With Pres. Obama’s claim of 3.5 million “stimulated” new jobs, there’s a catch. The ambitious plan that creates so many jobs, unfortunately, requires spending all our stimulus money.
The irony of millions of new jobs becomes painfully apparent when you consider millions of job losses — all in a slumping economy crushed by a devalued currency, higher taxes, communities going broke, and expanding government. This is not a good bang for our bucks, as we wonder how the nation’s economy might have performed without all this meddling.
Let’s do the math and assume that the administration divvies up the 3.5 million jobs equally among all the states — give or take some jobs earmarked for U.S. Rep. John Murtha’s “bustling” rural airport in Pennsylvania’s 12th District. Each state would receive 70,000 jobs from thin air, or for Indiana, 760 jobs for each county. However, if more businesses fail because of the administration’s damaging economic policy, who will be doing the hiring here in Madison County?
As the city of Anderson reluctantly scales back the size of local government — always a painful endeavor especially under a Democratic administration — through furloughs, benefits cuts, and wage freezes. But, it isn’t till now that the city finally axes amenities like take-home cars, overtime pay and cell phones. This fat should have been trimmed a long time ago. Add to this the ultimate cop-out as Mayor Ockomon (D) criticizes “the previous administration” for the city’s economic and financial predicament.
The mayor seems to find dubious inspiration in the president when he plays the “Blame Card” — a stinking, festering centerpiece of the Obama administration. The problem with blaming, though, is that it never gets anything done in our city, county or country. Furthermore, the act of blame seems to accomplish nothing in life. Instead, we Republicans choose the less-traveled path of personal responsibility and accountability.
Let’s work together with the Madison County GOP to build a stronger party and reverse the red-ink economic policy that endangers our livelihood and our liberty.
See the AP story:
Stimulus Watch: Follow along as Obama counts jobs (6/18/2009)
From the Herald Bulletin:
Layoffs, furloughs on city’s list of cost-cutting measures (6/9/2009)