Here is all Republicans need to do to ensure the 2012 election is another successful one for them: Get Americans to watch last week’s House Homeland Security Committee hearing on the threat of Islamist radicalization in the American Muslim community. (more)
In February 2009, President Barack Obama signed into law his $787 billion stimulus, which he lauded as “the most sweeping economic recovery package in our history.” Two years later, the government’s stimulus spending has failed to win the future, and public opinion has responded accordingly. (more)
For too long, our government has been fiscally irresponsible and allowed reckless spending that has added three trillion dollars to the national debt in just the two years since Obama took office. In fact, since Democrats took control of Congress in 2007, we’ve seen our debt level increased by 91 percent. These actions have serious consequences. The health of the American economy is at risk, and we must work together to put America back on the path to prosperity. (more)
Outgoing Florida Republican Sen. George LeMieux plans to make his Senate colleagues put their money where their mouth is on deficit and debt reduction by forcing them to vote on it before the end of the year. (more)
House Republican Conference chairman Mike Pence (R-Ind.) will offer a major economic address later this month, the latest evidence that the Indiana congressman has his sights set on a foray into the national political scene. (more)
WASHINGTON — A rift has emerged within the Democratic Party between liberal economists, who generally view the 2009 stimulus package as a success and say that Keynesian economics should remain the heart of the party’s economic policy, and elected officials, who in growing numbers have shunned affiliation with the $787 billion effort and are expressing doubts about the effectiveness of fiscal intervention. (more)
A rift has emerged within the Democratic Party between liberal economists, who generally view the 2009 stimulus package as a success and say that Keynesian economics should remain the heart of the party’s economic policy, and elected officials, who in growing numbers have shunned affiliation with the $787 billion effort and are expressing doubts about the effectiveness of fiscal intervention. (more)
“The movers and shakers of our society seem…oblivious to the terrible destruction wrought by the economic storm that has roared through America.” Thus writes the New York Times’ Bob Herbert, who notes in a weekend column that “nearly 44 million people were living in poverty last year, which is more than 14 percent of the population. That is an increase of 4 million over the previous year, the highest percentage in 15 years.” (more)
Would John Maynard Keynes himself even agree with the perpetual deficit-spending that has been going on for the past 40 years in America? (more)
In a farewell speech, outgoing White House economic adviser Christina Romer touted the success of the stimulus package Wednesday and urged lawmakers not to shy away from more deficit spending to keep the momentum going. (more)
This week, we received more bad economic news showing that gross domestic product had grown slower in the second quarter of 2010 than had been initially calculated. The majority of economic indicators — including new claims for unemployment, new housing starts, and sales of used homes — are lagging. (more)
The U.S. economy will improve slowly and another round of fiscal stimulus probably wouldn’t be effective, former Treasury secretaries Paul O’Neill and Robert Rubin said. (more)
One of the heated debates taking place in Washington D.C. is whether the federal government should give states $10 billion to save teacher jobs as part of an additional stimulus package. In fact, last Thursday night the issue proved to be contentious enough to delay the passage of the war-time supplemental spending bill – the bill the teacher spending is attached to. Eleven Democrats (and Senator Lieberman) joined the Republicans in sending the House-passed bill back to the House, refusing to pass the measure unless the additional funding is removed. Debate on the issue is expected to continue this week. (more)
In a recent Wall Street Journal column, Princeton economist Alan Blinder wonders why 64 percent of Americans do not believe the $849 billion “fiscal stimulus” bill “saved or created” many jobs. “The main reason,” he explains, “appears to be that the White House’s January 2009 forecast was too optimistic—projecting, for example, an unemployment rate around 8% by the end of 2009 if the stimulus passed.” He thinks that’s unfair. (more)
With over $13 trillion in national debt and the recent projection that it will top 100% of GDP in 2012, we are entering uncharted fiscal waters which threaten our economy. Kenneth Rogoff of Harvard University has found that economic growth is 2.6 percentage points higher for countries with debt below 30 percent of GDP than for countries with debt above 90 percent of GDP. If Washington continues to do nothing, America is headed for a Greece-like debt catastrophe. (more)
Democrats have been running Congress for nearly four years, and President Obama has been at the White House for 18 months, so it’s not too soon to ask: How’s that working out? One devastating scorecard came out Friday from the White House, in the form of its own semi-annual budget review. (more)
Let us review the recent record on federal spending stimulus and its relationship to GDP growth, about which data are freely available from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In February 2008, $165 billion—for the most part, dollar transfers to the states and increased federal outlays—was spent as economic “stimulus.” In 2009, the infamous $862 billion Obama stimulus package was enacted, comprising spending increases of $574 billion and various tax reductions of $288 billion. Over the last few months, with the looming elections and monstrous polling numbers concentrating the minds of White House and Congressional leaders, proposals for $100-200 billion in additional “stimulus” spending have been prominent. (more)
This week the President’s Council of Economic Advisors released a report claiming that the 2009 Stimulus Act had created or “saved” 3 million jobs. They further stated that the Act would be responsible for 3.5 million jobs by the end of the year. Coincidentally, this is the exact number of jobs predicted by the Council when the bill was passed. (more)
The Lady Gaga phenomenon conquered the Today Show this morning, with what must have been the largest crowd they’ve had in their summer concert series. (more)
The debates raging over what policies will pull the U.S. economy out of its Great Recession replicate one that occurred during the Great Depression. Thanks to the efforts of Richard Ebeling, a professor of economics at Northwood University, we have compelling and concise documentary evidence. He has unearthed letters to the Times of London from the two sides that mirror today’s debates. (more)
