Sunday, July 15, 2012

History destroys claims for Obama jobs plan

The most common excuse President Barack Obama offers for the nation’s continuing economic woes is that those blasted Republicans in Congress are obstructing him from passing new “stimulus” bills that they know would instantly revive job growth. On MSNBC and in the comments section of media websites, this argument is repeated, with GOP lawmakers called saboteurs, traitors, racists and worst.
This is garbage, and on several fronts.
When it comes to economic growth, Republicans are being consistent with the policies they have espoused for decades. They believe the private sector is what creates jobs and wealth, not government spending.
The president, however, used the $787 billion 2009 stimulus bill not to push private-sector growth but in large part to keep money flowing in the economy by backfilling the coffers of state and local governments so they could avoid laying off public employees. On June 9, when Obama infamously said “the private sector is doing fine,” the context of the rest of his remarks showed no evidence that he wasn’t saying exactly what he believes. The president went on to say the bigger problem was job losses in state and local governments – a point that builds on his comment about the private sector.

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