U.S. Congress: The Asylum?
Glenn Foden has a great cartoon, labelled “The Asylum,” posted at CNSNews.com today. On the left panel, a cigar-chomping politician says, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different results.” On the right, coming out of the U.S. Capitol, is a balloon with the words, “Let’s try another stimulus bill.”
For a bit of background, Investor’s Business Daily (IBD) wrote in an editorial posted yesterday:
“Those who pushed through this year's $787 billion fiscal "stimulus" seem to be counting on the American people's short memory. Wasn't it just last year that we were told, repeatedly and with stark emphasis, that this economy was the "worst" since the Great Depression?
“That was the pretense for not only the stimulus, but for the federal takeover of the U.S. auto industry and the quasi-takeover of the U.S. financial industry. It's also the underlying premise for both nationalized health care and massive new taxes to cut CO2 emissions.
“If the stimulus passed, the White House vowed, unemployment would peak at 8%. Today, it's 9.5% — and rising.
"The truth is, we and everyone else misread the economy," said Biden. He used that phrase — "the truth is," or something similar — at least three times in a talk with ABC's George Stephanopolous. But the "truth is" something quite different.”
A Google search for “second” and “stimulus” produced over 16,000 “hits,” including:
- USA Today - “(Senate Majority Leader) Reid, (Senate Minority Leader) McConnell agree: No Second Stimulus”
- CBS News -”Time for a Second Stimulus?”
- WTHR 13, Indianopolis - “Economists cool on second stimulus”
Now comes a report from the GAO (U.S. General Accountability Office) that was mandated by the stimulus bill, the “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009,” which addresses states and localities uses, accountability and impact of stimulus funds.” (GAO report requires Adobe)
GAO found that as of June 19, “Treasury had outlayed about $29 billion of the estimated $49 billion in Recovery Act funds projected for use in states and localities in fiscal year 2009. More than 90 percent of the $29 billion in federal outlays has been provided through the increased Medicaid Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) and the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) administered by the Department of Education.”
In the editorial’s conclusion, IBD wrote:
“Those who argue doing nothing wasn't an option are wrong. We would now be emerging from this recession if the government had left well enough alone. The Fed's interest-rate cuts to zero last December would have been plenty.
“Instead, we're facing the worst recovery since the Depression, and the entrepreneurs who fuel job growth are hunkering down to weather planned tax hikes in the trillions of dollars.”
While we don’t know for certain that the economy would now be “emerging from this recession,” it’s difficult to argue with one of IBD’s conclusions, i.e., “the stimulus has been the most inept public waste of money in history.”
HT Mark Levin Show. He discussed the economy and the impact of a second stimulus during the first hour of his show this evening, and includes several additional news links.