The Stimulus That Wasn’t: Five Years Later, It’s Clear Obama’s Stimulus Was A Waste Of Taxpayer Dollars

On February 17, 2009, Obama Signed The Stimulus Into Law, Promising It Marked “The Beginning Of The End” Of America’s “Economic Troubles.”“President Obama on Tuesday signed the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law… ‘Today does not mark the end of our economic troubles,’ Obama said before signing the bill at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. ‘But it does mark the beginning of the end – the beginning of what we need to do to create jobs for Americans scrambling in the wake of layoffs; to provide relief for families worried they won’t be able to pay next month’s bills; and to set our economy on a firmer foundation.’” (Jeanne Sahadi, “Stimulus: Now For The Hard Part,” CNN’s Money, 2/17/09)

FOR EVERYONE – INCLUDING OBAMA – THE STIMULUS FAILED TO LIVE UP TO EXPECTATIONS

In 2010, Obama “Admitted That The Enormous Sums Of Money” In The Stimulus “Had Fallen Short.” “Yet he also admitted that the enormous sums of money had fallen short. ‘If we’re honest, part of the controversy also is that despite the extraordinary work that has been done through the Recovery Act, millions of Americans are still without jobs. Millions more are struggling to make ends meet. So it doesn’t yet feel like much of a recovery. And I understand that. It’s why we’re going to continue to do everything in our power to turn this economy around.’” (Richard Wolffe, Revival: The Struggle For Survival Inside The Obama White House, 2010, p. 155)

According To Obama’s Former Chief Of Staff Bill Daley, The Obama Administration Gave Up Defending The Stimulus Program Two Years After It Was Passed. ” Then, early in 2011, with unemployment hovering above 9 percent, Obama’s aides made a calculated decision to stop expending the president’s political capital to defend the program, either by its name or the generic term stimulus, said Bill Daley, Obama’s chief of staff at the time.” (Hans Nichols, “Stimulus Back In Obama’s Vocabulary After Year On Don’t-Say List,” Bloomberg, 10/26/12)

• Daley: “You Could See The Investments, But You Couldn’t See The Returns On Those Investments.” “‘It was pretty obvious that people didn’t see a difference in the economy yet,’ Daley said. ‘You could see the investments, but you couldn’t see the returns on those investments.’” (Hans Nichols, “Stimulus Back In Obama’s Vocabulary After Year On Don’t-Say List,” Bloomberg, 10/26/12)

FactCheck.org: “It’s Accurate To Say The Stimulus Has Failed To Live Up To Initial Expectations.” “CBO’s high estimate is still short of the 3.5 million jobs that Obama had said would be created by the end of 2010, so it’s accurate to say the stimulus has failed to live up to initial expectations.” (Lori Robertson, “Dueling Economic Ads,” Fact Check, 6/30/11)

Via: GOP.com

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Farm Bills Would Cost More Than Obama Stimulus

The House and Senate are considering farm bill legislation this week whose costs should raise red flags for all Americans. In fact, the House and Senate versions of the bill would cost far more than the Obama stimulus package.

The costs are just one example of how the farm bill ignores taxpayers, consumers, and virtually all Americans.

First of all, the “farm bill” is a misleading title. It’s more appropriately called the food stamp bill, since nearly 80 percent of the costs are connected to food stamps. By combining agriculture programs with food stamps, legislators have turned the food stamp bill into a political game where, every five years, Congress rubberstamps legislation that helps special interests at the expense of most Americans.

Via: The Foundry

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Schumer: Jobless Benefits ‘The Best Stimulus There Is’

(CNSNews.com) – Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said that extending long-term unemployment benefits would be the “best stimulus there is” for the economy, saying it would create the most jobs for the money.

“At the end of last year, there were 5 million people receiving emergency UI [unemployment insurance]. This year, there are only 2 million. It’s working,” Schumer said at a press conference Thursday.

“We’re all talking about a stimulus. How do we get the economy moving? This is the best stimulus there is.”

Schumer and fellow Senate Democrats called for yet another extension of benefits for the long-term unemployed before the current benefit extension expires at the end of the year.

Recently, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that a full-year extension of the benefits would cost $30 billion and create approximately 300,000 full-time equivalent jobs.

CBO’s estimate is not saying that extending benefits will create 300,000 new positions or that 300,000 additional people will be hired, but that the demand created when the unemployed spend their benefit checks will in turn pay for enough work-hours to equal 300,000 full time jobs. The actual job creation figures could be far lower.

