Posts Tagged ‘stimulus’

Demanding an Efficient Government

Posted on: November 17th, 2011 by Kyle. | No Comments

Democrats and Republicans often get into arguments about the size and role of government. Liberals believe in a strong role to protect the most vulnerable in society while conservatives favor the private sector, stressing personal responsibility. Both sides should at least agree that fixing America’s broken economy is the country’s top priority and that an efficient government will be needed to accomplish that goal.

Unfortunately, too often the government has proven to be slow to respond to the needs of its citizens. The unemployment crisis is a good example of this. The Recovery Act (also known as the stimulus) was passed with mostly Democratic support in 2009. The result was over 3 million jobs created. Many Republicans will have you believe that it created no jobs, including elected officials that know better, especially since many of these same people (Michele Bachmann for instance) were lobbying for money to go to their districts.

Now that the stimulus has run out the economy has slowed. A new round of economic measures were proposed by President Obama and rejected by Republicans who control the House. Democrats should rightly condemn their obstructionism as purely political. Their top goal, as stated by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, is to defeat President Obama. The American people deserve better than that. But to ignore the Recovery Act’s mistakes would itself be a mistake.

Looking back at the Recovery Act there are a few things that we can say that today is obvious. For one, it was too small in size. The United States economy was nearly $15 trillion in 2010. The Recovery Act – extended over the course of roughly two years – pumped the economy with spending that equated to only 2.6 percent of GDP. Compounding this problem was the fact that the Recovery Act was a smorgasbord of spending that Democrats had sought for a long time after over 12 years of Republican rule in Congress, but was not necessarily the most effective way at reducing unemployment. Republican plans that focused solely on tax cuts were even less likely to cause a boost to the economy.

East Fork Bitterroot Road Recovery Act Project

We need more signs like this on the road.

As they say hindsight is always 20/20 yet it should have been clear at the time that what was being done would not nearly be enough. The federal government was essentially paying to fill the budget holes of states like Texas, which cut funding to schools only to replace that money with stimulus money. The stimulative result was minimal since they were essentially swapping state money for federal money. This could have easily been predicted and rectified, perhaps by adding provisions requiring the states to maintain current funding levels if they were to accept federal dollars.

Other problems included a high-speed rail network that gave out grants to states rather than directing the funding through the Department of Transportation. After Republican governors took control of states like Florida, Ohio and Wisconsin, they quickly rejected the money, putting major gaps in the future rail network. If President Obama really believed in the future of high-speed rail and the economic opportunities that come with it, why were the details left to the states? Like much of the Recovery Act this reliance on state government, often run by inefficient and politically hostile officials, hurt the prospect of job growth.

Ultimately, fixing America’s broken economy will take cooperation. Republicans will have to assume responsibility instead of sitting on the sidelines and attacking the president. Democrats will have to demand more efficient programs. A bipartisan coalition of left-leaning unions and the right-wing Chamber of Commerce came out in support of infrastructure spending. This would be a good start. Providing tax credits for small businesses that hire workers would also be a good idea that should win broad support. I would even advocate reducing America’s corporate tax rate, making American business more competitive, if it were met with an increase in the tax rate for the top 1% to offset the lost revenue. It’s time to get smart and efficient with government.

Will the Real Mitt Romney Please Stand Up?

Posted on: October 11th, 2011 by Kyle. | No Comments

The DNC has come out with a series of brutal new ads highlighting the endless flip-flops that Mitt Romney has taken over his political career – from his pro-choice position when running for the Senate against Ted Kennedy to his support for economic stimulus (before he was against it, of course). His healthcare flip-flop is more impressive jujitsu than frankly anyone I’ve ever seen. Let his own words speak for itself:

Who’s Actually to Blame for America’s Debt?

Posted on: July 27th, 2011 by Kyle. | No Comments

Have you heard ads on TV blaming the country’s deficits on President Obama? You likely have if you’ve watched cable news in the past couple weeks. They are being blanketed nationwide in a $20 million effort by a conservative group known as Crossroads GPS. Working behind the scenes is Karl Rove, the former political mastermind for President Bush’s successful 2000 and 2004 campaigns. The organization is backed by corporate donations to undermine President Obama and Democratic candidates.

The latest ad specifically claims that “America’s economy is hanging by a thread” thanks to “reckless spending, a failed stimulus and a $14 trillion debt.” The ad goes on to say that it is time to stop giving President Obama a blank check. The message of the ad is clear: Obama is the reason that we have a beleaguered economy, a large (and rising) national debt, etc.

The only problem, of course, is that it is not true. President Bush and Republicans in Congress racked up $5.07 trillion of debt from tax cuts for the rich, wars, a Wall Street bailout, Medicare prescription drug bill, and other spending. During the eight years of George W. Bush’s presidency, the federal budget increased by an average of 3.81% per year.

The nation’s debt is not a product of President Obama. The 2010 budget passed by a Democratic Congress and signed by President Obama was an increase of only 1.4%. Emergency measures that he did take were only temporary. When he entered office the nation was losing nearly a million jobs a week and he took action by passing the Recovery Act, which created as many as 3.6 million jobs. This is his largest contributor to the debt to date.

