"Our Government is Officially Insane" (Surprise!!)

[TerriDoodle 6]

July 14, 2009

Our Government Is Officially Insane

In the bizarre through-the-looking-glass world of Washington these days, maybe it should come as no surprise that the reaction to the failure of the stimulus bill is to call for more of the same.

The deficit today crossed the startling trillion dollar threshold, a number never before even contemplated for a full year of federal borrowing, but that we have now breezed through in just half a year. Such a deficit represents a crushing future tax burden for ourselves, our children, and our grandchildren -- who will pay back every penny with interest. The so-called stimulus bill was slammed through on partisan lines despite the overwhelming anger of almost everyone who was paying attention. The bill, we were told, was our economic salvation (purely a coincidence, of course, that it happened to contain every item on the left's big government wish list). Now the verdict is in, and it's ugly.

Unemployment -- which the stimulus was supposed to keep under 8 percent -- is officially at 9.5 percent, and is 16.5 percent if you include people who have given up looking for work and part-time workers who wish they were full-time. Businesses continue to slash investment, close facilities, and hoard cash. The economy remains firmly in recession, with recovery now long overdue. The average post-World War II recession lasts 10 months; we are now 19 months into this one with no end in sight.

So, in the bizarre through-the-looking-glass world of Washington these days, maybe it should come as no surprise that the reaction to the abject failure of the stimulus is to call for more of the same. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) said the stimulus didn't work because is wasn't "as targeted as it should've been" and "we need to go back to this and do this again. We need to do more of that." If the old quote often attributed to Einstein is true, then Dodd and other supporters of another stimulus are insane -- they want to make the same mistake again and expect a different result.

We should know better. The new stimulus being floated has been called "Stimulus 2," but that ignores the failed Bush stimulus from last year. Of course, we most famously stimulated ourselves into oblivion back in the 1930s, when ever-bigger spending packages spiraled us deeper and deeper into the Great Depression. In May 1939 FDR's Henry Morgenthau, the Treasury Secretary, gave up on spending, saying: "We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work."

It's actually pretty simple economics. The government does not create resources by spending; it simply moves them around. Every dollar the government spends has to come from somewhere, but the only three options all make people poorer. Higher taxes take money out of people's pockets, and deny them the freedom to spend, save, or invest that money according to their own values. Simply printing money is inflationary, and destroys the value of every American's savings, slams people on fixed incomes with higher prices, and creates a huge hurdle to new investment.

The only other option, which we have relied on to the tune of over a trillion dollars already this year, is to borrow. But borrowing is no free lunch either; every dollar borrowed by the government is a dollar no longer available for private investment. Moreover, we have to pay back all the money we've borrowed, with interest, meaning that in the long-run the only two options are huge tax hikes or skyrocketing inflation.

Quite simply, it is impossible for government spending to make us richer when every way the government can raise money makes us poorer. We can't afford another stimulus, a government takeover of health care, the cap-and-trade energy takeover, or any other radical big government policies. A six-month deficit of over a trillion dollars is enough. Taxpayers deserve some time to pause, catch their breath, and worry about their own jobs, lives, and families. Washington has "helped" quite enough; it needs to leave people alone.

Phil Kerpen is director of policy for Americans for Prosperity, which runs the anti-stimulus Web site No Stimulus!. He can be reached through Phil Kerpen | Economic Policy Analysis and Advocacy

[plain 12]

* waits on a liberal to decry this article by saying it's all Bush's fault.

[luluc 6]

* waits on a liberal to decry this article by saying it's all Bush's fault.

nah - that's boring, but the conservatives should schedule another tea party.

[plain 12]

nah - that's boring, but the conservatives should schedule another tea party.

Hells Yeah! Yee - Haw!!

[pattygreen 5]

* waits on a liberal to decry this article by saying it's all Bush's fault.

It's always a past presidents doing. Don't you know that? We can't blame Obama for the spending that he's doing. Bush got us into this mess, and by Golly, Obama's gonna spend us out of it. It's the American way!

[pattygreen 5]

Isn't that what we all do? Spend to get out of debt?(rolling my eyes again!)It's a lose-lose situation. No matter what they do, WE lose.

[BJean 16]

Anybody notice that some of the biggest banks are posting huge profits this week?

And it's all Bush's fault. :cursing:

[KartMan 58]

* waits on a liberal to decry this article by saying it's all Bush's fault.

As a certified Bush Basher, I will go on record saying yes it is Bush’s fault. But I think Clinton gets a share of the blame too. Clinton started by deregulating us to the point that all of the financial shenanigans were able to start to take place. Bush embraced that deregulation, and added a bunch more deregulation that allowed Wall Street to really dig us into a hole. Then he drastically cut taxes for the extremely wealthy and turned Clinton era surpluses into huge deficits. Then, he started a stupid war that we had no business being in and had no way to pay for.

[pattygreen 5]

And now the new leader will do his part. (and I believe his part outweighs them all) What a shame. All we can do is pray for this country, and hope that our turning away from God will not hinder him from having mercy upon us.

