor secretary, “Despite the fact that these funds were made available as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act — legislation President Obama said was critical for immediate job creation — an examination of public records shows that the contract that resulted in the advertisements on MSNBC created no jobs.”
Kline did admit that after looking at the $2 million the Department of Labor spent, it was determined that it did created one job at the McNeely Pigott Fox Public Relations firm the Department of Labor hired.
There were 100 commercials bought on the MSNBC programs hosted by Rachel Maddow and Keith Obermann.
If that isn’t the definition of a political slush fund we don’t know what is. It looks like taxpayer financed reelection propaganda and buying favorable news coverage.
“Quite simply, government taxing people more who work and then giving more money to people who don’t work is a surefire recipe for less work, less output and more unemployment,” wrote economist Arthur Laffer in the Aug. 5 Wall Street Journal.
So we’ve seen nearly a trillion bucks bite the dust and all we have to show for it is a cheerleading cable network with declining ratings, 8 percent unemployment, no budget making it out of the U.S. Senate in three years, 46 million more people on food stamps, 23 million unemployed. There’s nothing stimulating about that. We’ve been hornswoggled.
The Mountain Democrat does not necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post. Read our full policy
James E.September 06, 2012 - 7:11 pm
Mr. Editor, first $860 billion is not $1 trillion unless you think $140 billion is nothing. Second, it trickled down -- I thought Tea/Republicans loved trickle down. And, about $360 billion of the $860 billion went to tax cuts -- I thought Tea/Republicans loved tax cuts. So, we ended up with around a $500 billion stimulus which was totally inadequate to get the economy going. Why such a small amount? Because the Tea/Republicans wouldn't vote more for fear that a larger amount might do the job and make President Obama look good. Such patriots.
Rich-Fair and balanced media, not in El Dorado CountySeptember 10, 2012 - 11:02 am
So much for fair and balanced media. The Mountain Democrat is so certain that the El Dorado County Elections Department will give the Republicans the RIGHT results, makes me wonder how that happens, that there is no need to report both sides, even tho there does seem to be an effort with the occasional article from Chris, the Mountain Democrat is still far from balanced. There are plenty of ways to have a meaningful, substantive exchange about the differences of the Republicans and Democrats in tax policy, economics, jobs and the role of government. But it's simply preposterous for the Mountain Democrat to continue to recirculate Republican press releases publication after publication as if the entire population of EDC only wants to read about whats going on with Republican politics.
CatherineSeptember 10, 2012 - 3:37 pm
One can see where the money went, by zip code: http://www.recovery.gov/Transparency/RecoveryData/Pages/RecipientReportedDataMap.aspx?stateCode=CA Certainly not perfect, but also not the wasteful psychodrama Mr. Raffety might lead one to believe.
Jim RiordanSeptember 11, 2012 - 11:08 am
Well Mike I guess you could have expected such comments. My comment is, we could stop at your first paragragh "ONE REASON Obama isn't going to do any better. . ." You are right, that is only ONE of MANY reasons he will not do better and in fact, I believe 4 more years of that toad will bury this Country in a financial hole we will never dig out of. His love of allowing illegal aliens to receive the benefits our forefathers worked so hard for is simply disgusting and will break our collective backs . . that is the backs of those legal citizens who still have work. Obama is a sad plague on this once great Country.
Ken SteersSeptember 11, 2012 - 11:25 am
I'm not mad at President Obama. The American people voted for him knowing who he is. It would be nice if he faced certain economic realities and try to deal with some tough issues that (D) Governors Cuomo NY and Brown Cali. are trying to address in their states. So it's clear it's not a (R) (D) issue. But it's painfully obvious he doesn't have the bandwidth. The time is at hand and we have eaten the steak, lobster and cherries jubilee. Drank the Opus one and the Dom. It was a grand time but the waiter is wanting to know how we plan to pay the bill. No avoiding the issue, we all know we were at the table.
Bo BarnesSeptember 11, 2012 - 2:21 pm
Why is it ok for newspaper media to flaunt their political bias, but not television outlets? Do you really think GWB's mess can be swept up in 3+ years?! Morons! The Republican Party long ago sold out to the corporate interests (both parties did, but the Dems are the lesser of two evils). If you really believe Toad Romney is going to help middle class families, you're a few beers short a sixer.
Ken SteersSeptember 11, 2012 - 2:44 pm
Bo, I don't view our President as a moron. “Look, I’m at the start of my administration. One nice thing about the situation I find myself in is that I will be held accountable. You know, I’ve got four years. A year from now I think people are going to see that we’re starting to make some progress. But there’s still going to be some pain out there. If I don’t have this done in three years, then there’s going to be a one-term proposition.” President Obama February 1, 2009.
Bo BarnesSeptember 11, 2012 - 3:31 pm
Ken, I'm talking about the big picture. There have been many improvements made that have put us on the right track. But as far as the large-scale economic snapshot goes, it takes time for improvement to be measured. I think that's the problem with Romney supporters in general: they just don't see the big picture.
Ken SteersSeptember 11, 2012 - 4:24 pm
Bo, It appears to me that if we remain on the path we are headed our economy will be set to go off the fiscal cliff. To be clear, the only taxing the rich mantra possibly nets our government 200 billion dollars a year extra in taxes. We are spending 1.3 trillion dollars more than we are taking in taxes. 23 million Americans are currently unemployed. 50% of our college graduates can not find a job and the 86,000 new jobs available were predominately in the low wage retail sector. I say I don't like this path. You say stay the course.
prime timeSeptember 21, 2012 - 6:14 pm
Obama's $9B 'Green Stimulus' Created 900 Jobs: $10M Each