The healthcare reform bill that passed in 2010 was paid for, despite repeated lies by Republicans that it added to the deficit. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the “Affordable Care Act”, which Republicans love to call “Obamacare”, will reduce the deficit by $1.3 trillion over the course of the next two decades. Again, that is a reduced deficit thanks to the actions of our president and a Democratic Congress.

Republicans might not like the numbers, but they don’t lie. The bulk of our country’s debt problems lie on the shoulders of George W. Bush and a Republican Congress that went on a spending spree at the same time that they unloaded the Treasury Department with tax cuts for the wealthy. Now they hold our economy hostage, claiming that President Obama is spending too much money, when they themselves are the main reason that we have a deficit problem.

U.S. Adds 162,000 Jobs in March 2010

Posted on: April 7th, 2010 by Kyle. | No Comments

The American economy is bouncing back. The Labor Department reported that 162,000 jobs were added in the month of March, the highest number in three years. It also marks the third month since November to post job gains, a strong sign that the recession is ending and that employers are looking to hire again. The unemployment rate peaked at 10.6 percent in October and has since come down to 9.7 percent.

President Obama was careful not to overstate the progress that the country has made in the past year. “I’ve often had to report bad news during the course of this year, as the recession wreaked havoc on people’s lives. But today is an encouraging day,” Obama told workers at Celgard LLC, an advanced battery technology manufacturer in Charlotte, N.C.

“This month, more Americans woke up, got dressed and headed to work in an office, a factory, a storefront,” the president said. “More folks are feeling the sense of pride and satisfaction that comes with a hard-earned and well-deserved paycheck.” President Obama credited the stimulus package for the recovery that the country is experiencing. Just a year ago when Obama took office, instead of gaining jobs, the country was shedding nearly 800,000 a month.

The Stimulus Saved the Economy

Posted on: February 19th, 2010 by Kyle. | No Comments

The Obama administration has been building up its contention that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, also known as the stimulus, saved the economy from economic depression. The numbers lay this out clearly. During the last months of the Bush administration, the economy was shedding 800,000 jobs a month. After the stimulus passed and began funding projects, cutting taxes for 95% of families and saving everything from teacher’s jobs to police officer’s, the unemployment numbers began to decline.

While the rate of unemployment continued to increase, this slowed dramatically until in November 2009, when the economy finally began to create jobs again. As the president has said continuously, we have a long way to go before everyone that wants a job can find one. But to deny that the stimulus is working is to deny reality. Congress should follow up by passing a new jobs bill to spur further employment opportunities for our citizens. Republicans that block a jobs bill should be punished by voters for playing politics with the health of our economy.

President Obama Meets with Republicans for Q&A

Posted on: February 1st, 2010 by Kyle. | No Comments

President Obama went full steam into the lion’s den on Friday as he joined Republicans at their annual retreat in Baltimore, Maryland. While he gave a speech that sounded similar themes to his State of the Union, such as a shared burden on solving America’s problems, he also took questions from House Republicans. It was televised on C-Span and many of the cable networks picked it up as well.

This event was a first. While President Obama last year met with Republicans on several occasions, no television cameras were allowed into the meeting. Certainly this is a big departure from the days of President Bush, who would never meet with Congressional Democrats other than in the White House. President Obama showed a great deal of confidence going into a room with 178 members that are openly hostile towards him. Many of them were publicly pushing ideas that he would set up “death panels” on grandma and even raised questions over whether he was an American citizen.

Most of the questions were framed in a way that you would expect on Fox News: loaded with a bunch of commentary, followed by a “why do you hate America so much?” Congressman Mike Pence asked the president whether he would embrace tax cuts. Of course the stimulus package last year, which Republicans opposed unanimously in the House, was nearly 1/3 tax cuts to the middle class. The Republican idea of “across the board tax cuts” are tax cuts to millionaires and corporations, similar to what we saw during the Bush years. President Obama rightly questioned why the Republican Party opposed a bill that included such large amounts of tax relief, as well as funding to cities and states that were laying off teachers, police officers, firefighters and health care professionals to ensure that they kept their jobs.

Another major point of contention was the idea that President Obama and the Democrats have set the country on a path to fiscal disaster. That simply is untrue. As President Obama pointed out, he inherited a $1.2 trillion annual deficit from President Bush. Yes, the size of the deficit increased last year, but only marginally. Passing the stimulus package was the main reason for that. When Obama took office a year ago, in the first quarter of 2009, the GDP fell 6.4%. If we had not passed the stimulus act, most economists agree that we would not have seen the kind of business growth that led to a nearly 6% increase in GDP for the 4th quarter of 2009. That is a hugely positive sign that you won’t hear Republicans touting. We are on the road to economic recovery. Jobs will not appear overnight, but they will come. Returning to the failed policies of the Bush years, however, will only ensure another economic disaster.

