Thanks to Glenn Beck for this gem of wisdom:
February 17, 2010
Let's rewind the clocks to one year ago. America needed the stimulus package. We couldn't live without it. That's what our leaders were telling us then:
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE NANCY PELOSI: Failure to act quickly can only lead to more job losses and more economic pain for Americans.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: I don't believe that it's too late to change course. But it will be if we don't take dramatic action as soon as possible. If nothing is done, this recession could linger for years. The unemployment rate could reach double digits.
The situation could not be more serious. It's time to pass an economic recovery and reinvestment plan to get our economy moving.
VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: This is about getting this out and spent in 18 months, to create 3.5 million jobs and to set — tee this up, so the rest of the good work that's being done here literally dropkicks us out of this recession and we begin to grow again.
Yes, America might not recover if we didn't borrow more money from places like China and then recklessly spend it. So, how has the plan worked out? Vice President Joe Biden had this glowing review:
BIDEN: This act, along with everything else we did, helped us avoid a depression. It also succeeded in saving or creating 2 million of jobs so far.
It was designed to have two stages to it. We've only been halfway through the act. The job creating portions are really loaded in the second half here and the major projects that are going to be being built but yes, they have gotten money's worth.
Two stages? Was the first stage just to waste our money? That's new to me. Did you know that? Well it's good to know that they didn't work on job creation in the first part, because unemployment has gone from 8.2 percent to 9.7 percent. And there was no intent to restore the economy either: America owes $1.6 trillion more today than we did a year ago.
Anyway, the president offered his assessment today:
OBAMA: The Recovery Act was never intended to save every job or restore our economy to full strength. No bill or government program can do that. Businesses are the true engines of growth. Businesses are the engines of job creation in this country.
Did I hear right? The president said that government can't restore the economy? That's weird, because I think it was about a year ago when he told America this:
OBAMA: The federal government is the only entity left with the resources to jolt our economy back into life.
But now that it's not working, seems he's playing a different tune. Valerie Jarrett chalked the bad wrap on the stimulus over PR struggles: "It's hard to get out positive news stories when people tend to focus on what's going wrong as opposed to what's going well." She added that the administration has "not done a good enough job explaining" how the plan has helped people.
I can't take it anymore.
Mr. President, we can hear you! The American people can hear you! And you and the people who have done this to the American economy are about to hear from us.
Let's say you broke your leg. You go to the hospital and your leg is fixed. And you get back on your feet — you're feeling good. You don't need the doctor to say, "You don't have a broken leg anymore." Same with the stimulus: If it were actually helping people, Valerie, you wouldn't have to explain it better.
In fact, it's working so poorly that polls show that more people believe Elvis is alive than believe the stimulus actually worked.
That's how much of a disaster this thing has been. I mean, Joe Biden is in charge of it. What did you expect?
Only about a third of the stimulus money has been spent. Wait, I thought it was an emergency? Anyway, what about those lucky people who actually got money? Who are they? One lucky recipient was Serious Windows, a small window manufacturer. In a strange, unrelated coincidence, the VP of policy for Serious Windows happens to be married to Obama's weatherization "czar" Cathy Zoi.
Small world, huh?
And now, many of the places that received money from the stimulus package — like schools who were struggling — well, the money has dried up and now they are broke again. This wasn't about creating jobs. None have been "created," they just prolonged the inevitable and, in the process, wasted taxpayer money.
But that's not stopping the White House from coming out and saying that it saved us from another Great Depression. Really? I thought that was TARP's job.
No one will tell you the truth. You know, before they announced it, I was actually for some form of TARP and the reason was, if you can just hold off the collapse for a while, you can use that time to wake people up, help them to prepare. But they haven't used it for that. They've used it to convince us that everything is just dandy. We fixed that mess George W. Bush made, huh? And they are using it for the fundamental transformation of this country. Want something to pass? Don't worry about it; we'll jam it in the next stimulus. Congress is being circumvented and is becoming irrelevant.
Fundamental transformation or restoration; one of the two is heading our way.
I can't say it enough: prepare. Use this time wisely. While they argue over which jobs were "saved" and look for Elvis, save your money. Get out of debt. When a store is offering two for one, do what your grandparents did. Most importantly educate yourself. Know history, the Constitution.
If I'm wrong (and I hope I am) then no big deal. Better safe than sorry. When has that been bad in America? Ben Franklin would be proud. But I beg you to consider that the worst is not behind us. It's yet to begin.
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