In today’s Wall Street Journal, former President Bill Clinton’s pollster Doug Schoen writes: “Sen. Evan Bayh’s stunning decision to retire should serve as more than a wake-up call to Democrats. It should spur a fundamental re-examination and reorientation of the party’s policies, practices and approaches leading into the fall election. Let’s be clear. The Democratic brand is in trouble — big trouble. … The Democrats need to do a number of things. First and foremost, they need to recognize there is only one fundamental issue in America: jobs.” Unfortunately, the …
Just last week Congress revived PAYGO legislation which is supposed to force legislators to offset any new spending with spending cuts elsewhere in the budget. While this won’t come as a shock to most Foundry readers, The Hill reports that “the ink is barely dry on the pay-as-you-go law, and Democrats are seeking to bypass it to enact parts of their job-creation agenda.” The problem with PAYGO is not its intent–serious efforts to reduce the deficit should be met with genuine interest by all conservatives–the problem is its inevitable implementation. …
Tomorrow is the one-year anniversary of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or as it is more accurately described, President Barack Obama’s Failed Stimulus. When President Obama signed the now $862 billion deficit-spending bill into law, the unemployment rate stood at 7.6% and the U.S. economy employed 133.5 million people. At the time President Obama promised the American people that, thanks to his stimulus, unemployment would never go higher than 8.2% and the U.S. economy would support 138.6 million jobs by December 2010. At the one year mark unemployment is …
Last week, two blizzards knocked Congress (and the rest of the federal government in Washington, DC) out of commission. The snow kept the House out the entire week preventing them from taking any votes. The Senate was only slightly more productive—confirming Joseph Greenaway to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Third Circuit. Also, the controversial nomination Craig Becker to be a member of the National Labor Relations Board was blocked. On February 22, the Senate will begin debate over another stimulus/special interest spending bill.
Despite efforts by Senator Baucus (D-MT) and Senator Grassley (R-IA) to draft a broad and bi-partisan federal legislation as part of another round of federal “stimulus” Senator Reid (D-NV) has now derailed the endeavor. After eliminating most of the tax cuts in the bi-partisan effort put forward by Senators Baucus and Grassley, one of the few “tax cuts” Senator Reid has retained is the payroll tax holiday plan. What is the Payroll Tax Holiday? Sec. 101 of the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act outlines a suspension during 2010 …
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) says “the American people need a message. The message that they need is that we are doing something on jobs.” Reid’s real message is to confirm what is now obvious to all, which is that he and his congressional allies have nary a clue as to how an economy creates jobs. In lieu of an ineffectual bi-partisan compromise bill crafted by Chairman Baucus (D-MT) and Senator Grassley (R-IA), Reid has reportedly developed a slimmed down, equally ineffectual bill including a new payroll tax exemption …
The snowstorms that have already dumped over two feet of snow on the nation’s Capitol and that are threatening to dump another 12 to 16 inches, have ground the legislative process to a halt. But that might not be such a bad thing. Senate Democrats had hoped they could pass President Barack Obama’s second stimulus today, but with only three of the Senate’s 100 lawmakers able to make it to the chamber, that vote has been postponed indefinitely. And the more we learn about what might be in President Obama’s second …
When President Barack Obama was sworn into office, the U.S. economy employed 134.6 million people and the unemployment rate stood at 7.6%. In response to growing job losses, President Obama passed an $862 billion stimulus plan that his economic experts promised would help the United States employ at least 138.6 million people by 2010. Reality has not been kind to President Obama’s hope. Today, the Bureau of Labor and Statistics released its monthly jobs report showing the U.S. economy shed another net 20,000 jobs, leaving only 129.5 million jobs, almost 10 million …
As President Obama continues campaigning for yet another round of stimulus it appears now that even democrats are beginning to question the soundness of this strategy. This new focus includes a $5,000 tax credit—among other items— for any business that hires a new worker—effective the year the legislation is passed. Of course, the intended effect of this new policy may win some political points for the President and legislators, yet this effect does not override the fact that this maneuver is simply bad economic policy. Creating a tax credit for …
