Krauthammer on Obama's Latest 6 Year Stimulus Plan: "Even Lenin Had the Modesty to Stop at Five" (Video)

The Big Question: Is Obama's infrastructure plan a good idea?
Some of the nation's top political commentators, legislators and intellectuals offer insight into the biggest questions burning up the blogosphere today. Today's question: Is President Obama's $50 Billion infrastructure plan a good idea? Why or why not? Dean Baker , co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research , said: This is good, but nowhere near enough. The shortfall in annual demand due to the collapse of the Housing Bubble is more than $1.2 Trillion (roughly $600...

Don't call it stimulus! Obama's new plan to boost the economy
In a rational universe, President Obama's new proposal to front-load $50 Billion worth of Government Spending on infrastructure as part of a much larger, six-year, $350 Billion plan to upgrade the nation's transportation network would be utterly noncontroversial. When Unemployment is high, Economic Growth is barely noticeable, and the Bond Market is saying loud and clear that it is not in the slightest bit alarmed by federal Deficits; pumping cash into High-speed Rail, highway construction,...

Obama to back company tax breaks
President Barack Obama is to back new company Tax Breaks in a bid to regain the initiative as mid-term polls loom. He will lobby Congress - including a blocking minority of Republicans in the Senate - to let companies in the US write off investment costs until 2011. With Unemployment stuck at 10% and The Economy appearing to slow sharply, the president's Democratic Party could face big losses at the November Elections. On Monday, Mr Obama also called for $50bn of new infrastructure...

Gibbs: Obama's $50 Billion Plan Is Not Another "Stimulus"
"I do not think that this is anywhere near the level of what was enacted at the beginning of the administration," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said. Posted September 07, 2010

Stimulus and Payroll Holiday: Some Back of the Envelope Calculations «
How much Unemployment reduction you get for a given amount of Stimulus spending is, obviously, at best an imperfect estimation. But let’s take the CBO’s estimates as representing a rough consensus of those who favor Stimulus: for our $800 Billion, we got a reduction of 0.7 to 1.8 percentage points . Full Employment is perhaps 4.5-5%. If we assume that Stimulus benefits increase linearly, that means we would have needed a Stimulus of, on the low end, $2.5 Trillion. On the high...

$50 billion stimulus could be issue in Pennsylvania Senate race
Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) backed President Obama's call for $50 Billion in additional spending for improvements to the nation's infrastructure Tuesday. Here's how the Christian Science Monitor characterized Sestak's remarks Tuesday: Senate hopeful Rep. Joe Sestak (D) of Pennsylvania today backed President Obamas call on Labor Day for $50 Billion in new stimulusspending to create infrastructure jobs and, anticipating the presidents Speech in Cleveland on Thursday, another $200...

White House Wants Billions for the Economy -- But Don't Call It a Stimulus
With a majority of Americans critical of the president's handling of The Economy, most of the public disapproving of the direction in which the country is headed, and looming Midterm Elections that threaten to be a bloodbath for Democrats, the White House is under extreme pressure to do more to get the ailing national economy back on its feet. So this week, the Obama Administration unveils three measures aimed at jump-starting Job Creation and helping businesses -- or at least blunting...

Right-wing media respond to Obama's jobs plan by rehashing tired stimulus falsehoods
Right-wing media: Obama's new Jobs plan is the "same failed and expensive Keynesianism that he tried in February 2009" Morrissey: Obama's Jobs plan "same failed and expensive Keynesianism that he tried in February 2009." In a September 6 Hot Air post , Right-wing blogger Ed Morrissey falsely claimed that the Stimulus bill of 2009 was a "failed policy" while discussing Obama's new Jobs proposal:  What happens when over a hundred Billion dollars in borrowed cash gets plunged...

Michael Pento Now Filed Under "C*cksucker" In CNBC's Little Black Book
So, there was a slightly awkward segment at the end of Street Signs this afternoon, wherein Erin Burnett had to cut a bitch (/guest) who was apparently “ being a prick even by finance/CNBC standards .” Here’s the clip and a transcript, for those who want to read along. Erin : american borrowing is up about 70% since — because of the all the borrows, t.a.r.p., Stimulus, you name it. while our borrowing has been surging, lenders seem to trust it will we’ll pay it...

Obama's offensive may not charm business or GOP
President Barack Obama’s Economic offensive may not charm business or Republicans. The president’s plans to spend $50 Billion on roads and railways and grant businesses $300 Billion of investment Tax Credits have merit. But they don’t look enough to sway a disillusioned Corporate America already wondering about the fate of $4 Trillion in soon-to-expire Tax Cuts from the Bush years. And the GOP is in no rush to pass a second Stimulus before looming Midterm Elections. In a less...

Dictator Obama and Now He Wants MORE "stimulus" Spending..... $50 BILLION
Obama to Call for $50 Billion Spending on Public Works NY Times Obama on Monday is to called for as much as $50 Billion in Government Spending to start up a long-term Public Works plan emphasizing transportation projects roads, rail and airport runways over the next six years. Mr. Obama layed out the plan, which is intended to promote the quick Creation of construction Jobs but would require Congressional approval, during a trip to Milwaukee on Monday afternoon, where he observed...

Why Obama's New $50 Billion Infrastructure Stimulus Will Flop On Every Level
First, we hate to say it, but $50 Billion just isn't needle moving, especially when you consider that the initial Stimulus was $700 Billion, and critics who said it was too small were looking for at least another half-a-trillion (or about that). But beyond that, it won't work out politically. That's what Paul Krugman correctly pointed out in his latest piece. Because the initial efforts to stimulate The Economy failed (Krugman says it's because they were too small) the public isn't inclined to...

