Avoiding The “S” Word

This column originally appeared at US Daily Review.

I saw this piece by The Hill a few days ago. With a headline and that would have made George Orwell giddy, "Pelosi Drops The Word "Stimulus".

The Left, clearly losing their war on jobs and their war on our nation's economy, is trying to repackage the same failed programs and legislation that did not work before.  They are not proposing their usual jobs killing tax increases, this time they are trying to pretend they are watching out for the taxpayers and actually wanting to reduce taxes.

As I witnessed the current President's campaign speech on Thursday night, and as I heard one platitude after another, I realized he was talking about more stimulus, this time without actually calling it stimulus.  The current President was also desperate, his speech came across to me as if he was begging or pleading.  It was a campaign speech afterall, I guess he was pleading for four more years of malaise.

The Wall Street Journal had a staff editorial on Friday, well worth reading in its entirety.  But there was one big takeaway worth staying focused on:

"Mr. Obama spoke last night as if he is a converted tax-cutter, asking Republicans to expand and extend the payroll tax cut that expires in December for one more year. Along with tax credits for certain businesses that hire new employees, he says this will cut unemployment, and no doubt it will lead to some more hiring.

But what happens in 2013 when those tax rates expire and Mr. Obama pledges to hit thousands of those same small businesses with higher tax rates on income, capital gains and dividends? He seems to think businesses operate only in the present and will ignore the tax burdens coming at them down the road. This is the same reasoning that assumed that postponing ObamaCare's tax and regulatory burdens until 2014 would have no effect on business hiring in the meantime."

Shovel ready jobs for infrastructure was a big feature of the current President's campaign speech.  Does the current President not understand that infrastructure jobs is money spent by the government, and where does that money come from?  Yes, the taxpayers. So once again, taxpayers get to foot this bill for infrastructure jobs.  This is a surreal cycle to look at.  The Left thinks this is real job growth.  I know the current President knows all of this, which is why this speech was really nothing; a non-starter.  If the Left really wants to create jobs, why not just have the government hire people to clean beaches, rivers and other waterways?  The government could hire people all day long, all year long to do meaningless jobs (some are called bureaucrats), and call it employment or a "jobs plan".

But what about jobs that last for many years? What about jobs that people turn into careers?  Yes, someone has to dig the ditches. Not all jobs in America will be glorious and lead to riches. Not everyone is looking for those jobs.

One final comment from the Wall Street Journal editorial:

"The larger political subtext of Mr. Obama's speech is that if Congress doesn't pass his plan, he'll then campaign against Republicans as obstructionist. Thus his speech mantra that Congress should "pass it right away." This ignores that Mr. Obama has been the least obstructed President since LBJ in 1965 or FDR in 1933, which is how we got here.

He passed $830 billion in stimulus, $3 billion for cash for clunkers, $30 billion in small business loans, $30 billion for mortgage modification, the GM-Chrysler bailouts, ObamaCare, Dodd-Frank, credit card price controls, Build America Bonds, jobless benefits for a record 99 weeks, and more."

It continues to interest me that after 32 months in office, the current President still doesn't have a plan and he still has not proposed something that reaches across the aisle, yet his speeches proclaim to do both.  I would have more confidence in this temporary President if he had managed a Domino's Pizza or a White Castle at some point in his "career".  I would at least imagine that he had experience hiring and firing, balancing budgets and at least looking at profit and loss statements.  For a guy that hasn't done any of this, the words on the teleprompter being read by a guy with a great education really don't establish confidence in my mind.

Stimulus by any other name is still stimulus; stimulus which doesn't stimulate. The Left can keep avoiding the big bad "S" word; the rest of us can keep pointing to it.  Only in America.