Three days after the U.S. Department of Labor reported that the national unemployment rate had ticked up from 9.1 percent in May to 9.2 percent in June, President Barack Obama said that the loss of jobs in the public sector is “evidence” that his $830-billion economic stimulus legislation worked.

“Now, without relitigating the past, I’m absolutely convinced, and the vast majority of economists are convinced, that the steps we took in the Recovery Act saved millions of people their jobs or created a whole bunch of jobs,” Obama said at his Monday press conference.

“And part of the evidence of that is as you see what happens with the Recovery Act phasing out,” he said. “When I came into office and budgets were hemorrhaging at the state level, part of the Recovery Act was giving states help so they wouldn’t have to lay off teachers, police officers, firefighters. As we’ve seen that federal support for states diminish, you’ve seen the biggest job losses in the public sector–teachers, police officers, firefighters losing their jobs.”

Now, to be fair, he is correct: the Porkulus did temporarily save millions of jobs, as the federal government mortgaged the future to simply give money to state governments, along with some private sector groups (that mostly created nothing of lasting consequence). At least FDR’s projects had a lasting impression, having built bridges, roads, and dams, among others. Obama’s “Stimulus” just gave the money away, and all we chalked up was a temporary reprieve from turning into, well, we aren’t quite to Greece yet, so, let’s say, more like Spain.

As federal hand outs to the States end, we see that most States are in poor financial conditions, as the Dead Parrot economy hangs on to the perch, barely moving. If people are still unemployed, if they aren’t spending much, if they aren’t buying big ticket items, States do not capture as much income tax, sales tax, nor property tax. There isn’t as much tax coming from companies, either, nor the associated entitlement taxes. The money just isn’t there. And all this leaves States in a bad position, because all the so-called Stimulus did was provide handouts and mask the underlying instabilities.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach.

Rep. Michele Bachmann is surging in the GOP presidential polls and barnstorming Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, but as she sprints toward the front of the Republican pack, there’s a major hole in her political résumé: legislation.

Now in her third House term, Bachmann has never had a bill or resolution she’s sponsored signed into law, and she’s never wielded a committee gavel, either at the full or subcommittee level. Bachmann’s amendments and bills have rarely been considered by any committee, even with the House under GOP control. In a chamber that rewards substantive policy work and insider maneuvering, Bachmann has shunned the inside game, choosing to be more of a bomb thrower than a legislator.

One of the things that makes her popular is that she isn’t fully playing the insiders game up on Capital Hill. Instead, she is taking her message to the People. But, this reminds me of someone else

Of course, having a thin legislative résumé isn’t a dead end for a presidential run — Obama started running for president just two years into his Senate term and didn’t have a substantive list of congressional accomplishments.

Obama’s biggest accomplishments were….giving speeches outside of Capital Hill, then playing hide and seek when any tough vote came up. For Michelle, though, she is always in the mix

In terms of policy substance, Bachmann has pushed for a balanced-budget amendment and major cuts in spending and entitlement programs, including Medicare and Social Security. She has called for new oil drilling on federal lands and in Alaska, as well as greater use of nuclear power and clean energy. Bachmann has advocated large tax cuts, especially for private business, and she has backed legislation requiring congressional approval for all major federal regulations. (major snip)

Sachtleben added: “Perhaps her most important achievement in terms of votes cast was her unwavering consistency in voting against TARP, stimulus, cap and trade, Obamacare and the rest of the big-spending, job-destroying, deficit-busting bills that were put forth by the Democrat majority.”

Michelle also brings lots of actual private sector experience to the mix. She’s a good Conservative, and has gone out of her way to reach out to the TEA Party. She’s dynamic and exciting, and this worries the liberal media, but, mostly it worries the GOP insiders and squishes, the ones who would rather run a Democrat Lite candidate, rather then jumping in and backing Conservative principles. These are the same types of people who freaked out over Ronald Reagan, before his election and during his presidency. They’ll tell you about “electability”…..how’d that work with McCain? Bush just barely beat Gore. Bob Dole? These same squishes tend to ignore Democrat malfeasance, and spend most of their time attacking Conservatives, which is how we end up with so many wishy washy Republicans in Congress, willing to cross the aisle and support Liberal causes.

Expect the caterwauling to continue to get worse as Bachmann continues to be one of the leaders for the GOP nomination.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach.