[BJean 16]

kartman you are spot on. And regarding the war and all the rest, the only way we might be able to get us out of this hole is by raising taxes. You think Bush didn't know that? Of course he did. So did he man-up and take care of business? Nope. He gave a token tax rebate and then he waited out the inevitable so that the Democrats could do the responsible thing, which they usually do. And then the next election, the Republicans will be bashing the Democrats for raising taxes. People with a brain can see exactly how this stuff plays out. The fact that so many continue to buy into this totally transparent political behavior is the mystery.

The Republicans are brilliant - they have the middle class believing that it is unAmerican to regulate corporations. Those corporations are feeding off the middle class to such an extent that we're almost to the point of having two classes in America. The very, very wealthy and the poor. What's been happening here is similar to what we see in many countries that mainstream Americans hate.

Now we expect President Obama to fix it without actually making anyone pay. He can tax us all heavily or he can make the corporations pay their fair share. Do you all really think that making corporations pay their fair share is unfair and unAmerican? The Republicans have you believing that it is going to put small businesses out of business. This is economy is what is putting small businesses out of business. Deregulation brought all this on.

[pattygreen 5]

bjean: "Now we expect President Obama to fix it without actually making anyone pay"

Obama could have "fixed it" with a teeny tiny tax hike to pay for the boo boo cut. But now (after he got his hand in the money pot and splurged away), He will have to "fix" a gigantic gash instead, and that wont just be with a teeny tiny tax hike, it will have to be enormous!!! He only far, far, far, far, worsened what others in the past have contributed to.

[plain 12]

Democrats could do the responsible thing, which they usually do.

Of course they do dear. After they straighten out the mistakes that the bad ol' republicans make, right?

]Do you all really think that making corporations pay their fair share is unfair and unAmerican?

Nope. They will, however,make them either shift their operations overseas where labor and taxes are cheaper (putting more Americans out of work), or raise prices to compensate for the increased cost. That's the fallacy of taxing business heavily. Do you really think they'll just eat the increased taxes, or do you think the cost of living will skyrocket dramatically? BJ, you're a business owner....what would you do if your business costs increased (say they doubled)? Increase your prices or watch your business crumble?

The Republicans have you believing that it is going to put small businesses out of business.

Yup. Blame it on the republicans. That'll make everything ALL better.

[BJean 16]

plain, darling, I'm so glad you agree with me about the bad ole Republicans.

What a twittish thing to say: "They will, however,make them either shift their operations overseas where labor and taxes are cheaper (putting more Americans out of work), or raise prices to compensate for the increased cost."

They've already done that, dear. Their greed caused them to do that before anybody raised their taxes. Americans have already been put out of work because of it. That's exactly one of the reasons we have such a ridiculously high unemployment rate. Word to yo mamma.

What the new president endeavors to make happen is to put Americans back to work. He wants to create jobs to take care of the past years that we've neglected our infrastructure, our environment and all the other things that the greedy corporations and our government refused to spend any money on. And it wasn't just the corporations and the governement who were greedy. We as individuals played the game just as hard. So now we ALL are going to have to pay. And if we care about this country and if we want to preserve our glorious way of life, we can make some compromises for the greater good.

If we don't, we will go by the way of Rome. I jest a little, but it isn't out of the realm of possibility.

For instance, do you think Americans would be willing to give up their clothes dryers for a while? Do you think we might consider putting those unsightly clothes lines back out in our yards and hang our clothes out in the sunshine instead of running our electrical sucking machine to do the job?

That's a very small consideration, but all the small compromises we could make (reusing our grocery bags, maybe?) would add up when millions of people are not only willing but excited about participating for the greater good. That's the hope that our current administration has and it is the total opposite of what our past administration worked for.

[BethFromVA 5]

Per VP Biden's quote today, "Joe Biden: ‘We Have to Go Spend Money to Keep From Going Bankrupt’

Yeah, I know, I saw that the other day and thought, WTF?? Only a pinhead democrat representative would say something so God-awful stupid.

It's almost like it's a race now to see how fast they can ruin this country. :bored:

[plain 12]

plain, darling, I'm so glad you agree with me about the bad ole Republicans.

What a twittish thing to say: "They will, however,make them either shift their operations overseas where labor and taxes are cheaper (putting more Americans out of work), or raise prices to compensate for the increased cost."

They've already done that, dear. Their greed caused them to do that before anybody raised their taxes. Americans have already been put out of work because of it. That's exactly one of the reasons we have such a ridiculously high unemployment rate

Ok, so now the problem will get even worse. More business and jobs going overseas. It's ok though, we'll just blame Bush when the unemployment rates top 11%.

What the new president endeavors to make happen is to put Americans back to work. He wants to create jobs to take care of the past years that we've neglected our infrastructure, our environment and all the other things that the greedy corporations and our government refused to spend any money on.

Then why isn't he? Jobless rate is climbing fast and the only jobs the government is creating are temporary jobs. BJean, the government cannot create jobs as a viable plan. It just doesn't work.

For instance, do you think Americans would be willing to give up their clothes dryers for a while? Do you think we might consider putting those unsightly clothes lines back out in our yards and hang our clothes out in the sunshine instead of running our electrical sucking machine to do the job? That's a very small consideration, but all the small compromises we could make (reusing our grocery bags, maybe?) would add up when millions of people are not only willing but excited about participating for the greater good.

Of course, all the democrats already do this, right? Maybe they can persuade the rest of the world to adhere to President Obama's proposed can & trade policy?