Via: CNS News

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THE BIG FAIL: Four Years Of Obama Has Left America Facing A Cruel New Normal Of Chronic Unemployment And A Stagnant Labor Market

OBAMA CAME INTO OFFICE PROMISING A RECOVERY BUT NOW ASKS FOR ANOTHER FOUR YEARS AFTER FAILING TO LOWER THE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE

“Obama, Who Came Into Office Promising To Bolster The Middle Class And Reduce Inequality, Has Presided Over A Turbulent Economy That So Far Has Done Neither.”“Analysts call continuing high levels of joblessness a prime factor in the income and wealth declines that have continued for most Americans even after the recession ended. Obama, who came into office promising to bolster the middle class and reduce inequality, has presided over a turbulent economy that so far has done neither.” (Michael A. Fletcher, “Obama’s Record: Struggling To Bring Back Jobs,” The Washington Post, 10/18/12)

Since Obama Took Office, The Unemployment Rate Has Increased From 7.8 Percent To 7.9 Percent. (Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 11/2/12)

• Obama’s Advisers Predicted The Stimulus Would Lower Unemployment To 5.4% By Today. (Christina Romer and Jared Bernstein, ” The Job Impact Of The American Recovery And Reinvestment Plan,” 1/9/09)

• James Pethokoukis: “10.6%: Unemployment rate if labor force participation rate was the same as when Obama took office” (James Pethokoukis, Twitter Feed, 11/2/12)

Since Obama Took Office, The Nation Has Lost 1,019,000 Construction Jobs And 586,000 Manufacturing Jobs. (Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 11/2/12)

• In October, Motor Vehicle And Parts Manufacturers Lost 2,100 Jobs. (Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 11/2/12)

There Are 23 Million Americans That Are Unemployed, Underemployed Or Marginally Attached To The Labor Force. (Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 11/2/12)

• In October, The Number Of Unemployed Workers Increased By 170,000 To 12.26 Million. (Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 11/2/12)

There Are 8.3 Million Americans Working Part-Time For Economic Reasons. (Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 11/2/12)

• 813,000 Discouraged Workers Have Given Up Looking For Work. (Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 11/2/12)

In October, The Unemployment Rate For 20 To 24 Year Olds Increased To 13.2 Percent From 12.4 Percent. (Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 11/2/12)

In October, The Hispanic Unemployment Rate Increased From 9.9 To 10.0 Percent.(Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 11/2/12)

• The African American Unemployment Rate Increased From 13.4 Percent To 14.3 Percent. (Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 11/2/12)

Via: GOP.com

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THE BIG FAIL: “This Is A Symbol Of Where America Is Going”

Taxpayers Are Paying Millions For Workers At An Electric Car Battery Factory That Has Yet To Produce A Single Battery

WORKERS AT A BATTERY MAKER THAT RECEIVED $151 MILLION FROM THE STIMULUS SPEND THEIR DAYS PLAYING BOARD GAMES AND WATCHING MOVIES

Watch The Story From Holland, Michigan’s WOOD-TV Here

Workers At Stimulus Funded Battery Plant “Have So Little Work To Do That They Spend Hours Playing Cards And Board Games, Reading Magazines Or Watching Movies.” “Workers at LG Chem, a $300 million lithium-ion battery plant heavily funded by taxpayers, tell Target 8 that they have so little work to do that they spend hours playing cards and board games, reading magazines or watching movies. They say it’s been going on for months.” (Ken Kolker, “Volt No Jolt: LG Chem Employees Idle,” WOOD-TV [Holland, MI], 10/18/12)

• “‘There’s No Work, No Work At All. Zero Work,’ Another Current Employee Said. ‘It Is What It Is. What Do You Do When There’s No Work?’” (Ken Kolker, “Volt No Jolt: LG Chem Employees Idle,” WOOD-TV [Holland, MI], 10/18/12)

Taxpayers Have Spent $7 Million Paying The Idle Workers. “A Target 8 analysis of federal records shows taxpayers spent $7 million to train workers and have paid more than $700,000 for workers’ health and dental insurance.” (Ken Kolker, “Volt No Jolt: LG Chem Employees Idle,” WOOD-TV [Holland, MI], 10/18/12)

• 40 Percent Of The $133 Million Spent By The Company So Far Has Gone To Foreign Companies. “The company has spent $133 million so far, most for construction and equipment, records show. About 40% has gone to foreign companies — mostly to Korea, a Target 8 analysis shows.” (Ken Kolker, “Volt No Jolt: LG Chem Employees Idle,” WOOD-TV [Holland, MI], 10/18/12)

