Democrats’ Zombie Stimulus Keeps Coming Back

As We Approach the Third Anniversary of Democrats’ Failed Stimulus, the Democrats’ Terrible Idea Just Won’t Go Away

• Tomorrow is the third anniversary of the Democrats’ failed $800 billion stimulus spending binge, but Democrats have learned nothing and instead are celebrating the occasion by touting President Obama’s calls for more stimulus spending in his budget released this week.
• It’s not the first time since the failure of the original stimulus that Democrats have called for more stimulus spending. The Democrats’ stimulus proposal is like a bad zombie movie, and by our count, we’re now on the fourth sequel.
• American families are suffering the economic consequences of the Democrats’ insistence on repeating their failed policies. Unemployment remains unacceptably high, home values have crashed, record numbers are in poverty and Americans are wondering when they will see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Tomorrow is the third anniversary of the Democrats’ failed $800 billion stimulus spending binge, but Democrats have learned nothing and instead are celebrating the occasion by touting President Obama’s calls for more stimulus spending in his budget released this week:

OBAMA SIGNED STIMULUS INTO LAW ON FEBRUARY 17, 2009: (Mimi Hall and David Jackson, “Stimulus Slammed as Dem Agenda,” USA Today, 2/17/2009)

BUT DEMOCRATS THIS WEEK BEGAN THEIR PUSH FOR A NEW STIMULUS:

REUTERS: “OBAMA UNVEILS BIG SPENDING ELECTION-YEAR BUDGET”: (Alister Bull and Laura MacInnis, “Obama Unveils Big Spending Election-Year Budget,” Reuters, 2/13/2012)

NEW BUDGET “LADEN WITH STIMULUS-STYLE INITIATIVES“: “The president’s plan is laden with stimulus-style initiatives: sharp increases for highway construction and school modernization, and a new tax credit for businesses that add jobs.” (Andrew Taylor, “Obama Budget: New Spending with Recycled Tax Ideas,”Associated Press, 2/11/2012)

PELOSI SAYS NEW STIMULUS PLAN IS AN “INNOVATIVE BLUEPRINT”: ” ‘President Obama has laid out an innovative blueprint for restoring opportunity for all Americans and for constructing an economy that is built to last,’ Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., stated.” (John Parkinson, “Republicans Detest, Democrats Defend Obama’s Budget,” ABC News, 2/13/2012) 

It’s not the first time since the failure of the original stimulus that Democrats have called for more stimulus spending. The Democrats’ stimulus proposal is like a bad zombie movie, and by our count, we’re now on the fourth sequel:

STIMULUS I: FEBRUARY 2009

COST ESTIMATE: $825 BILLION: “When ARRA was being considered, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that it would increase budget deficits by $787 billion between fiscal years 2009 and 2019. CBO now estimates that the total impact over the 2009–2019 period will amount to about $825 billion.” (“Estimated Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on Employment and Economy Output from July 2011 Through September 2011,” Congressional Budget Office, November 2011) 

CBO: 90% OF FUNDS SPENT BY SEPTEMBER 2011: “By CBO’s estimate, close to half of that impact occurred in fiscal year 2010, and nearly 90 percent of ARRA’s budgetary impact was realized by the end of September 2011.” (“Estimated Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on Employment and Economy Output from July 2011 Through September 2011,” Congressional Budget Office, November 2011)

STIMULUS II: AUGUST 2010

DEMOCRATS PASS A $26 BILLION “STIMULUS” FOR STATE GOVERNMENTS:“It’s the latest package of federal stimulus money, and it has sparked the usual partisan debate: Is more aid to state governments really needed, and will it truly add jobs to the US economy?

