SOUTH DAKOTA STRAIGHT TALK

The Democrats in Congress and perhaps President Obama by his acquiescence are passing the largest supplemental spending bill in U S History. H R 1 is being called a Stimulus Package (Officially titled “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009”) but there is little immediate stimulus and loads of new spending. This bill could better be called the Democrat election victory dividend of historic funding for favorite Democrat constituencies and welfare projects.

You can hold up a chub of sausage and call it a prime rib roast but H R 1 like week old liverwurst is being shoved down our throat by the Democrats and does not pass the smell and taste test.

To be clear our Economy needs a real jump start and stimulus, but to be effective it must put people to work and quickly. The President and Congressional Democrats are using political sleight of hand by saying this “Package” will create or save 3 million jobs. Save jobs? Since they don’t say which jobs they are saving, I guess that means as long as 3 million people are still working – the stimulus package will be a success.

My primary objections are that the funds are not being put to use quickly enough and that overall too little of the money is being used for true stimulus (but rather spending for special projects and more government.)

The devil is always in the details. Looking at the summary from the Congressional Budget Office (because the Democrats control both chambers of Congress – probably a tad biased) you find some important and interesting facts. To wit: The first sentence of the summary: “H R 1 would specify appropriations for a wide range of federal programs and would increase or extend certain benefits payable under the Medicaid, unemployment compensation, and nutritional assistance programs.” Assuming enactment in mid February they estimate that of the House passed $825 Billion, $92 Billion would be spent in the next 6 months (so much for jump start) and only anther $225 Billion in Federal Fiscal Year 2010 (beginning October 1, 2009). That leaves over 61% of the money ($508 Billion jump start money) to be actually spent after October 1, 2010.

Much of the spending is for just more government – a sampling follows:

$20 Billion over the next 5 years for Food Stamps, $14.2 Billion for Science and Criminal Justice programs, $48.9 Billion from 2009 to 2019 for Energy and Water Resources, $15 Billion for Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds, $20.4 Billion for programs administered by the Department of Health and Human Services, $4.6 Billion for programs administered by the Department of Labor, $20 Billion to renovate Elementary and Secondary Schools, $29.1 Billion for other educational programs aimed primarily at elementary and secondary education. The list goes on and on!

Yes there is money for highways $30 Billion.

For perspective on the timeliness of getting this into the economy and jump starting the economy here is an excerpt from the Director of the Congressional Budget Office Douglas W. Elmendorf’s blog:

“Frequently in the past, in all types of federal programs, a noticeable lag has occurred between sharp increases in funding and resulting increases in outlays. Based on such experiences, CBO expects that federal agencies, states, and other recipients of funding would find it difficult to properly manage and oversee a rapid expansion of existing programs so as to spend added funds quickly as they expend their normal resources.”

David Brooks, opinionator for “The New York Times” sums it up well in yesterday’s column.

”But they’ve created a sprawling, undisciplined smorgasbord, which has spun off a series of unintended consequences. First, by trying to do everything all it once, the bill does nothing well. The money spent on long-term domestic programs means there may not be enough to jolt the economy now (about $290 billion in spending is pushed off into 2011 and later). The money spent on stimulus, meanwhile, means there’s not enough to truly reform domestic programs like health technology, schools and infrastructure. The measure mostly pumps more money into old arrangements.”

Real economic stimulus is not just giving people money and not just spending more money on Government. It is putting people to work and THUS putting money in their pockets. Buying more unemployment benefits is not the answer and just giving people checks is not the answer (remember last year’s $600 checks). Put people to work building things of lasting value, like highways, or thru investment tax credits housing or new plants.

This Democrat Trojan Horse so called “Stimulus Package” is a sham. It is old time government spending, very little stimulus and way too slow.