No American president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt has won a second term in office when the unemployment rate on Election Day topped 7.2 percent. (except Reagan, which is pointed out later in the article)

Seventeen months before the next election, it is increasingly clear that President Obama must defy that trend to keep his job.

Roughly 9 percent of Americans who want to go to work cannot find an employer. Companies are firing fewer people, but hiring remains anemic. And the vast majority of economic forecasters, including the president’s own advisers, predict only modest progress by November 2012.

So, the Stimulus has completely failed? We threw almost a trillion dollars out, and it didn’t help? Who would have predicted that?

The latest job numbers, due Friday, are expected to provide new cause for concern. Other indicators suggest the pace of growth is flagging. Weak manufacturing data, a gloomy reading on jobs in advance of Friday’s report and a drop in auto sales led the markets to their worst close since August.

Somehow, I’m sure the Democrats, who control the Senate and White House, will find a way (along with a compliant media) to blame this on House Republicans. Not in this article, but, certainly in the future. Yet, all the negatives we are seeing are direct responses to the inept policies of Democrats during Obama’s first two years as president.

Republicans have set the terms of debate by pressing for large cuts in federal spending, which they say will encourage private investment. Democrats have found themselves battling to minimize and postpone such cuts, which they fear will cause new job losses.

Those jobs would be ones that feed from the federal trough. Republicans told President Neophyte that more spending was a non-starter

“The discussion really focused on the philosophical difference on whether Washington should continue to pump money into the economy or should we provide an incentive for entrepreneurs and small businesses to grow,” said Eric Cantor, the majority leader. “The president talked about a need for us to continue to quote-unquote invest from Washington’s standpoint, and for a lot of us that’s code for more Washington spending, something that we can’t afford right now.”

The problem with the spending, excuse me, investing, is that it is aimed right back at the government, rather than the private sector, and government doesn’t worry about generating a profit. How did painting bridges help?

The Obama administration hopes to tell a similar story (to Reagan’s, when he won with 7.2% unemployment, because it was getting better. Oh, and Reagan made America a great country again, after the Carter disaster).

“We have undertaken some of the biggest policy actions to create jobs that any administration has ever done,” said Jason Furman, deputy director of the National Economic Council, which advises the president on economic policy. Mr. Furman said that the economy was still benefiting from last year’s tax cuts, and from the dollop of federal stimulus spending that Democrats pushed through in 2009.

And how’d those work out? Unemployment is still high, hiring is still stagnant. Just because one does something big doesn’t mean the results will be better.

Unfortunately, to a good chunk on the left, the complete incompetence of the Obama administration will mean nothing when it comes time to vote. A president who has failed this badly should be a shoe in to be promoted to customer. Alas, there are too many who are too hyper-partisan to walk away from Obama.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach

Real title: don’t forget to turn the coffee pot on, dummy. Sorry, that was a note to self: Women’s bathroom in House: $200K

Speaker-in-waiting John Boehner’s idea to build a women’s bathroom could be a costly proposition.

The incoming Republican House leader proposed plans to build female members a new restroom off the House floor, but the project could cost the taxpayers at least $200,000, according to a congressional aide who has seen the cost estimates.

Legislative Branch Appropriations Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz investigated the possibility of building a women’s bathroom off the House floor back in 2007, but the idea was nixed because of the prohibitive cost, according to a senior congressional aide familiar with the project.

Yes, seriously, Erika Lovely of the Politico actually went there in attempting to paint $200K as a huge, monstrous, ginormous expense.

She further goes on to try and paint this as some sort of Republican hypocrisy on spending. It is a rather un-subtle dig, yet, imagine this idea came from Nancy Pelosi: Ms. Lovely would be waving those pom poms and jumping in the air, screaming her little liberal lungs out, proclaiming the bathroom was a home run for women’s rights, a strike against the old boys network. I guess the bathroom is not as cool as “$300,000 for a GPS-equipped helicopter to hunt for radioactive rabbit droppings at the Hanford nuclear reservation in Washington state” and other stupid stimulus spending in Ms. Lovely’s partisan hack mind.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach. sit back and Relax. we’ll dRive!

President Barack Obama told a friendly backyard gathering on Thursday that he was so focused on getting the policy right on helping the economy recover that he didn’t devote enough energy to advertising the benefits.

Asked about the negative perception many Americans have about signature legislation of his first two years in office, Obama said opponents of reform fought hard against it and he could have done more to sell it.

