Issues: More Job Losses Point to Stimulus Failure
March 5th, 2010

Today’s announcement that another 36,000 jobs were lost in February brings the total lost since the Congress passed the “stimulus” to 3.3 million. The number of Americans listed as “discouraged workers” rose to 16.8%.“Discouraged worker” is government-speak for people who have given up looking because they know there are no jobs to be found.

For more than a year now this Congress and the president have charted a path of broken promises, expanding government and reckless spending. The pork projects and earmarks that made up the bloated stimulus bill have placed our children’s economic future and freedom at risk as foreign nations who do not have America’s interest at heart continue to buy up our debt. Americans have been asking President Obama and Nancy Pelosi to put aside their drive to take over our health care system and focus on reforms that will create good paying and long lasting jobs. Instead they turn a deaf ear to the people and continue to pursue failed and damaging policies.

What did the politicians raid on the national piggy bank accomplish? According to Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK), the pet projects and earmarks resulted in:

$1 billion for FutureGen in Mattoon, Illinois is the“biggest earmark of all time” for a power plant that may never work.

$800,000 for little-used John Murtha Airport in Johnstown, Pennsylvania airport to repave a back-up runway; the ‘Airport for Nobody’ Has already Received Tens of Millions in Taxpayer dollars.

Nearly $10 million to renovate an abandoned train station that hasn’t been used in 30 years.

It’s easy to get lost in the numbers when they are so large, but each new job loss represents another family who must now figure out how to pay the mortgage and buy the groceries. Each new government earmark represents the politicians looking out for themselves rather than addressing the real needs in our nation.

We must chart a new course that gives Americans the opportunity to rebuild our economy. Another round of government spending, piling on more debt and ignoring the protests of the people are not the answers to our problems.

One of the reasons I was honored to be endorsed by the Club for Growth is our shared determination to get this government under control through true budget reform and dealing with the abuse of earmarking practices. I have repeatedly called for fundamental changes in the way we approach our economy. Making our tax system more fair, eliminating capital gains taxes, elimination of the “death tax” and other reforms that end our government’s practice of penalizing those who succeed in building a business will give us the opportunity to do what the government hasn’t: get this nation back on track. Only then will we build lasting prosperity.

Posted by Robin Smith

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