ORPO (Obame-Reid-Pelosi-Obey) sold stimulus aggressively on the front end. Unemployment would be held below eight percent if we would just give them a blank check for nearly a trillion dollars.
This is a key issue in the race between Obey and challenger Sean Duffy this year. I want to publish a couple of resources that will help in evaluating Obey's track record in this area.
First a website: http://www.readthestimulus.org/. Note that zero conservative republicans supported the bill in the house and the senate
Then a new video containing an interview of Rep. Paul Ryan by Sean Hannity. Initial observation appears to show a clear, intentional misleading of the American people on jobs numbers related to stimulus investments.
Seems I've read a hundred reports of questionable dispersing of stimulus funds. And as a conservative, running more money through the government does not resonate as effective. How do you feel about the ORPO stimulus bill?
For Immediate Release: April 20, 2010
ReplyDeleteContact: Matt Seaholm (715) 203-1299 or matt@duffyforcongress.com
Duffy Launches “Hometown Jobs Creation Tour” Today
7th District Candidate Kicks Off Effort to Revitalize Northern Wisconsin Economy
[Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.] Citing the economic concerns in central and northern Wisconsin and double-digit unemployment throughout the Congressional District he is running for, Ashland County District Attorney Sean Duffy is launching a “Hometown Jobs Creation Tour.”
Over the next several weeks, Duffy will be touring local businesses, talking with job creators and employees about the best ways for their leaders to help them create jobs. The district-wide tour begins today in Wisconsin Rapids at Golden Eagle Log Homes.
“The concern for many families is not only the jobs we’ve lost, but whether we are going to lose more. We need to turn things around and bigger government is not the way to do it,” Duffy said. “Dave Obey’s plan has been to spend our way out of this recession. His stimulus bill spent $787 billion, increasing our debt and deficit. My question is, ‘Where are the results?’”
Wisconsin has ranked among the hardest-hit states in the nation when it comes to job loss. Recording a record number of mass layoffs and more businesses closing than in any other state in the Midwest. The average unemployment within the 7th Congressional District is 10.27%, more than a half percent higher than the national average. Seven of the ten Wisconsin counties with the highest unemployment rate are within the 7th District as well.
“Dave Obey was given the biggest test of his career. Write a bill that will create jobs and stimulate our economy. With the continued unemployment in this district and all of the families who are still looking for work. If you had to give him a grade, I’m not sure how it could be anything other than an ‘F,’ Duffy said.
“The key to job creation lies with the people of Wisconsin, not in Washington. You cannot create more government regulations and increase taxes and expect jobs to magically appear. You have to allow employers and their workers the opportunity to grow their businesses by getting out of the way instead of telling them what to do.”
Duffy’s business visits will include businesses ranging in size and spanning the spectrum of industries. He expects to hit more than a dozen businesses in the coming weeks and will continue to meet with employers and their employees throughout the campaign.
{{Those who interested in participating in the tour or would like Sean to visit a business in your area, please contact the campaign at (715) 203-1299 or info@duffyforcongress.com}}
“The concern for many families is not only the jobs we’ve lost, but whether we are going to lose more. We need to turn things around and bigger government is not the way to do it,” Duffy said. “Dave Obey’s plan has been to spend our way out of this recession. His stimulus bill spent $787 billion, increasing our debt and deficit. My question is, ‘Where are the results?’”
ReplyDeleteI guess the good news from Sean Duffy is 1. he won't increase the deficit and 2. he won't spend any money in order to increase jobs. Apparently his laissez-faire approach will magically create jobs by unleashing business.
Yup,don't need money. Just leave them alone and they'll come home with jobs a dragging behind them.
If only they didn't have those stupid taxes, they could really sell their goods for less money and force their competition out of business. Hey, wait. Most of their competition is other Americans so maybe there won't be any advantage after all. But, hey, ya never know.
RC, I understand your desire to ridicule because our views of the best path forward are very different. I have a much more optimistic view of the free market and a much more pessimistic view of the capabilities of the government. Mark Levin fleshes out some of my practical reasons on pages 90 and 91 of Liberty and Tyranny:
ReplyDelete“Of course, the best way to stimulate the economy would be for the federal government to slash capital gains taxes, corporate income taxes, and individual income tax rates, thereby increasing liquidity available to individuals and businesses to make decisions about their own economic circumstances. Since most people do not hide their cash and cigar boxes, the additional money would either be spent or invested. The more favorable investment environment would also attract the flow of foreign investment into American markets from countries that tax their citizens and businesses at higher rates. Furthermore, the stock market would react favorably to market-oriented spending and savings and it would benefit directly from increased equity purchases resulting from increased investor confidence.
“Along these lines, in 1981, when the economy was reeling from double-digit interest, unemployment, and inflation rates, President Ronald Reagan championed the passage of the Economic Recovery Tax Act (the Kemp-Roth bill). It cut individual federal income tax brackets by 25%, phased over three years, and indexed the rates against inflation to prevent creeping bracket increases in future years. The act also instituted the Accelerated Cost Recovery System and a 10% Investment Tax Credit, which led to a substantial increase in capital formation. The goal was to create incentives by removing significance government barriers to investment, productivity, and growth. The result: Inflation dropped from 13.5% in 1982 4.1% in 1988. Interest rates dropped from 18% on a 30 year fixed mortgage in 1981 to 8% in 1987; and unemployment dropped from a peak near 10% in the recession of 1981-82 to 5.5% in 1989, once the full force of the tax cuts kicked in. The Reagan economic program, based largely on free-market principles, spurred economic prosperity that created, over the next 25 years, 43 million jobs and $30 trillion in wealth.”
And on pages 66 and 67, Levin lays out some of the philosophy of free markets that I buy into:
"... the free market is the only economic system that produces on a sustainable basis, and for the overwhelming majority of Americans, an abundance of food, housing, energy, and medicine -- the staples of human survival; it creates an astonishing array of consumer goods that add comfort, value, and security to the quality of life; and the free market recognizes that it is in man's DNA to take risks, to innovate, to achieve, to compete, and to acquire -- to not only survive but also improve his circumstance.
"Furthermore... the individual knows better how to make and spend that what she has learned from his own labor and provide for his family than do large bureaucracies populated by strangers who see classes of people rather than individual human beings. As Founder James Wilson observed, ‘by exclusive property, the productions of the earth and the means of subsistence are secured and preserved, as Wallace multiplied. What belongs to no one is wasted by everyone. What belongs to one man in particular is the object of his economy and care.’"