• $533,000 From The Stimulus Award Was Spent On The Groundbreaking Ceremony. “The company also spent more than $533,000 of that federal grant for the groundbreaking, records show.” (Ken Kolker, “Volt No Jolt: LG Chem Employees Idle,”WOOD-TV [Holland, MI], 10/18/12)

“[Workers] Say The Last Of The Materials Needed To Make Battery Cells, Including Chemicals, Was Shipped Back To Korea.” “They say the last of the materials needed to make battery cells, including chemicals, was shipped back to Korea. It’s not clear if that includes any of the $1.8 million in materials paid for with that federal Recovery Act money. Workers say they made test battery cells, starting late last year, perhaps 100,000 or more, and that they did a good job. They say they produced perhaps 4,000 a week. But, they say, that worked ended for the most part last December.” (Ken Kolker, “Volt No Jolt: LG Chem Employees Idle,” WOOD-TV [Holland, MI], 10/18/12)

Via: GOP.com

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BUSH TAX CUTS VS. OBAMA STIMULUS

President Barack Obama is presiding over what even CBS News admits is “the worst economic recovery America has ever had.” During this “recovery,” unemployment has been over 8 percent for 43 months in a row. The President has tried to spin his way out of these numbers, recently announcing, “Today we learned that after losing around 800,000 jobs a month when I took office,business once again added jobs for the 30th month in a row, a total of 4.6 million jobs.” While not perfect, he admits, this performance is better than what we can expect to see under President Romney, who wants to return, says Obama, to “the failed policies of the past,” that is, to “the same tax cuts and deregulation agenda that helped get us into this mess in the first place.”

BUNK.

The idea that George W. Bush was some kind of deregulator is easily debunked: as Obama himself admitted, “I have approved fewer regulations in the first three years of my presidency than my Republican predecessor did in his.”

But Bush did indeed cut taxes, most notably in 2003. Did that policy “fail”? How did it’s results compare to Obama’s record?

It’s true that the private sector has added 4.6 million new jobs over the past 30 months. But during the 30 months after the Bush tax cuts went into effect in August 2003, the private sector actually added even more jobs – 5.3 million according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Survey.

Via: Human Events

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Feds Use Stimulus Cash To Buy Chinese Solar Panels

Feds Ignore Rules And Use Stimulus Cash To Buy Chinese Solar Panels

Government officials blame unfair competition from China for the collapse of solar panel manufacturer Solyndra, but such concerns didn’t stop the federal government from breaking stimulus program rules to use Chinese solar panels atop a federal building housing the offices of a senator, congressman and several agencies.

Even the contractor questioned whether Chinese-made panels could be used under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the stimulus program that mandated use of U.S.-made products. His query in early 2010 was dismissed and the General Services Administration moved forward with using the Chinese panels on the Sen. Paul Simon Federal Building in Carbondale, Ill., records show.

Questions about the panels, which were assembled overseas, were raised in a four-page advisory memo sent by the inspector general to the GSA in the summer of 2011, but the findings take on added significance as government officials increasingly place blame on Chinese subsidies for troubles in the U.S. solar market.

Since last summer, Solyndra LLC and another solar company, Abound Solar, have filed for bankruptcy despite receiving generous federal loan guarantees. After both bankruptcies, government officials were quick to place blame on subsidies from China that allowed foreign solar panel manufactures to sell their products below cost, squeezing U.S. solar companies.

Meanwhile, the contractor on the Illinois building project, J.R. Conkey & Associates, initially questioned GSA officials on whether solar panels assembled in China could be used under the stimulus program, but a procurement officer told the company to proceed, according to records.

Via: Washington Times

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OBAMA DOCTRINE: MIDDLE EAST CHAOS, SOARING OIL PRICES SPARK GLOBAL RECESSION FEARS

The turmoil in the Middle East, the Federal Reserve's decision to further devalue the U.S. dollar through a third round of "quantitative easing" (QE3), and rising oil prices are combining to create a toxic economic brew that could send the global economy into recession. 

That was the assessment of International Energy Agency chief economist Fatih Birol. "I see the [oil] prices today, in this economic context, as unbearable for consumers," said Birol on Friday. "High prices together with other factors could push the global economy back into recession." 

Mr. Birol's comments come as U.S. oil prices hit a four-month high on Friday:

Since late June, the price of crude oil has climbed about 25 percent, fueling a 16-cent increase in the average price of regular gasoline and adding to the economic headwinds facing President Obama in the final weeks of the election campaign.

