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Stimulus Plan Tag

Posted by on July 07, 2015
Remember the Miles of New Sidewalks, and Empty Stores I wrote about on July 6, 2010? It concerned federal Stimulus Plan "shovel ready" construction of miles of sidewalks in Warren, Rhode Island, which were built pretty much just for the sake of building them:
Warren, Rhode Island, has new sidewalks from the center of town down Rte 103 to the Massachusetts border, almost two miles away. Thanks to the Stimulus Plan. I have driven that road hundreds of times, and also have cycled the route many times. I never noticed any particular problem with the sidewalks. I also almost never noticed anyone using the sidewalks, particularly once you leave the very center of town. The road is a local main road, not exactly a walk in the park. But there are new sidewalks as far as the eye can see.... Warren, Rhode Island, also has plenty of empty storefronts. The sidewalks will not change that, and neither will the Stimulus Plan.
Here's what the newly constructed sidewalks looked like in 2010:

Posted by on February 02, 2015
Obama sure does like to spend money. Back in 2009, his Stimulus bill managed to use up almost a trillion dollars. The budget he's going to release this time around will request just under half a trillion dollars for American roads and bridges. Juliet Eilperin and Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post:
Obama budget: Tax on overseas profits to pay for U.S. roads and bridges President Obama's budget request set for release Monday includes plans for a six-year, $478 billion public works program that would be paid for with a one-time 14 percent tax on overseas corporate profits. Details of Obama's budget plan released in recent days have been widely rejected by congressional Republicans. But finding a way to enact a new federal infrastructure spending plan has been an unattainable goal on Capitol Hill for several years. Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) hoped to pass a new highway bill shortly after the GOP took control of the House in 2011 but has struggled to build support among skeptical conservatives. According to a document shared by administration officials on Sunday, Obama's plan to rebuild the nation's airports, bridges, highways and railroads would be paid for by imposing a 14 percent tax on up to $2 trillion in profits that companies have accumulated overseas over a number of years to avoid paying corporate income taxes. That's far lower than the current top corporate tax rate of 35 percent. The one-time tax on the repatriation of foreign profits differs from other proposals to offer a "tax holiday" for companies that would pay a much lower tax rate voluntarily to help fund new road construction projects. Obama opposes such tax holidays.
One has to wonder if there are more "shovel ready" jobs available this time.

Posted by on August 06, 2014
A new study is claiming that President Obama's controversial "Cash for Clunkers" program negatively impacted the amount of money Americans spent on new cars, and had no overall impact on how many new cars were sold. "Cash for Corollas: When Stimulus Reduces Spending," a new study out of Texas A&M University, suggests that not only did Cash for Clunkers fail to stimulate the new car industry, it also acted at odds with environmental restrictions that eventually contributed to the program's failure. From the abstract:
Cash for Clunkers was a 2009 economic stimulus program aimed at increasing new vehicle spending by subsidizing the replacement of older vehicles. Using a regression discontinuity design, we show the increase in sales during the two month program was completely offset during the following seven to nine months, consistent with previous research. However, we also find the program's fuel efficiency restrictions induced households to purchase more fuel efficient but less expensive vehicles, thereby reducing industry revenues by three billion dollars over the entire nine to eleven month period. This highlights the conflict between the stimulus and environmental objectives of the policy.
In his overview of the "Cash for Corollas" study, AEI's James Pethokoukis notes that the study contradicts the White House's claim that the program would pull from future car sales to increase current demand and overall car sales.

Posted by on November 17, 2013
As the sham sales pitch and flummoxed policy behind Obamacare are exposed the attempts to portray opposition as a reaction to Obama's race are ramping up with renewed vigor. Yet the evidence is becoming more clear that it is not race that is the problem, it's Obama. Fouad Adjami has a perceptive column (h/t Hot Air), When the Obama Magic Died:
A nemesis awaited the promise of this new presidency: Mr. Obama would turn out to be among the most polarizing of American leaders. No, it wasn't his race, as Harry Reid would contend, that stirred up the opposition to him. It was his exalted views of himself, and his mission. The sharp lines were sharp between those who raised his banners and those who objected to his policies. America holds presidential elections, we know. But Mr. Obama took his victory as a plebiscite on his reading of the American social contract. A president who constantly reminded his critics that he had won at the ballot box was bound to deepen the opposition of his critics. A leader who set out to remake the health-care system in the country, a sixth of the national economy, on a razor-thin majority with no support whatsoever from the opposition party, misunderstood the nature of democratic politics. An election victory is the beginning of things, not the culmination.
It started long before Obamacare.  It started at the earliest point in Obama's presidency, the Stimulus.

Posted by on November 13, 2011

You know about the sidewalks of Warren, Rhode Island, where millions were spend on replacing miles of sidewalks hardly anyone walked on, and which, in the rush to spend Stimulus money, were constructed improperly. You also know about the sidewalks to heaven of Lincoln, Rhode Island, and the...

Posted by on November 02, 2011

The one chart that explodes the myth of U.S. income inequality (h/t @CharlieSykes). The short explanation is that individual income inequality has not expanded greatly, but since high earning people tend to group together in family units, family income inequality has expanded: Next, Here's The Chart...

Posted by on October 24, 2011

Since Joe Biden's play of the rape card did not work in getting the Senate to pass Obama's new stimulus package, Biden may need to come up with a new strategy.  Rumor has it that Biden will resurrect National Lampoon magazine: (Based on this original, for those of you who are too young...

Posted by on September 14, 2011

When I dubbed the nascent Solyndra scandal "Teapot Solyndra" in memory of the Teapot Dome Scandal, I worried that I might be getting ahead of myself. But with this administration, it's hard to get ahead of oneself.  Fearing the worst usually is the safest bet. And that worst fear seems...

Posted by on September 05, 2011

From Senator Jim DeMint, some obvious points about Obama's complete lack of understanding of the job market (emphasis mine): "I spent most of m life in business,' DeMint told Glor, "and I'm hearing what the president is talking about, which are temporary incentives like giving a company...

Posted by on July 01, 2011

This ad by Crossroads GPS, for which Karl Rove consults, has been running very heavily in upstate NY. It's critically important that these type of ads run early before Obama starts spreading his hoped-for billion dollars around, the unions spend their hundreds of millions, and Hollywood/Wall...

Posted by on June 15, 2011

(by Michael Alan)Oh look, he made a funny:But when he was selling the $800 billion stimulus both before and in the months after it was passed, all he could say was "shovel-ready":Last October, the President first denounced the use of the term "shovel-ready":Mr. Obama reflect[ed]...

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