Why Obama's New $50 Billion Infrastructure Stimulus Will Flop On Every Level
First, we hate to say it, but $50 Billion just isn't needle moving, especially when you consider that the initial Stimulus was $700 Billion, and critics who said it was too small were looking for at least another half-a-trillion (or about that). But beyond that, it won't work out politically. That's what Paul Krugman correctly pointed out in his latest piece. Because the initial efforts to stimulate The Economy failed (Krugman says it's because they were too small) the public isn't inclined to...

Barack Obama wants another $50 billion stimulus bill
The Obama regime has already spent one Trillion dollars on the first Stimulus package. This money was supposedto rescuethe economy, but as of yet we have seen no results-other than arbitrary, incalculable,and unreliable “jobs saved” numbers which the regime has randomly picked out of thin air. When the Stimulus bill failed to have an effect on The Economy immediately,we were toldthat it was going to take time and that we needed to have patience, so we...

Blue Dog nips Obama with a better stimulus idea
While President Barack Obama goes on the road to shore up slipping popular support for the $1 Trillion Stimulus porkfest that he ordered up from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Walt Minnick, a freshman Democrat from Idaho, is pushing a better idea: The Strategic Targeted American Recovery and Transition Act (START). Minnick is a member of the Blue Dog Caucus of occasionally conservative Democcrats. His START plan is a $170 Billion “bare bones”...

Obama's plan: Too little, too late
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- This week, the Obama Administration began outlining additional measures to jumpstart The Economy and create Jobs. But even if passed, Obama's proposals are too little and too late to reverse the downward trend of economic activity, according to some Economists. Quick Vote How secure is your Job over the next year? or View results "We already are in a slowdown, so no matter what they do, there is a risk of another Recession," said Lakshman Achuthan,...

Creating Demand
After lengthy consideration, I’m inclined to accept a key argument about the persisting economic malaise infecting the United States. The big problem is demand — no one is willing to buy stuff, so no one is willing to make stuff. This thought comes after reading this post , though I do wish the author and several others who share his political views could manage to make their arguments without cussing us out at the same time. I still think that concerns about the massive Debt...

Doggone It! Democrats On Defense And Acting Crazy
Posted by Melissa Clouthier on Sep 7 2010 Filed under Economy , Featured , Politics . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 . You can leave a response or trackback to this entry For years, Democrats dreamed of holding the power they hold now. Righteous, emboldened and entitled, their triumph could be summed up by Nancy Pelosi’s unbridled joy at holding the Speaker’s gavel: And wield power the Democrats did. Massive payoffs to Democrat Donors in...

How Norm Coleman Saved America From Socialism
Dave Weigel enters the counterfactual sweepstakes and wonders how different America might be today absent the long delay in seating Al Franken: If Franken had eked out another 1000 votes in Minnesota, or if Republicans simply decided not to keep suing to overturn the Recount he won, the Democratic agenda would have been radically different. In January and February, the 59 — not 58 — Democrats in the Senate would have only needed to grab one Republican to pass the Stimulus. That...

New Polls Find Americans Fed Up With The Democrats Economic Policies
In a must-read editorial this morning, The Wall Street Journal writes, [T]wo months before an election, and 19 months after the mother of all spending programs, President Obama said yesterday he's rolling out one more plan to stimulate The Economy. . . . [T]he effort itself is a tacit admission that his earlier proposals have flopped. Discussing the Obama Administrations previous $814 Billion Stimulus bill, the WSJ points out, [Obama economic adviser Larry] Summers promised...

What's Wrong With Plan B?
Andrew Sullivan passes along Dave Weigel's assessment of the Democrats' message options for the 2010 Elections: [D]o you break out the defibrillator and try to convince people that their local economy is turning around because of Legislation X, Y, and Z, or do you rev up the base by saying that the new Republican majority wants to use the bad economy as an excuse for more Tax Cuts and deep entitlement Cuts? Clearly the Democrats are opening the second door, hence all of the attention on Paul...

A Call for Consistency
Yesterday, I was made aware of this Post by Ezra Klein . It is an older Post, but an interesting one. In it, Klein tries to defend the Stimulus by 'proving' more Job Losses were the result of Bush Administration policies than the policies of our current president. Klein quotes Economist Robert Shapiro: From December 2007 to July 2009 the last year of the Bush Second Term and the first six months of the Obama presidency, before his policies could affect The Economy Private Sector...

Summary Box: Obama's tax-break plan no fast fix
NO QUICK CURE: Even if they were enacted soon, President Barack Obama's proposed Tax Breaks for businesses would hardly be a fast fix to bolster hiring or The Economy, analysts say. (AP) - LIMITED HELP: What little benefit the Tax Breaks might provide wouldn't likely emerge until next year. OVERCOMING CAUTION: Until businesses feel more confident about their own sales and the durability of the recovery, they won't be inclined to expand operations or add to Payrolls. Copyright 2010 The...

Introducing: Today In Wrong
I sometimes feel that I spend too much time pointing out all the ways in which various people are wrong, and even then, the vast quantity of wrongness in the public discourse overwhelms my capacity to process it. In that spirit, I'm launching an occasional feature called "Today In Wrong." In it, I'm sweeping up some of the wrongnesses that don't quite merit an individual post. I'm starting with two of the most consistent and reliable sources of wrongness. 1. Today's Wall Street...

Gov2.0 Presentation: An Open Government Scorecard
I was absolutely delighted to present at the Gov2.0 Summit here in Washington this morning. Thanks to Tim OReilly and his whole crew for the invitation and all the hard work they put into the event. I have to admit it was a real challenge to present an “Open Government Scorecard” in the 10 minutes I had allotted to me but as I prepared my remarks I found that the time constraint really made me focus. There were a number of disappointments that I have in the President’s...