Stimulus Fantasy Land

I had to laugh (to keep from crying) when I saw the title of this ABC News article: "Jobs 'Saved or Created' in Congressional Districts that Don't Exist." Everyone knows that the administration is falling all over itself trying to further the facade that the "stimulus" package has created or saved tens of thousands of jobs, a position that becomes harder to defend now that the unemployment rate has surpassed 10% and continues to climb. Unsurprisingly, it is well-documented that the numbers on recovery.org for jobs "created or saved" have been wildly inflated and over-exaggerated. But the government has one-upped itself, citing these 'created or saved' stats (borderline fantasy in their own right) in fantasy congressional districts to drum up support for the failed spendulus package on recovery.org.

This has rubbed powerful democrats on the Hill the wrong way. Rep. David Obey, the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, had this to say: "The inaccuracies on recovery.gov that have come to light are outrageous and the Administration owes itself, the Congress, and every American a commitment to work night and day to correct the ludicrous mistakes."

You want to know the saddest part of this whole story? A taxpayer-funded grant of $18 million was given to fund recovery.org. I'm thrilled to know taxpayer dollars are being spent to perpetuate "waste, fraud, and abuse." And we want these guys to run our health care system?

Stimulus Madness

Is anyone else besides me outraged at how Congress just passed the biggest spending bill in the history of the world? Apparently, Speaker Pelosi's all-important European tour is the reason why the dems broke their promise to post the 1100 page monstrosity online for 48 hours before holding the final vote to cram this thing down the American taxpayers' throats. That, plus the fear that if given the TIME to read it in its entirety, the bill would lose even more support. Not one member of the House who voted for this thing even read it. This is flat-out insanity. No wonder why Congress' approval rating is in the teens. Check this out:



What is even more embarassing (or worse, SCARY) is listening to some of the sound bytes from White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, President Obama, and Democratic Senator Chuck Shchumer. Rahm Emanuel said, "you can't let a crisis like this go to waste" to push their spend, spend, and spend some more agenda. Obama hasn't figured out how to lead. I'm sick and tired of his sky is falling, gloom-and-doom, fear-mongering rhetoric. This is hipocrisy, in my mind. Why? Because these are the exact same tactics Bush used to gain support for the rebate check and TARP debacles last year. And this is the "CHANGE" America voted for? Obama apparently is still stuck in big flowery speech, campaign mode (the one thing he has proved he is good at), traveling to Florida, Illinois, and Indiana to pitch his pork plan to who - the public? They aren't going to vote for this thing, Congress is! Scaring people isn't leadership. Bullying people into doing what you want isn't leadership. And by the way, Is anyone else sick of the Lincoln comparisons coming from the left-wing mainstream media? I just don't see it. Lincoln saved and united the country and compiled the best cabinet this country has ever seen. Obama has divided the Congress (not one Republican voted for his bill, and 7 democrats even voted NO), and his cabinet selection process is an absolute disaster. The nominees have tax problems like you wouldn't believe, his CIA pick Panetta has ZERO intelligence experience, and the deputy AG has advocated to print Playboy in braille for the Library of Congress. Are you kidding? Back to the stimulus - the Republicans offered a package that would DOUBLE the jobs for HALF the cost. Oops I forgot, they are the minority. So let's throw all common sense out the window, and spend a trillion dollars we don't have, saddling the next generation with debt. I'm not even going to get into some of the absurd pork projects that are jammed into this thing that have NOTHING to do with stimulus or job creation. But Chuck Schumer thinks that, "the American people don't care about the pork in this bill." The last poll I saw, less than 40% of the public supports this thing, so apparently Schumer is blatantly out of touch with reality. Very little of the spending in this bill is "targeted, timely, and temporary," which is what Obama originally wanted (and wasn't his original number 300 billion? That's what he said anyway). If that was the goal, then why didn't the Obama administration draft the bill and submit it to Congress in the first place? Instead, he let Pelosi and Reid and the rest of the big spenders in Congress have a massive spending orgy when drafting the bill, for which he would have to apologize and make excuses for later. That doesn't seem like leadership to me.

Look, I realize the economy could use a boost. I just don't think this is the right way to do it. I'd much rather allow more time for meaningful debate and compromise to get it right than to rush this 787 BILLION dollar bill on purpose just for the sake of "doing something." That is a lot of money to just push through in this irresponsible fashion. I'm embarassed for our elected officials, and am sad that it has taken the Republicans so long to develop a backbone to stand up for fiscal responsibility and sanity (minus Arlen Specter, Olympia Snowe, and Susan Collins). Sorry for the rant. What are your thoughts?