Right. Because we weren’t treated to daily discourse from Obama, Democrats, and their minions, including the media. As I write this, Andy Griffith is on my TV yet again telling me how great the ObamaCare legislation is.

With provisions of the reform bill starting to take effect, people now can see the benefits for themselves and therefore understand it better, he said.

And that’s why we don’t like it.

Obama said the stimulus bill, officially titled the Recovery Act, comprises provisions that people like — such as tax cuts, infrastructure development and clean energy investments.

Yeah, those “tax cuts” which most people didn’t know about because they were a simple change to the withholding, and did…..nothing to help the economy. Jobs that weren’t shovel ready, ended up being temporary, didn’t help white collar workers, and didn’t help the economy. And those clean energy investments which are a failure and …… didn’t put people back to work.

“I think that one of the challenges we had two years ago was we had to move so fast, we were in such emergency mode, that it was very difficult for us to spend a lot of time doing victory laps and advertising exactly what we were doing, because we had to move on to the next thing,” Obama said. “And I take some responsibility for that.”

Perhaps you should have slowed down to think about what you were doing, Barry, then you might have gotten the legislation right, instead of slapping on hard left legislative ideas that have failed again and again. It is rather scary to think about people who have a vastly far left view, quite a few with no real world executive or even work experience, people who have been in academia or government for most or all of their lives, in “emergency mode,” without a clue what they are really doing in the Real World.

The attitude was to get the policy right, “and we did not always think about making sure we were advertising properly what was going on,” Obama continued.

So, he failed on both accounts, at least in terms of what was best for America. That could be the reason that 64% [of Americans] believe America is headed down the wrong track, why Obama’s disapproval rating hasn’t dipped below 50% for over a year, “47% of consumers say their personal finances are getting worse,” and Democrats are looking to get blown out in House and gubernatorial races very soon.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach. Re-Change 2010!

Here’s a handy stat: the stimulus bill passed in Obama’s first month in office costs 15% more than the entire Iraq War. Repeating, 15% MORE THAN THE ENTIRE IRAQ WAR.

* Obama’s stimulus, passed in his first month in office, will cost more than the entire Iraq War — more than $100 billion (15%) more.

* Just the first two years of Obama’s stimulus cost more than the entire cost of the Iraq War under President Bush, or six years of that war.

* Iraq War spending accounted for just 3.2% of all federal spending while it lasted.

* Iraq War spending was not even one quarter of what we spent on Medicare in the same time frame.

* Iraq War spending was not even 15% of the total deficit spending in that time frame. The cumulative deficit, 2003-2010, would have been four-point-something trillion dollars with or without the Iraq War.

* The Iraq War accounts for less than 8% of the federal debt held by the public at the end of 2010 ($9.031 trillion).

* During Bush’s Iraq years, 2003-2008, the federal government spent more on education that it did on the Iraq War. (State and local governments spent about ten times more.)

How many times can we repeat this between now and midnight November 1st? Read Randall Hoven’s Iraq: The War That Bros Us — Not, it’s a handy piece to bookmark.

posted by Maggie @ Maggie’s Notebook

Last night at midnight, we left 2009 behind. Not one to carelessly wish away time, I nevertheless am ready to move into 2010. I’m anticipating a year of some hope and some change. To make that change come about, there are some things about 2009 that no serious conservative will ever forgive or forget.

Here’s my list of the 10 Unforgivable and Unforgettable in 2009. I have purposefully left out the Stimulus and the bailouts, as well as the amnesty for illegals coming our way. Amnesty is the single biggest and most dangerous issue facing America, and compared to it, all else pales. I hope you’ll add to this list in comments. Mine list is in no particular order of importance.

(1) The buying of Senate votes to pass Health Care on Christmas Eve, which Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) characterized as “corruption, not compromise.” Unforgivable and Unforgettable.

(2) The 111th Congress in general, and specifically for allowing unread legislation to pass. Unforgivable. Senator Tom Coburn summed-it-up: “This Congress will be remembered for its arrogance, corruption and stupidity.” Unforgettable.

(3) Attorney General Eric Holder drops charges of voter intimidation in Philadelphia against the New Black Panthers. After the Black Panthers simply refused to show up in court, the government won a default judgment – which Holder promptly nullified. Unforgettable and Unforgivable.

