http://bit.ly/8hEJG7 - - - Democrats insisted that they would usher in a wave of new jobs by speeding up spending on infrastucture, especially road construction. All across the US, signs began appearing that heralded the local traffic snarl as a product of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act — Porkulus, as we came to call it. Did it do anything to create or even “save” jobs? The Associated Press says no (via Desmond L): ... This is important for two reasons. If Obama tells the country that his stimulus plan worked, this analysis shows that it didn’t. Of course, we hardly need that anyway; Friday’s jobs report shows clearly that the economy has bled jobs at a constant rate all through 2009. The only reason the unemployment rate stayed at 10.0% was because so many people stopped looking for work at all. The number of people in the job market dropped to its lowest level since 1985.
The second reason? Obama is about to offer the hair of the dog for the national hangover. He wants Porkulus II, with even more spending on road construction that didn’t dent the employment picture at all the first time. AP’s analysis shows that it won’t create or save jobs the second time around, either. In fact, the road-construction stimulus has a lot in common with Cash for Clunkers and the homebuying credit. All are temporary and limited attempts to get a one-time spike. It’s almost like a checklist rather than a strategy for creating long-term growth, a way to look busy without doing much of anything at all. Obama is stealing roadwork from the next few years and front-loading it into 2010. Not only will that not create much employment now, it will create a depression in the road-construction industry for the next several years. It’s time for this administration to admit that it has no idea what it’s doing. Obama needs to fire his economic advisers and start listening to people who understand how to create long-term growth rather than government-managed misery. - - - The only shovel for which the Porkulus was ready is the one Biden uses on a regular basis to knock his foot out of his mouth. - Publius -- "It ought never to be forgotten, that a firm union of this country, under an efficient government, will probably be an increasing object of jealousy to more than one nation of Europe; and that enterprises to subvert it will sometimes originate in the intrigues of foreign powers, and will seldom fail to be patronized and abetted by some of them. Its preservation, therefore ought in no case that can be avoided, to be committed to the guardianship of any but those whose situation will uniformly beget an immediate interest in the faithful and vigilant performance of the trust." [Federalist Papers #59] _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[email protected] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
