Monday, February 9, 2009

It (Still) Won't Work

(BUMPED; UPDATES BELOW.) From my latest American Spectator column:
. . . The real problem with the stimulus bill is not that it is too big (although it is too big) nor its various objectionable ingredients (although many are objectionable), but rather that it is based on a false economic theory.
"The American people…did not vote for the false theories of the past," Obama assured his listeners Thursday. Yet the "economic recovery plan" pushed by Pelosi and other Democrats is nothing but Keynesian theory in postmodern drag, elegantly costumed by the Orator-in-Chief with a lot of glittering generalities about "modernizing our health care system…21st century classrooms…and end[ing] the tyranny of oil in our time."
This plan is not a Change We Can Believe In and, as I wrote two months ago, before Obama was inaugurated, it won't work. . . .
Please read the whole thing.

UPDATE: Glenn Reynolds: "They won't tell you what they're doing with the money you already gave them until they make sure Congress is giving them still more." As a freelance writer, I've got the envy the rate paid by the U.S. taxapyer: $1 billion per page. (Via Memeorandum.)

Nowadays, everybody's saying "it won't work," and here's a video of Peter Schiff saying it:

UPDATE II: Ron Paul says it's "unfortunate that three Republicans caved in" to support the stimulus in the Senate.

UPDATE III: In honor of Sens. Specter, Snowe and Collins, Michelle Malkin dubs it the "Sellout Amendment."

UPDATE IV: Via Hot Air, here's new RNC chairman Michael Steele on the stimulus:

UPDATE V: One economist calls the bill "a seismic shift in the role of government in our society." Via Donald Douglas, who has more reflections on the big-government aspect of the Mother Of All Boondoggles.

UPDATE VI: Stephen Gordon links at The Next Right.

UPDATE VII: Jennifer Rubin: "Yeah, but the Senate moderates are cheap dates, so they fell for it."

UPDATE VIII: Linked by Vocal Minority.

2 comments:

  1. It won't work, but I had a cool idea today.
    As the Steaming 111th will surely be the Congress That Will Live In Infamy, what better way to immortalize them than with a monument?
    I'm thinking that the bill should direct the NEA to commission a giant bronze steamer, of suitable dimensions to imprint the entire text of the bill in a legible font.
    The base of this scatalogical sculpture could have the names of every clown voting 'yes' on it.
    Income can be generated by, over time, having artists use brasso to sketch portraits of the signatories in the corrosion on the surface, which can then be photographed and sold, assuming anything like currency remains in circulation.
    Baked miniatures of the monument can be sold, so that you can eat this thing in more ways than one.
    Can we think of accurate, creative ways to support the Congress and the POTUS in these tough times? Yes, We Can.

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  2. You might want to add our next President's CNN interview to your updates.

    Thank you for not shunning RP and us Paultards, Stacy, as so many other right wing sites have done. I also really appreciate your efforts to get the anti-Paul faction(s) to agree to disagree on certain hot-button issues (at least for the time being).

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