(4) Obama stands behind Kevin Jennings as his Safe Schools Czar. Unforgettable and Unforgivable.

(5) The administration’s refusal to call the Ft. Hood murders, terrorism and specifically Islamic terrorism, and actually withhold information on the murders from the investigative body of Congress. Unforgettable and Unforgivable.

(6) The constant and completely unsubstantiated charge from Democrats that Republicans “have no ideas.”

(7) The continued, and shameful, support of ACORN from the White House

(8) The illegal firing of Inspector General, Gerald Walpin, by the White House, and then the ordering of related document shredding, also by the White House. This firing came about because Walpin’s report showed that AmeriCorp has fraudulently misused $75 million in government funds, and also showed that Obama’s close friend and donor, Kevin Johnson, former NBA star and currently Sacramento Mayor, was involved. Walpin was cleared of all wrong doing and wants his job back. Unforgettable and Unforgivable.

(9) Coming legislation to bailout newspapers.

(10) The confiscating of our personal health care records by the government, under the guise of providing more accuracy and safety for the patient. We all know that to the government, nothing is sacred. We will rue the day this happens.

None of the above would have been possible with even moderate media scrutiny. The ongoing media blackout, as outlined below, has left this country reeling. We can no longer depend on the ballot box to make our voices heard, UNLESS we vote in much bigger numbers than ‘they’ vote. The press will encourage and use ACORN to bring about the Leftist agenda. We must be ‘gutterally’ smarter than they.

(a) The War on Terror, including the indecent silence on radical Islam;

(b) The unread legislation, including the Stimulus Bill and Health Care

(c) The subverting of private industry jobs to newly created government jobs giving the Obama administration massive growth in…government

(d) The refusal to explore both sides of climate change and global warming, and then finally, the refusal to report the ClimateGate scandal.

(e) The refusal to report on Barack Obama’s unknown life: his college records, the name used on applications, the passport he traveled with as a college student, and of course, the refusal to force his birth certificate, or the lack of one, up and out of the abyss.

(f) The lack of a truthful look at Henry Paulson’s role in the economic meltdown in September 2008. Remember the “emergency meeting” between Paulson, Bernake and top Congressional members, when Paulson told Congress without passing the $700 billion bailout “tomorrow, we won’t have an economy on Monday.”

Remember President Bush standing, with Paulson looming over him, addressing the Nation about the coming economic disaster? We know now that a bailout was inherently wrong. Most of us knew it at the time, but coming in September 2008, Paulson single-handedly gave the Oval Office to Barack Obama. In my opinion, it was a conspiracy – and it worked.

Had the media done it’s job, and simply reported what was widely-known and questioned, regardless of the end result, and let the readers make the judgment, Barack Obama would not be in office today.

Graphic courtesy of AdventurePostOffice

In Ansonia, Conn., $2.3 million in federal stimulus funds is being used for insect research, specifically the “rearing [of] large numbers of anthropoids” which includes the “Asian long-horned beetle, the nun moth and the wooly adelgid,” the New Haven Advocate reported.

Duluth, Minn., rarely known for its high temperatures, received $6 million in economic stimulus funds for a snowmaking facility, even though it is the 15^th snowiest city in America, according to City-Data.com.

As much as $30 million in federal funds will go to spring training facilities for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies, two Major League Baseball teams. The full cost of the training complex in Scottsdale, Ariz., is $100 million.

These were just three projects – ranked numbers five, six and 10 respectively – being funded by the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act signed into law by President Barack Obama in February. The goal of this economic stimulus bill was to revive the ailing economy.

Isn’t that special? It gets worse

But Senate Republicans Friday released a ranking of “10 Stimulus Projects to Remember.” It cites real projects funded by the stimulus while questioning (and poking fun at) their alleged effectiveness. The projects in the rankings are described with quotations from local newspapers.

In March, both President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden pledged that the stimulus funding would be closely watched to ensure it is properly spent.

“And so I’ve said before – I know Joe emphasized this point to you earlier – if we see money being misspent, we’re going to put a stop to it, and we will call it out and we will publicize it,” Obama said.

I guess it depends on your definition of “misspent.” Certainly, $300K to map radioactive rabbit poo can’t be waste, can it? Don’t worry, Sheriff Joe will get right on it.

Stimulating the economy isn’t nearly as important to President Obama as putting federal dollars into the pockets of his union cronies. Because of Obama’s PLA Executive Order, thousands of jobs are going to unions in states that have few union members.

