When the sky was falling earlier this year, only government spending could save us.
That was the narrative out of Washington. But months later, only about $53 billion of that $787 billion "emergency" government stimulus has even filtered out into the economy.
The ultraliberal cable network MSNBC, of all places, has called out the government for failing to use the stimulus money to stimulate the economy.
"An msnbc.com review of the latest federal spending data shows that the money is flowing at a trickle," writes network senior producer John W. Schoen.
"One reason," Schoen writes, "is that although Congress approved all this spending, the money has to go through the appropriations process before checks can be written. To help spread out the impact, the stimulus package is a 10-year program -- with almost all the spending the first three years. But most of the money won't be available until next year. Of the $478 billion in direct spending (the rest is mostly tax cuts), the Congressional Budget Office figures only about $150 billion will be available this year."
And of that, Schoen says, the cable network has only been able to locate $53 billion that's been released.
That amounts to about 11 percent of the direct spending allocated by Congress.
Your government inaction.
The Obama administration has claimed that the stimulus would save 3.5 million jobs by the end of 2010. That's a nebulous claim if there ever was one. How can anyone say a job has been "saved"? And can it be done by dribbling out dollars so slowly?
On the other hand, how many jobs are being lost or prevented by Washington's sucking hundreds of billions out of the private economy -- and holding onto most of it?
Maybe stories such as these are the reason why the vast majority of Americans trust their own economic instincts more than they trust Congress's. A new Rasmussen poll says 74 percent, nearly three-fourths of the country, trust their own economic judgment more than Congress's.
What an incredible opportunity lost, when the Obama administration and Congress decided earlier this year that they know better than you how to spend your money. If, instead of sucking up hundreds of billions, Washington had merely suspended collection of the income tax for six months, that money would already be in the economy -- in your hands, not Washington's.
Even msnbc.com seems to understand that.
"Anytime you can put money in someone's hands to pay their bills," writes Schoen, "those dollars have an immediate, positive impact on consumer spending. Even in this recession, consumer spending remains the biggest driver of economic activity."
Instead, your tax money that could have been stimulating the local economy is sitting in a government bank account.
That won't catch even one ceiling tile, much less the sky.
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