By John Romano
LOS ANGELES (YBH) – There are three competing commentaries about the Obama stimulus making their way through the web today.
If you have the time to read all three, I’d recommend doing so. If you don’t, here is a brief summary of each one:
- How the Stimulus Is Changing America – By Michael Grunwald at Time magazine. This article is the most pro-Obama piece I’ve seen in a long time. Mr. Grunwald hypothesizes that the stimulus wasn’t stimulus at all but “a long-term push to change the country.”
- Honey, I Shrunk My Approval Ratings – By Karl Rove at The Wall Street Journal. It’s Karl Rove, so expect this piece to be the polar opposite of Mr. Grunwald’s, which it is. Mr. Rove’s main points are that the White House promised a 7% unemployment rate by the end of 2010 after the stimulus was passed and that the “saved or created” statistic invented for the Obama administration is absurd. I agree with Mr. Rove fully on the latter point.
- Ask Unemployed How the Stimulus is Working – By Diana Furchtgott-Roth. Ms. Furchtgott-Roth expertly picks apart CBO estimates that consistently lead politicians to make rosy projections that are almost never borne out. In a round-about way she also takes aim at the Obama administration’s use of the term “saved or created” jobs. Ms. Furchtgott-Roth takes the CBO to task for stating that without stimulus, unemployment would be at 11%.
To get a macro sense of what is being said overall, I’ll tie all three articles together in one succinct paragraph:
The stimulus was never about jobs in the private sector for uneducated (or overly educated, yet unfocused) Americans. It was always about Obama’s vision of a green future (Grunwald). Americans will rightfully spank the Democrats at the polls in November for being “dishonest” about the stimulus’ true intent (Rove). To make matters worse, the CBO is helping no one by buying into Obama’s use of CBO numbers and the newly minted “created or saved” metric (Furchtgott-Roth).
I’ll add in the following:
In the end, Obama’s green “revolution” will make some government-preferred, Democrat-friendly, private entities rich, which will distort any true electric vehicle market from developing. In the meantime, millions will be without jobs for the “greater good” as Obama sees it. Tough cookies (Romano).
I’ll add in one other point:
Regardless, it is what Obama does now that will matter. A “green” stimulus followed by a “black”, or traditional one, that accepts that our economy is oil-based could spur real job creation and get America rolling again.
Tomorrow, Ben Bernanke speaks at an annual Fed meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. We will get a good sense of what is in store, policy-wise, for the rest of the year during Mr. Bernanke’s speech. If Gentle Ben comes off as morose or unconfident in the nation’s economy, look for markets to swoon. Nothing kills the Dow like a Bernanke speech. Once that happens, calls for a new stimulus will be loud.
Scoring the original stimulus in a genuine manner will surely help with that debate.
Related posts:
- STIMULUS REDEFINED: Green ‘Business’ Solyndra Goes Bankrupt
- STIMULUS!! US Military Intervention in Libya Cost At Least $896 Million.
- Solyndra Founder Received Millions In Stock Options Same Day Stimulus Loan Announced
- It’s A Great Recession All Right Soylent Green…
John Romano is the publisher and editor of Yes, But However!, a musician, a former political correspondent for BBC Radio London, and a serial web entrepreneur. Follow him on twitter: twitter.com/yesbuthowever or John Romano on Google+John Romano article archive.
