First, once again, Boehner is acting RINOish - he allows obama to "call" a joint session of congress, to make a political speech - what was he thinking? To add insult to injury, obama then asks congress to stop the "circus" about the economy. They let him speak on a very shakey pretext, and he in effect calls them clowns? Are they masochists?
Anyway, obama's "big plan" to stimulate jobs (notice it's "jobs" that has the political resonance leading up to 2012, not something as abstract as the economy) is to give a temporary cut to the payroll tax, plus a lot of 1930s style WPA make-work jobs. Further, it shovels tons of money to teachers - keeping those unions happy. This is the same thing he did with the "shovel ready jobs" porkulus - it went to keep state government workers employed, obama supporters all, after the state treasuries had nearly been bankrupted by profligate spending by liberal legislatures. That sort of thing has NOTHING to do with the economy recovering, and does not address at all the long-term secular causes of American economic decline.
The political benefits for obama are: keeps some union workers employed till the money runs out, just like with the first porkulus, and provides patronage to undoubtedly carefully selected construction companies, with the expectation of corresponding campaign contributions next year.
Republicans need to deep-six this political stunt, except perhaps for the payroll tax cut. They should focus on BIG tax cuts and BIG deregulation - the same way Reagan set off an economic boom in the early 1980s.
Anyway, obama's "big plan" to stimulate jobs (notice it's "jobs" that has the political resonance leading up to 2012, not something as abstract as the economy) is to give a temporary cut to the payroll tax, plus a lot of 1930s style WPA make-work jobs. Further, it shovels tons of money to teachers - keeping those unions happy. This is the same thing he did with the "shovel ready jobs" porkulus - it went to keep state government workers employed, obama supporters all, after the state treasuries had nearly been bankrupted by profligate spending by liberal legislatures. That sort of thing has NOTHING to do with the economy recovering, and does not address at all the long-term secular causes of American economic decline.
The political benefits for obama are: keeps some union workers employed till the money runs out, just like with the first porkulus, and provides patronage to undoubtedly carefully selected construction companies, with the expectation of corresponding campaign contributions next year.
Republicans need to deep-six this political stunt, except perhaps for the payroll tax cut. They should focus on BIG tax cuts and BIG deregulation - the same way Reagan set off an economic boom in the early 1980s.
