We're screwed

[Cali Coug]

Originally Posted by Tex

I realize that the death of Keynesian economics has made the Blame Bush meme all the more popular among the Left. If you think replacing windows in a permanently closed visitor center and a $2m study of exotic African ants is the economic equivalent of a timing belt, fuel pump, and tires, more power to you. I'm pretty sure that's not a car the American electorate will be interested in buying.

On that note, Quinnipiac released a new poll from Pennslyvania:

52/42% Obama does not deserve to be relected
54/43% Disapproval

Come on, Tex. Give just one intellectually honest argument. Just one. I don't know if you would even recognize one if you saw it.

Sure- there was undoubtedly money that could have been better spent in the stimulus. Of course, if I were to start identifying that money, I'd start with something that cost far more than .002% of the total stimulus bill. The tax cuts which Republicans demanded, for example, cost about a third of the total and have very low stimulative effect. They produce very little multiplier gain to GDP and don't do much to increase jobs either (at least the types of cuts which were included in the stimulus). Republicans have decided that tax cuts are always good and spending is always bad, despite the fact that oftentimes they are identical in nature, so you have people like McCain and Redstate pimping the waste of the stimulus by examples on studies about ants instead of looking at the aggregate.

I don't know much about ants. I don't know if the study is wasteful or not, nor do I know if that particular study resulted in any jobs being created. The sponsors of the study said that “[Ants] give us back the most data on the environment than any other group. Their life cycle is shorter, they change very quickly. Everyone has run into ants . . . now we need to listen to them." If true, do we get $2 million of value out of the study? I still don't know the answer- and I'm quite sure you don't either. What I do know is that you are focusing on a fraction of a fraction of the spending in the stimulus.

Is this all good politics for Obama and the Democrats? Nope. Governing requires tough choices, and sometimes they aren't popular choices, even if needed.