Th!nk Electric Car Plant Coming to Elkhart

Posted on: January 10th, 2010 by Kyle. | No Comments

We’ve done a lot of reporting about Elkhart and the state of the economy on this blog. President Obama of course brought national attention when he visited the city twice, once to announce an electric vehicle that would be made in the city. Another electric car company will be moving to town in the near future with a vehicle that is fully electric.

Th!nk announced last week that they would be making the Th!nk City in Elkhart. The manufacturing plant will be capable of producing 20,000 vehicles per year once it is fully operational. While production will not begin until early 2011, it is yet another sign that the economy is rebounding. The company says they will create 400 jobs by the year 2013.

joeandthinkcar

Blame Bush for the Recession, Not Obama

Posted on: August 13th, 2009 by Kyle. | No Comments

As the townhall protests extend through August, many of the protesters are aiming their anger at a man that had nothing to do with the economic woes that the country now faces today. The policies of the Bush administration got us to the point where we have nearly 10% unemployment, an over trillion dollar deficit and “bailouts” to banks on Wall Street. President Obama inherited this mess and has been trying to dig us out ever since he took the oath of office.

By the way, Obama’s policies are working. The GDP fell by only 1% in the second quarter compared to over 6% in the first quarter of 2009. Most economists believe that the country will see growth in the 3rd quarter of 2009 (July to September). The stimulus did what it was intended for: it slowed the recession, saved jobs that would have been otherwise lost and invested in our country’s economy through infrastructure projects, green jobs and the largest tax cut in American history.

Even (some) Republicans understand. Conservative economist Bruce Bartlett laid out the facts in an article for the Daily Beast:

• Between the fourth quarter of 1992 and the fourth quarter of 2000, real GDP grew 34.7 percent. Between the fourth quarter of 2000 and the fourth quarter of 2008, it grew 15.9 percent, less than half as much.

• Between the fourth quarter of 1992 and the fourth quarter of 2000, real gross private domestic investment almost doubled. By the fourth quarter of 2008, real investment was 6.5 percent lower than it was when Bush was elected.

• Between December 1992 and December 2000, payroll employment increased by more than 23 million jobs, an increase of 21.1 percent. Between December 2000 and December 2008, it rose by a little more than 2.5 million, an increase of 1.9 percent. In short, about 10 percent as many jobs were created on Bush’s watch as were created on Clinton’s.

• During the Bush years, conservative economists often dismissed the dismal performance of the economy by pointing to a rising stock market. But the stock market was lackluster during the Bush years, especially compared to the previous eight. Between December 1992 and December 2000, the S&P 500 Index more than doubled. Between December 2000 and December 2008, it fell 34 percent. People would have been better off putting all their investments into cash under a mattress the day Bush took office.

• Finally, conservatives have an absurdly unjustified view that Republicans have a better record on federal finances. It is well-known that Clinton left office with a budget surplus and Bush left with the largest deficit in history. Less well-known is Clinton’s cutting of spending on his watch, reducing federal outlays from 22.1 percent of GDP to 18.4 percent of GDP. Bush, by contrast, increased spending to 20.9 percent of GDP. Clinton abolished a federal entitlement program, Welfare, for the first time in American history, while Bush established a new one for prescription drugs.

President Obama Visits Elkhart Bringing Promise for Jobs

Posted on: August 6th, 2009 by Kyle. | No Comments

Yesterday, President Obama paid his seventh visit to the South Bend area (his third as president) in a speech in Wakarusa, Indiana in Elkhart County. Elkhart County, which is just east of South Bend, is nationally known for its incredibly high unemployment of nearly 17 percent. It actually peaked earlier this year and has come down some 2 percentage points.

Part of the president’s visit was to tout the success of the stimulus package his administration passed earlier this year. It’s clear with the GDP falling only 1 percent last quarter that the economy is on the rebound after diving 5.4 percent in the October-December quarter of 2008 and 6.4 percent between January and March 2009. The Bush recession is leading to an Obama stimulus-driven recovery.

Another part of his visit was to announce grants as part of his stimulus package that will both reduce dependency on foreign oil, as well as put people back to work. The president announced $405 million dollars in grants into research and production of electric vehicle batteries for Indiana. $39 million of that will be for Navistar, a company based in Wakarusa. The money will be used to make “400 advanced battery electric trucks with a range of 100 miles,” the president said.

Six other companies in Indiana were awarded grants making Indiana the second largest recipient of money from the federal government. Investments will also be made in Indiana University, Purdue University, Notre Dame and Ivy Tech to train workers. As a state that has historically played a large role in the development of automobiles, it is great to see a president that supports domestic vehicle production. Not just any vehicles, either. Clean, green and energy efficient vehicles taking advantage of American ingenuity. Built right here in America.

Below is President Obama’s speech announcing the grants to Indiana:

NBC’s Chuck Todd also got a chance for a short interview at the Navistar plant:

Recovery.gov Launches

Posted on: February 18th, 2009 by Kyle. | No Comments

You can now track where your stimulus dollars are going. The Obama administration has just launched a website that will allow you to keep track of where the money in the recently passed stimulus bill is going. According to the administration they will update it to allow taxpayers to drill down to specific projects in their own area. Just another example of an open government under President Obama.

Recovery. gov