“Backers of the $26 billion measure, which passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 247 to 161 on a largely party-line vote Tuesday, say that states deserve extra financial support amid a historic cash crunch this year.”(Mark Trumbull, “House Approves Jobs Bill: Do States Deserve $26 Billion More Stimulus?”, The Christian Science Monitor, 8/10/2010)

STIMULUS III: SEPTEMBER 2010

HOUSE DEMOCRATS VOTED FOR $42 BILLION STIMULUS ON A PARTY-LINE VOTE: (Catherine Clifford, “House OKs Small Biz Jobs Bill,” CNN Money, 9/23/2010)

STIMULUS IV: FALL 2011

OBAMA PUSHED FOR A $450 BILLION NEW STIMULUS LAST FALL: “President Obama unveiled a stimulus plan Thursday night that he says will boost hiring and provide a jolt to the stalled economy if it becomes law. A mix of $253 billion in tax cuts and $194 billion in new spending, the total bill for the plan is $447 billion. Given staunch Republican opposition to most new spending, the measure has almost no chance of passing the House in its current form.” (Annalyn Censky and Charles Riley, “What’s in Obama’s Stimulus Plan,” CNN, 9/8/2011) 

EVEN SOME DEMOCRATS “BALK[ED]” AT THIS STIMULUS, POINTING OUT THE FAILURE OF OBAMA’S FIRST STIMULUS: “Many Congressional Democrats, smarting from the fallout over the 2009 stimulus bill, say there is little chance they will be able to support the bill as a single entity, citing an array of elements they cannot abide.” (Jennifer Steinhauer, “Some Democrats are Balking at Obama’s Jobs Bill,” The New York Times, 9/14/2011)

STIMULUS V: UNVEILED FEBRUARY 2012

AP: “OBAMA BUDGET: NEW SPENDING WITH RECYCLED TAX IDEAS”: (Andrew Taylor, “Obama Budget: New Spending with Recycled Tax Ideas,” Associated Press, 2/11/2012)

“PLAN INCLUDES MANY PREVIOUS PROPOSALS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE THAT HAVE NOT BECOME LAW”: (Kim Dixon and Patrick Temple-West, “Factbox: Obama Seeks Higher Taxes on Big Business,” Reuters, 2/13/2012)

OBAMA CALLING FOR $350 BILLION IN NEW STIMULUS: “In his final budget request before facing voters in November, Obama called for $350 billion in new stimulus to maintain lower payroll taxes, bolster domestic manufacturing, lure jobs back from overseas, hire teachers, retrain workers and fix the nation’s crumbling infrastructure.” (Lori Montgomery, “Obama Offers Stimulus, But Cuts in State, too,” The Washington Post, 2/15/2012)

American families are suffering the economic consequences of the Democrats’ insistence on repeating their failed policies. Unemployment remains unacceptably high, home values have crashed, record numbers are in poverty and Americans are wondering when they will see the light at the end of the tunnel:

CBO: REAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE IS 10%: “The rate of participation in the labor force fell from 66 percent in 2007 to an average of 64 percent in the second half of 2011, an unusually large decline over so short a time. … Had that portion of the decline in the labor force participation rate since 2007 that is attributable to neither the aging of the baby boomers nor the downturn in the business cycle (on the basis of the experience in previous downturns) not occurred, the unemployment rate in the fourth quarter of 2011 would have been about 1¼ percentage points higher than the actual rate of 8.7 percent.” (“The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2012 to 2022,” Congressional Budget Office, January 2012)

12.8 MILLION UNEMPLOYED AMERICANS: (Table A-1, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2/3/2012)

15.1 PERCENT UNDEREMPLOYMENT: (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2/3/2012)

13% DECREASE IN AVERAGE HOME VALUES SINCE FEB. 2009: (“Real Estate Market Reports: Zillow Home Value Index,” Zillow, Accessed 2/15/2012)

NEARLY 7 MILLION MORE AMERICANS LIVING IN POVERTY: (p. 5, “Poverty: 2008 and 2009,” U.S. Census Bureau, September 2010; Table 1, “Poverty: 2009 and 2010,” U.S. Census Bureau, October 2011)

FAMILIES ALREADY PAYING $1,698 MORE PER YEAR FOR HEALTH INSURANCE:(The Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research & Educational Trust Employee Health Benefits 2011 Annual Survey, “Average Annual Premiums for Single and Family Coverage, 1999–2011,” p. 30)

GAS PRICES $1.64 PER GALLON HIGHER UNDER OBAMA: (“Petroleum & Other Liquids,” U.S. Energy Information Administration, Accessed 2/15/2012)