It seems to me that we need something akin to an earthquake to shake Washington out of its bubble and get America moving forward again. Just think about these facts:
1. When president Obama took office, unemployment was soaring, household income was shrinking, and things were getting worse. It was, after all, a recession.
2. Within weeks of taking office, Obama got his stimulus package through Congress. It provided hundreds of billions of dollars to states to keep paying both the salaries and the benefits of their employees for another year or so. I provided all sorts of money to favored groups among the Democrats constituents (like college professors who got grants to study everything imaginable). It provided funds for so called shovel ready projects, but these turned out for the most part to be projects already slated to proceed, so there was no increase in economic activity. Basically, it spent about $800 billion but achieved next to nothing.
3. Obama also got an enormous increase in federal spending of all sorts from Congress, but this too had little positive effect on the economy.
4. The recession ended by June of 2009, long before any of the Obama actions had any effect on the economy. Since then, the economy had barely grown at all. Jobs have grown, but we still do not have as many folks employed as there were prior to the recession.
5. For 18 months, Obama spent almost all of his time on getting Obamacare passed in 2010. It did nothing to help the economy and seems, in fact, to be slowing growth.
6. When the Republicans took over the House in 2011, they focused on reducing government spending and preventing tax increases.
7. In all the time since the passage of the stimulus in 2009, Obama has not put forth a coherent plan designed to increase economic growth. He seeks higher taxes which everyone agrees will slow growth. He talks about education which may help in 20 years, but not now. But that is all; there is no Obama plan for growth.
8. Since the GOP took over the House in 2011, they have put forward no coherent plan designed to increase economic growth. To the extent that they have focused on economics, the GOP has worried about spending and taxes but not growth.
9. America's economy and its people are in trouble, but Obama and his party don't seem to care.
10. America's economy and its people are in trouble, but the GOP also does not seem to care.
11. Debating gun control, gay marriage or even immigration has little or no effect on the economy.
Washington needs to start focusing on what is truly important. Washington needs to start working towards growing the economy.
1. When president Obama took office, unemployment was soaring, household income was shrinking, and things were getting worse. It was, after all, a recession.
2. Within weeks of taking office, Obama got his stimulus package through Congress. It provided hundreds of billions of dollars to states to keep paying both the salaries and the benefits of their employees for another year or so. I provided all sorts of money to favored groups among the Democrats constituents (like college professors who got grants to study everything imaginable). It provided funds for so called shovel ready projects, but these turned out for the most part to be projects already slated to proceed, so there was no increase in economic activity. Basically, it spent about $800 billion but achieved next to nothing.
3. Obama also got an enormous increase in federal spending of all sorts from Congress, but this too had little positive effect on the economy.
4. The recession ended by June of 2009, long before any of the Obama actions had any effect on the economy. Since then, the economy had barely grown at all. Jobs have grown, but we still do not have as many folks employed as there were prior to the recession.
5. For 18 months, Obama spent almost all of his time on getting Obamacare passed in 2010. It did nothing to help the economy and seems, in fact, to be slowing growth.
6. When the Republicans took over the House in 2011, they focused on reducing government spending and preventing tax increases.
7. In all the time since the passage of the stimulus in 2009, Obama has not put forth a coherent plan designed to increase economic growth. He seeks higher taxes which everyone agrees will slow growth. He talks about education which may help in 20 years, but not now. But that is all; there is no Obama plan for growth.
8. Since the GOP took over the House in 2011, they have put forward no coherent plan designed to increase economic growth. To the extent that they have focused on economics, the GOP has worried about spending and taxes but not growth.
9. America's economy and its people are in trouble, but Obama and his party don't seem to care.
10. America's economy and its people are in trouble, but the GOP also does not seem to care.
11. Debating gun control, gay marriage or even immigration has little or no effect on the economy.
Washington needs to start focusing on what is truly important. Washington needs to start working towards growing the economy.
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