The Washington Times, for instance, reports that Obama has grandiosely given a $35 million federal construction project to New Hampshire. But there are strings attached, strings that pull federal pay levers for the exclusive benefit of unions.

In February Obama signed Executive Order 13202 that demanded that project labor agreements be forced on every federal construction project. These PLAs would demand that federal construction projects either hire union labor or pay all workers union wages. Of course, as these non-union workers are getting union wages the government will also be deducting union dues from their paychecks regardless of whether said worker is in a union or not. This is little else than a direct transfer of federal money to union coffers.

And what of this New Hampshire project? Well, the PLA is in play as a matter of course. This $35 million federal construction project will either employ an all-union workforce, or force contractors to pay union wages to non-union workers as well as remove dues fees from said workers.

So what, you might ask? Won’t this help the job situation in New Hampshire? Perhaps a bit, but what it will do is illicitly give unions tons of cash for no reason. After all, according to the Washington Times only 8.7 percent of New Hampshire’s construction workforce is unionized. This means that the largest number of New Hampshire’s construction workers will not see jobs from this project, and if they do they will find their paychecks docked for union dues even though they are not officially in the union. Additionally, it is highly doubtful that any of these non-union workers will ever see any benefits from dues and pension payments that they might make while employed on the federal project.

But even worse than that, these forced union sops will drive up the costs of the project, cause delays, and fill the pockets of corrupt union officials. So the federal dollars going to these projects will not be cost effective. It should also be remembered that these projects are being funded by the taxpayers.

In the end, this is neither about jobs, nor stimulus. In truth, this is simply a massive payoff from Obama to his supporters in the unions made at the expense of the national treasury as well as the exclusion of New Hampshire’s successful small businessmen.

(Cross posted at TheUnionLabelBlog.com)

A DECISION THAT LOOKS EVEN WORSE IN RETROSPECT…. In February, when the debate over the economic stimulus package was at its height, a handful of “centrist” Senate Republicans said they’d block a vote on recovery efforts unless the majority agreed to slash over $100 billion from the bill.

The group, which didn’t have any specific policy goals in mind and simply liked the idea of a small bill, specifically targeted $40 billion in proposed aid to states. Helping rescue states, Sen. Collins & Co. said, does not stimulate the economy, and as such doesn’t belong in the legislation. Democratic leaders reluctantly went along — they weren’t given a choice since Republicans refused to give the bill an up-or-down vote — and the $40 billion in state aid was eliminated.

Remember how many times we heard “the buck stops here” regarding Bush when it was some low level government bureaucrat or recently out of training soldier who made a boo boo? It was all Bush’s fault, and he needed to take responsibility? Now we have the Senate, the House, and the Executive Office controlled by Democrats, and a horrendous bill passed by Democrats, and it is the fault of Republicans that a $787 billion piece of crap, er, legislation, has failed. Because of $40 billion in state aid that was removed.

Hey, three Republicans voted for it in the Senate. That means the Democrats own that piece of crap, er, legislation, lock, stock, and barrel. Man up, Democrats, and own the failure.

Man up, Steve, and own it. Even the Philly Inquirer sees how bad it is

If there is any stimulus money going into infrastructure and green construction, it is not evident from the numbers, because construction lost 64,000 jobs – more than the perennial loser, manufacturing. Even heavy and civil engineering construction, the group that would be building roads and bridges, saw a decline of 11,900 jobs.

In the past, government hiring had managed to somewhat offset losses in the private sector, but government jobs declined by 53,000, with the biggest number of cuts on the local and state levels. Even the Postal Service, which is included in the public-sector job statistics, dropped 5,300 jobs.

Of course, had they started throwing the majority of the $787 billion out immediately – you remember when Obama said there was no time to wait, we had to do this NOW, so no one could read the bill, otherwise we would head into The Great Depression Part II (then he waited 4 days and flew to Denver to sign it) – things might have been different. Alas, we shall never know, since a measly 6% has been spent. Perhaps that is why people are more concerned with government ethics and corruption a tiny bit more than the economy.

So, man up, Democrats! We know it is difficult to move out of your safety blanket of blame someone else. But, give it a try. It was your policy and your votes. But, hey, good news! You will possibly have a second shot at Epic Fail with a second stimulus, oh, excuse me, Economic Triage.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove