It Won't Work

In his inaugural address President Obama said Americans want a government that works. Well, then, will this stimulus package work? This stuffed pork lobbyist luau? We already have a money supply spiking straight line up--sure to bring on inflation, the hidden tax. And we're going to load up with all this debt for negligible job creation?!!

Even John McCain, President Obama's new bipartisan best friend can't support this. Even mushy moderate David Brooks of the New York Times can't support this as configured now:

He’s going to have to show that his plans have credibility, that a stimulus bill is really a stimulus bill, and not a Christmas tree for every special interest desire.

If he can do that, we’ll look back on this stimulus as a timely, temporary and targeted success. If not, we’ll just remember it as the sprawling mess that kicked up dozens of scandal headlines about $200 million programs to lay grass around the Jefferson Memorial.

And this is without even considering TARP II which looks to be coming down the pike, the sneaky and unsustainable SCHIP expansion and the looming bankruptcy of Social Security. George Will here. Can you Dems really look your children in the eye and tell them you have spent a huge portion of their future earnings wisely today?

And would a trillion-dollar increase in the federal budget deficit enhance investor or consumer confidence? What costs will a spending increase of that magnitude impose on not just future generations but on this generation next year and the year after?

In his inaugural speech, President Obama said he wants us to "spend wisely". This is beyond reckless, and it won't work at the end of the day. We all want this economy to recover as quickly as possible, and real job creation. Re-work this, for all our sakes.

P.S. Do you want your administration to be known for the Obamisery index?

UPDATE: The Stimulus Time Machine:

The stimulus bill currently steaming through Congress looks like a legislative freight train, but given last week's analysis by the Congressional Budget Office, it is more accurate to think of it as a time machine. That may be the only way to explain how spending on public works in 2011 and beyond will help the economy today.

According to Congressional Budget Office estimates, a mere $26 billion of the House stimulus bill's $355 billion in new spending would actually be spent in the current fiscal year, and just $110 billion would be spent by the end of 2010. This is highly embarrassing given that Congress's justification for passing this bill so urgently is to help the economy right now, if not sooner.

And the red Congressional faces must be very red indeed, because CBO's analysis has since vanished into thin air after having been posted early last week on the Appropriations Committee Web site. Officially, the committee says this is because the estimates have been superseded as the legislation has moved through committee. No doubt.