"Hey, he stole my line!"
I remember Dubya talking for months about the sound economic fundamentals underlying the American economy, clear up until he announced major government intervention and spending to avert economic disaster. I think maybe he is the only one in the nation who didn't see the recession coming before it was simply undeniable.
Then he and President Obama set out on a course to spend a trillion or more dollars propping up the most predatory, sleazy and corrupt industries in America: car manufacturers and financial institutions. They also spent a whole lot of 'stimulus' money on various politicians' pet projects that had very little, if any, investment value from a long term growth point of view.
I saw one of those stimulus projects at the lake. To protect what may have once been an Indian burial ground, the federal government laid some really expensive looking concrete blocks held together by flexible steel cables right down on top of the beach where we swim. This project, or so I was told, was on deck for a long time but wasn't important enough to be funded. Suddenly, the government has a bunch of money to throw around under the umbrella of economic stimulus and the project was completed. IT WAS A TOTAL WASTE OF YOUR MONEY!
So were a zillion other stimulus related projects. These weren't investments. They didn't stimulate anything. They were extravagant expenditures. How does anybody on the planet think that the project at the lake will result in more jobs, economic growth or future productivity?
Who knows whether Presidents Bush and Obama were (are) idiots or just poor decision makers. Neither answer is good, and the people advising and recommending those actions share the same dilemma. Our government didn't handle the recession very well. The 'recovery' has been shallow and jobless. Jobs are what the recovery should have been about from the beginning. It's about the only indicator that matters.
But, better late than never.
Now Obama wants to spend another half a trillion dollars that we don't have addressing jobs, providing incentives for hiring and allowing small business owners to spend money on people instead of taxes. It's about damn time.
Plus, this time he quoted from the Pledge of Allegiance, said "God bless you" and stood in front of the flag. Must be an election year. It looks to me like the circus continues, and so does the recession.