I don’t remember who it was who said it first, and I do also know others have said it since, but the cold hard facts are that what was said was exactly correct. What was it that was said? Well, quite simply it was, “The so-called ‘stimulus’ is really a ‘stinkulus.’
I wouldn’t want to give credit where credit was not due, but somehow I keep getting the feeling that some person with incredible insight and vision into analysis such as Rush Limbaugh may have been the one. But at the moment, we’ll just leave it that whomever that person was, he or she hit a home run on that pitch.
On July 8, 2009, Nathaniel Ward of The Heritage Foundation published an online story titled “How the ‘stimulus’ hurts the economy” at myheritage.org which thoroughly explains how ‘stinking’ the Obama stimulus plan really has turned out.
When the plan was first revealed by Obama and company, I was very skeptical about not only its costs, an incredible $800 BILLION, to energize the economy after so many businesses had closed their doors and turned millions of their employees out on the streets; but with so very little detail provided to explain just how it was going to be the country-saver its originators proclaimed.
It just seemed like an absurd amount of money being thrown out the windows with the hope that some of it would stick to something positive and ratchet up the general welfare and economy. It was nothing more than smoke and mirrors and voodoo chant guesswork. One of the kickers was that the backers of this plan said it would “create or save 3.5 million jobs;” but this was after several million jobs had already bit the dust.
Since when has employment data been predicated on “number of jobs saved?” That is farcical; it would also be comical if it weren’t so sad. At any given time ANYONE can predicate how many jobs “might” be saved; just take the total number of jobs still in existence all over the country, and use that number as possibly being saved. Why piddle around with inconsequential amounts? If the total U. S. workforce is somewhere around 150 million people, why not just say “the stimulus will save 150 million jobs”?
Unemployment since the beginning of the Obama era has risen every month but dramatically more so since the ‘stinkulus’ from somewhere around 5.5 percent to a current reading of close to 10 percent. That’s in just a little over only 6 months. Nice going Mr. Pseudo President; at this rate the unemployment figure could rise out of sight before your four year term is complete. Then who is going to feed those no-income people that were going to be lifted up to the level of all Americans by confiscating or, oops, redistributing it from the “rich” people who earned more than $250,000?
At least one of the Obama staff admits failure of the stinkulus plan; none other than the king of gaffe, VP Joe Biden. (Have you ever given any thought to the last two Democrat Vice Presidents, Gore and Biden? And some people were actually worried that Sarah Palin wouldn’t be qualified for that role!)
So now that the statistics have verified that the “stinkulus” plan is an unqualified disaster, what remedy is being suggested by some liberals? I know you must know, don’t you? It is the normal, every day, standard, liberal Democrat quick fix it, old standby plan: THROW MORE MONEY AT IT remedy.
It’s the almost sure thing answer for anything that is failing; give it more money. Just up the taxes more and pour more money down the chute into the cesspool. Of course it would also mean giving more “graft” type funds to corrupt organizations like ACORN and many labor unions. That’s ‘Economy Fixer 101’ in liberal speak. The fact that this procedure has NEVER worked on any failing problem does not deter them one iota; we’ll just do it better this time, they say. And that, my friends, is exactly what I am afraid of: “doing it better and wasting even more money.”
I am no economist, but my plan for the economy would have been to give each and every taxpayer a voucher instead of cash for a certain amount of money. The voucher would not be negotiable for anything but purchases of durable goods or services. It could not be banked or spent on frivolous items, or put in your savings account; and it would have a relatively short duration before it would expire.
If all the millions of people suddenly started to cash these vouchers for new refrigerators, clothing, furniture, household appliances, house repairs, new or used cars, think of the millions of jobs that would be re-created just to get all of those many durable items and services manufactured and accomplished.
As those new jobs produced salaries a certain part of those wages would return to the government in the form of normal income taxes and company profits taxes. Businesses would see a boom to get caught up with the demand. It would all take time, and at first not all the orders could be met, but once the order was placed, the voucher would have served its purpose and the economy would have started rolling. After a while it would sustain itself as it had before the Obama mishandling.
As I said, I am no economist and my plan was intentionally rough and in need of further refinement; but the concept could be made workable and of long lasting duration.
It may be too late now for such a radically sensible plan of that nature; but then again, it beats any of the alternate plans that this Congress or Administration can come up with.
Gerald A. “Jerry” McConnell, 92, of Hampton, died Sunday, February 19, 2017, at the Merrimack Valley Hospice House in Haverhill, Mass., surrounded by his loved ones. He was born May 27, 1924 in Altoona, Pa., the fifth son of the late John E. and Grace (Fletcher) McConnell.
Jerry served ten years with the US Marine Corps and participated in the landing against Japanese Army on Guadalcanal and another ten years with the US Air Force. After moving to Hampton in 1957 he started his community activities serving in many capacities.
He shared 72 years of marriage with his wife Betty P. (Hamilton) McConnell. In addition to his wife, family members include nieces and nephews.
