Obama's Fantasy Jobs Plan

Townhall.com ^ | December 10, 2009 | Steve Chapman

[Kaslin]

This is that wonderful time of year when a roly-poly, white-bearded fellow descends from the North Pole to lavish us with presents. So when President Obama follows suit, maybe it's just his way of getting into the spirit of the season.

He sounded uncannily like Santa Claus the other day in a speech taking credit for creating and saving 1.6 million jobs and vowing to do even more. The recent uptick in the economy and dip in unemployment, the president announced, came about because of the $787 billion economic stimulus package he signed last February.

But with unemployment still at 10 percent, Obama perceives a need for the government to generate additional jobs -- which he plans to do with a new collection of tax cuts, public works expenditures, subsidies to homeowners for energy-saving investments, and a partridge in a pear tree. Though he stressed his commitment to fiscal responsibility, the president studiously avoided putting a price tag on this plan.

Like a certain jolly old elf, he doesn't want us to worry about the cost. After all, fiscal stimulus is supposed to more than pay for itself by goosing consumption expenditures to unleash a new surge of jobs, economic activity and tax revenue. It's a Christmas that will go on for months or even years.

[webheart]

Liberal thought is not based on logic. It is based on feeling. They feel that if they spend more government money derived from taxes, government revenue in the form of taxes will go up more than enough to justify it. Liberals cannot think, or they would realize that it doesn’t work that way in real life. Even worse is that we are outvoted by them. There will need to be a lot of pain before they change the way they feel, again much worse for the rest of us who will have to suffer right alongside them.

[Senator_Blutarski]

If one-third of the stimulus spending was potent enough to rekindle growth, shouldn't the other two-thirds be even more effective? Why do we need to throw more tens or hundreds of billions on the fire when it's already starting to blaze? On the other hand, if the first stimulus fizzled, as the evidence suggests, it makes no sense to do a sequel.

Bingo!

[oyez]

the president studiously avoided putting a price tag on this plan.

What is that old expression? If you have to ask, How much?", then you can't afford it.

Employment depends on the employer needs and what value the employee provides. I tend to think that to Obama employment simply means bringing home a paycheck...