Industry experts believe that President Barack Obama may use the Middle East uprisings and soaring fuel costs to justify tapping the nation's 700 million-barrel emergency Strategic Petroleum Reserve, similar to what Mr. Obama did last year to no lasting effect.

But it was the Federal Reserve's decision to pump $40 billion so-called "stimulus" dollars a month into the U.S. economy in the form of buying mortgage-backed securities that ultimately may prove to be the match that lit the economic powder keg. As the value of the U.S. dollar goes down, oil prices go up. That means slower economic growth and higher consumer prices. 

As Reuters explains, the confluence of all these economic factors is producing a chain reaction of higher consumer prices, plunging industrial production, and soaring gas prices:

Highlighting the risk to the economy from surging oil prices, a jump in gasoline costs pushed up U.S. consumer prices in August at the fastest pace in more than three years and squeezed spending on other items, threatening to slow economic growth.

Industrial production dropped 1.2 percent in August, the biggest decline since March 2009. The consumer price index increased 0.6 percent, the first rise in five months and the biggest since June 2009.

Gasoline prices, which also recorded their largest increase since June 2009, accounted for about 80 percent of the rise in consumer inflation last month, the Labor Department said.

Via: Breitbart
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Barney Frank: More stimulus would reduce food stamp rolls

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Barney Frank told The Daily Caller that there would be “fewer” food stamp recipients in America if Republicans did not block additional federal stimulus spending for state and local projects supported by congressional Democrats.

TheDC asked Frank about the record 46.7 million Americans currently receiving food stamp benefits.

“Well, there’s a record number of people in America. You know, every year things tend to go up. It’s why it needs to have a important program, it’s why I wish we got more cooperation from the Republicans in trying to do the things that would help us economically like not have the cities have to lay off firefighters and cops,” Frank told TheDC at the Democratic National Convention.

“I wish we were spending less in Afghanistan, where we’re wasting a great deal of money. I’m glad the president got us out of Iraq, but I think it shows that our spending priorities are out of whack and if we took some of those billions that we’re now wasting in Afghanistan and put them to work here in our cities then we would have fewer people in that situation.”

In February 2009, the Democratic-controlled Congress passed an $831 billion stimulus package.

Last year, President Barack Obama pushed Congress to pass his jobs act, which would provide states and localities with additional federal stimulus funds to hire firefighters, police and teachers. The White House advocated for a surtax on millionaires to pay for the legislation. The bill never made it out of Congress.

When Obama took office in January 2009, 31,983,716 Americans were receiving food stamps, compared to 46,670,373 people on food stamps as of June 2012.

Via: The Daily Caller

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Labor Department spends stimulus funds for ads during Olbermann, Maddow shows

The Labor Department paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal stimulus funds to a public relations firm to run more than 100 commercials touting the Obama administration’s “green training” job efforts on two popular MSNBC cable shows, records show.

The commercials ran on MSNBC on shows hosted by Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann in 2009, but the contract didn’t report any jobs created, according to records recently reviewed by The Washington Times.

Spending reports under the federal Recovery Act show $495,000 paid to McNeely Pigott & Fox Public Relations LLC, which the Labor Department hired to raise awareness “among employers and influencers about the [Job Corps] program’s existing and new training initiatives in high growth and environmentally friendly career areas” as well as spreading the word to prospective Job Corps enrollees.

Ultimately, the firm negotiated ad buys for “two approved spots” airing 14 times per week for two months on “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” and “The Rachel Maddow Show,” according to a project report, which listed the number zero under a section of the report asking how many jobs had been created through the stimulus contract.

Via: The Washington Times

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White House holds ‘We Can’t Wait’ funds for almost four years

WOW! WHAT A SURPRISE IN AN ELECTION YEAR

The administration has waited three years and seven months to implement a new “We Can’t Wait” project that redirects unspent appropriations to fund new construction projects.

The wait delayed the spending announcement until 11 weeks prior to the November election.

The announcement is part of the administration’s “We Can’t Wait” effort, which highlights the president’s authority to change spending, law enforcement priorities and regulations, independent of Congress and the courts.

The redirected $473 million includes funds from appropriation laws passed up to 10 years ago, Josh Easton, the White House’ deputy press secretary, announced Aug. 17.

“Instead of seeing these funds sit idle… we’ll use them to put Americans back to work,” he said. “Some of them are nearly 10 years old,” he announced.

However, even though the money is being released, it is unlikely to have any impact on the economy for several months. That’s because federal funds come with many regulatory and paperwork requirements that need to be processed.

Those requirements greatly reduced the economic impact of the $787 billion 2009 stimulus bill.

Via: Daily Caller

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