On the six-month anniversary of the bloated, ineffective trillion-dollar "stimulus" becoming law, the American people are increasingly skeptical about the law that is – by any objective standard – not working. The latest evidence: a new USA Today/Gallup poll, which found that 57 percent of adults say the “stimulus” is having no impact on the economy or making it worse. The poll also found that 60 percent of Americans do not believe the “stimulus” will help the economy in the years ahead. With these latest numbers in mind, here are 10 critical facts that every American should know as the Washington Democrats continue to peddle their misguided, ineffective economic policies:Remember, this was passed with a combined total of a whopping three Republican votes -- actually two, since Specter is now a Democrat -- from both sides of Congress. This is a Democrat mistake, top to bottom. Here's House Minority Leader on the day America began its forced economic suicide:
1. Despite the Administration’s promise that the “stimulus” would provide an immediate “jolt” to the economy and create jobs “immediately,” more than 2.8 million jobs have been lost since it was enacted on February 17, 2009.
2. On the day the “stimulus” was enacted, the national unemployment rate was 7.6 percent. Today it is 9.4 percent.
3. On May 13, Vice President Biden issued a report on the stimulus’ first 100 days asserting that it had “saved or created” 150,000 jobs, and that “an additional 600,000 jobs are expected to be created or saved under the Recovery Act in the next 100 days” for a total of 750,000 jobs. But the Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner told Congress earlier this year that it’s “very difficult for anyone to substantiate” the Administration’s claims – especially since Secretary Geithner recently said that unemployment won’t come down until late in 2010 and that the economy has shed 2.8 million jobs since February.
4. A total of 15 states now have unemployment rates higher than 10 percent, including Alabama (10.1 percent), California (11.6 percent), Georgia (10.1 percent), Illinois (10.3 percent), Florida (10.6 percent), Indiana (10.7 percent), Kentucky (10.9 percent), Michigan (15.2 percent), Nevada (12 percent), North Carolina (11 percent), Ohio (11.1 percent), Oregon (12.2 percent), Rhode Island (12.4 percent), South Carolina (12.1 percent), and Tennessee (10.8 percent).
5. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) is now five million, up from 2.6 million when the “stimulus” was signed into law.
6. Since the “stimulus” was enacted, Democrats have added $869 billion in new debt that will be paid for by our children and grandchildren.
7. A $255 million program using stimulus funds designed to help struggling small business by providing them with 10,000 loans of up to $35,000 each, has only given out 1,127 loans, totaling $36.8 million, according to the New York Times.
8. An analysis last week by the Washington Times found that stimulus money “spending has slowed to a trickle, despite President Obama’s June order to his Cabinet to speed it up. The average stimulus spending per week has dropped severely, to just $4.2 billion over the past month from $9.7 billion during the prior four months.”
9. According to the Associated Press, “Tens of thousands of unsafe or decaying bridges carrying 100 million drivers a day must wait for repairs because states are spending stimulus money on spans that are already in good shape or on easier projects like repaving roads.”
10. Stimulus funds are not getting to those areas that need it most, according to a detailed analysis by ProPublica that found that there’s “no relationship between where the money is going and unemployment and poverty” and that, “…spending is uneven and sometimes runs contrary to measures of need.”
Don't ever forget who brought us to this dance.
There's my two cents.
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