Republicans Should Call for a Stimulus Reset

The Dems seem to like the image of the "Reset Button." Let's use it on them. Nearly 2/3 of the $800B+ Stimulus Bill passed last year has yet to be spent. Clearly, the Stimulus Bill hasn't worked. It hasn't produced any private sector jobs. It has mainly fended off state and local public employee layoffs that might have occurred due to state and local government budget crises.

Now the Dems want to double-down on stimulus. They are being careful to call it "jobs" vs "stimulus" because they know the word stimulus has become discredited. But why should net new funds be spent on a "jobs bill?" Let's hit the reset button on the stimulus bill, claw back the unspent funds (which if they haven't been spent by now can hardly be expected to be stimulating anything), and use them to fund real stimulus, i.e. meaningful and permanent tax cuts. For example, making the Bush tax cuts permanent and more.

The case that the unspent billions are not stimulative, and merely represent shameless and unprecedented pork barrel spending, is easily made. And in the current climate of voter sensitivity to runaway spending, such a case would be most compelling.

In one fell swoop, the conservatives could reverse hundreds of billions of wasteful spending and the associated debt hangover, and find a source to fund the tax cuts we need to truly get the economy back on its feet again.

Let's Cancel The Porkulus Before it Buries Us

The Pelosi-Obama Deficits - WSJ.com: "We've never fretted over budget deficits, at least if they finance tax cuts to promote growth or spending to win a war. But these deficit estimates are driven entirely by more domestic spending and already assume huge new tax increases. CBO predicts that debt held by the public as a share of GDP, which was 40.8% in 2008, will rise to 67.8% in 2019—and then keep climbing after that. CBO says this is 'unsustainable,' but even this forecast may be optimistic."

Here's why. Many of the current budget assumptions are laughably implausible.

Need a good belly laugh? Read the assumptions behind the conclusion that we will have ONLY $9 TRILLION in deficits over the coming decade.

It is amazing that Obama's economic advisors had the gall to get on TV yesterday and try and pin these deficits on George Bush. Shameful.

We are burying our children and their children in debt. Disgraceful.

Americans Aren't Brain Dead part XLVIII

Poll: Stimulus not helping Americans personally - Austin Business Journal:: "More than three-quarters of Americans say the economic stimulus is not helping their financial situation and another 57 percent say it is not helping the overall economy, according to a new poll.

Sixty-eight percent of those questioned in a survey of 1,010 adults by the Gallup Inc. for the USA Today newspaper said the Obama administration’s stimulus has not impacted their personal finances, while 13 percent said the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has hurt. Eighteen percent said federal economic efforts have made things better."

Starting out your administration by hawking and signing a $787B fraud is not a good way to build trust.

Did Porkulus Turn The Economy Around?

IBDeditorials.com: Editorials, Political Cartoons, and Polls from Investor's Business Daily -- What's The Stimulus Have To Do With It?: "Claims that higher taxes and a total of $2 trillion in stimulus, TARP and bailout spending this year have turned the economy around are unconvincing. Indeed, they're farcical.

As economist Casey Mulligan noted on the New York Times blog after dissecting second-quarter GDP data, total stimulus at the state and federal levels amounted to about $12 per person. That's stimulus?"

Unprecedented, massive monetary stimulus by the Fed is what is bringing an end to the recession. And the wealth that has been restored in the stock market is going to encourage consumers, who feel wealthier to spend more generously going forward.

But regardless of what brought about this turnaround, since we are now on the mend, why don't we cancel the rest of the $700B+ of Porkulus that hasn't been spent and put a massive dent in the growing deficit/debt picture?

Surprising - A Government Program That Seems Dazed and Confused

U.S. Effort to Modify Mortgages Falters - WSJ.com: "An Obama administration effort to reduce home foreclosures by lowering the mortgage payments of struggling borrowers before they fall behind is failing to help as many people as expected.

Among the problems: Some homeowners are being told they must be behind on their payments to receive help, which runs counter to the aim of the program. In other cases, delays are so long that borrowers who are current on their payments when they ask for a loan modification are delinquent by the time they receive one. There is also confusion about who qualifies."

Let's sign this crew up to decide which sorts of cancer protocols have the best efficacy/dollar. That'll be good.

They Squandered $787B on a Bogus Stimulus, But Trust the Dems on Healthcare!

Robert J. Samuelson - President Obama, Democratic Congress's Squandered Stimulus: "It's not surprising that the much-ballyhooed 'economic stimulus' hasn't done much stimulating. President Obama and his aides argue that it's too early to expect startling results. They have a point. A $14 trillion economy won't revive in a nanosecond. But the defects of the $787 billion package go deeper and won't be cured by time. The program crafted by Obama and the Democratic Congress wasn't engineered to maximize its economic impact. It was mostly a political exercise, designed to claim credit for any recovery, shower benefits on favored constituencies and signal support for fashionable causes.

As a result, much of the stimulus's potential benefit has been squandered."

I think one of the main reasons the Obama train is hitting the skids is because a majority of Americans know that the they were suckered by the Democrats on the Porkulus. Trust in the Dems and Obama is deeply eroded.